Midwife Responsibilities: Comprehensive Care for Expectant Mothers

Question
What are the duties and responsibility of a midwife to a pregnant woman?

Answer
Dear Achu,
The duties and responsibilities of a midwife are extremely vast, and differ between home and hospital based midwives.
Some of her responsibilities that are included in caring for the mother during pregnancy are monitoring her health and that of her baby by checking blood pressure, fundal height, palpation of the baby through the abdomen, discussing nutrition, and any emotional issues that the mother wants to discuss and the midwife feels qualified to deal with.
During the  labor and delivery, the midwife would attending the birth, monitoring the mother and the baby during the labor, delivery, and immediate postpartum period. This would include periodic taking of blood pressure, listening to the baby with a fetoscope or doppler, attending the mother's emotional and physical needs during labor (especially if the mother doesn't have a support person to do so), catching the baby, and assessing the baby's health after the birth.
Thank you for your question.
Best of luck,
Sheva