By Claire Stuart

The oldest female profession isn’t really the one that is “x- rated.” Rather it is the midwife, an essential part of the birth experience since before there were written records.

Until the middle 19th century, midwives delivered the majority of the babies in the United States. As new scientific knowledge came through medical schools (which had excluded women), it was not passed to midwives who learned informally from each other.

As medicine grew more sophisticated, midwives fell out of favor, and most women gave birth in hospitals attended by obstetricians. Soon, birth had gone from being considered a natural process to a medical procedure, with anesthesia, forceps delivery, and episiotomy becoming commonplace.

Formal education of nurse-midwives in the mid 20th century began to turn the tide. Nurse-midwives were proving effective in improving outcomes of births in underserved rural areas. In the 1960s and 70s, the women’s movement increased interest in nurse-midwifery, alternative birthing centers, and limited use of artificial techniques and intervention.

In February 2014, Berryville Midwives, a satellite of Loudoun Community Midwives, opened for business. Heather Swartz, certified nurse midwife (CNM) holds a Masters in Nurse Midwifery, and says that in Virginia, CNMs are licensed the same as nurse practitioners. They can prescribe most medications and deal with minor female health issues. They manage contraceptive options ranging from pills, IUDs and diaphragms to natural family planning.

Nurse-midwives do a lot more than attend births. They offer well-woman annual exams, prenatal care, breast care, and general wellness counseling for women from teens to menopause and beyond. Swartz says she became a midwife because she finds a balance between the medical and nonmedical care.

Throughout history, knowledge about women’s bodies and reproductive cycles has been shrouded in mystery, even from women themselves, with misconceptions, ignorance and old-wives tales abounding.

“Our job is to educate and empower women regarding their bodies,” says Swartz. “I like it when young women just come in and talk about their reproductive systems—their bodies and their cycles—in a supporting and loving atmosphere. This begins a relationship if they later decide they want to have children. We talk to women during and after menopause, too—all spans of a woman’s reproductive life.”

Swartz explains that a midwife is trained to see what is normal in the birthing process and what isn’t, and what to do if it isn’t. “We are trained to see pregnancy as a normal physiological function in a woman. Most women are healthy—pregnancy is not a disease and should not be pathologized. They need reassurance of what is normal.”

She says there is a common misconception that a midwife-assisted birth cannot have an epidural. “There are lots of options for a woman giving birth, and we support her wishes. Some definitely want an epidural. Some want no medications or interventions at all, and we support that as well. A backup doctor is always on hand in case of complications. Most patients never see the doctors unless there is a complication.”

The Berryville Midwives do not do home births. They do not attend births in Winchester, although women come in from the Winchester area. Their births all take place in the Loudon Inova Hospital Birth Center or its new free-standing birthing center that opened in November of last year.

Anyone the mom wants to be a part of the birthing experience is welcome, including grandparents and other children.

“We insist that dads are involved,” says Swartz. “They are an integral part of the birth process. We educate them, give them ways to help the mom. If children are going to be present, we ask that they have received age-appropriate information about birth, and we trust the parents to make the decision.”

Swartz stressed that there must be another grown-up, not mom or dad, to take charge in case children become frightened and have to be removed from the birthing room. There are other options for children so that even if they are not in the birthing room, they can still be a part of the process. The birthing center is very homey and not medical and scary-looking, and even includes a living room and kitchen.

“This is different from the model of being told what to do by the doctor,” says Swartz. “The midwife tells the mom what she needs to know to make decisions. Each birth is different. We support the mom through the whole pregnancy.”

Midwife-attended births are becoming widespread and mainstream, says Swartz, especially since nurse-midwives have good relationships with backup doctors. “Our backup doctors are in a group, and there is always one doctor in house 24 hours a day. Our practice has delivered about 400 babies per year and is growing.”

There are six delivery nurse-midwives and two non-delivery in the practice. The non-delivery nurse-midwives do routine gynecological care, and are also certified for deliveries. Midwives are on call 24 hours a day.

And yes, Swartz says that it is true that babies frequently come in the middle of the night and during snow storms. Drops in barometric pressure bring babies, she says!

For information: Berryville Midwives; 3 ½ East Main Street, Berryville; 703-726-1300.

From the Blogosphere is an occasional missive of ideas and proposals that you may not have heard of, and that are explored in some detail on the world wide web. The Observer isn’t necessarily endorsing any ideas through The Blogosphere, just encouraging exploration. We asked Rep. Barbara Comstock, who represents Virginia’s 10th District, to weigh in on the proposal.

Each April brings a scramble for people to file their federal income tax returns, and each year the occasion heightens frustrations of people who feel that the system is too complex and unfair. Considering quotes from ultra rich investors like Warren Buffett, who claims his secretary pays a higher income tax rate than he, it’s easy to see why.

For that matter, high-income earners are in an even worse situation. That’s because investment income is taxed at a much lower rate than “earned income” from employment. It’s an irony that earned income is taxed at a higher rate than unearned income.

Perhaps one of the biggest criticisms of the current system is that it over-taxes wage earners who don’t qualify for things like child credits. Or the fact that the mortgage deduction rewards people for buying big expensive houses when it was intended to help people who otherwise could not afford a home. Then there’s the problem of corporations and the wealthy moving their money to off-shore tax havens.

Every few election cycles brings proposals for ideas like the flat tax, in which all income is taxed at the same rate—which is then criticized as being just as regressive as the current system. Then there’s the idea of replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax—also criticized as being regressive because lower-income people need to spend a greater proportion of their income just to get by.

Over the last couple of years a variation of the sales tax idea has been attracting support—and a lot of attention in the blogosphere. Its supporters, who number more than 40 in the U.S. House of Representatives, think they have found a way to make a national sales tax fair—hence the name Fair Tax.

The essence of the Fair Tax:

A national sales tax of 30 percent (which supporters say actually means a 23 percent tax, according to some complicated math);

A prebate for every taxpayer based on family size and income would be deposited into the accounts of every taxpayer to make it fair;

Abolition of the IRS;

Abolition of every form of federal income and payroll tax, including Social Security and Medicare.

Here is a snippet from the blogosphere of FairTax.org. These are straight quotes, copied here to either interest you in further exploration or get you exercised over the idea.

How does the prebate work?

Under the FairTax, all Americans consume what they see as their necessities of life free of tax. While permitting no exemptions, the FairTax (HR25/S122) provides a monthly universal prebate to ensure that each family unit can consume tax free at or beyond the poverty level, with the overall effect of making the FairTax progressive in application. There is no marriage penalty as the couple gets twice the amount that a single adult receives.

While everyone pays the same tax rate at the cash register, the prebate results in effective tax rates (annual taxes paid divided by annual spending) that increase as the level of spending increases – a progressive tax rate structure. For example, a person spending at the poverty level has a 0% effective tax rate, whereas someone spending at twice the poverty level has an effective tax rate of 11.5%, and so on.

Is the FairTax fair?

Yes, the FairTax is fair, and in fact, much fairer than the income tax. Wealthy people spend more money than other individuals. They buy expensive cars, big houses, and yachts. They buy filet mignon instead of hamburger, fine wine instead of beer, designer dresses, and expensive jewelry. The FairTax taxes them on these purchases. If, however, they use their money to build job-creating factories, finance research and development to create new products, or fund charitable activities (all of which help improve the standard of living of others), then those activities are not taxed.

Should the government tax services?

Service providers are not exempt from the income tax today, and should not be exempt from the FairTax. Services now account for well over one-half of the gross domestic product (GDP). Neither consumption of services nor consumption of goods should be tax preferred. And it is economically foolish not to tax the fastest growing segment of our economy. Competition, not politics, should determine what goods and services cost.

Does the FAIRtax tax used items?

The FairTax does not tax “used” goods but it is important to note that HR25 has a legal definition of the term “used”. This is necessary to ensure that items are taxed only once and to prevent tax cheating.

Under the FairTax, for an item to be considered “used” it must be:

purchased before the FairTax is enacted, or

the FairTax on the item must have been previously paid.

Let’s look at the first bullet above. Assume that Joe bought a new car in January of 2012. Let’s further assume that the FairTax went into effect on Jan. 1, 2013. Since Joe owned the car before the enactment of the FairTax, it is considered a “used” car. It has the taxes from the existing tax system embedded in its price. Therefore, when Joe sells that car to Bill, Bill will not owe tax on the transaction.

Now, let’s consider the second bullet above. The most common example is that Joe buys a new car for personal use and pays the FairTax on it. If Joe then sells his car to Bill, there would be no tax on it because the tax had already been paid. Let’s look at another example. Assume that Joe owns a flower shop business and buys a van to use when making deliveries to his customers. No tax is charged on purchases for business purposes so that the FairTax on goods sold to consumers does not double tax, or put a tax on a tax.

If Joe decides to sell the van to his friend Bill (who is not in business) for use as his personal vehicle, then it would be a taxable sale to Bill. Why? Because Joe did not pay tax when he bought the van for his flower shop. Since no FairTax has been previously paid on that van, it is not considered used and the sale to Bill would be taxable.

If later, Bill decided he did not like driving a van and sold it to someone else, it would not be a taxable sale. Why? Because the tax had been previously paid (when Bill bought it from Joe) making the item “used”; and not subject to tax.

Social Security & Medicare Funding Benefits will not change

The FairTax actually puts these programs on a more solid funding foundation. Instead of being funded by taxes on workers’ wages, which is a small pool, they’ll be funded by taxes on overall consumption by all residents.

Get a Tax Refund in Advance on Purchases of Basic Necessities 

The FairTax provides a progressive program called a prebate.

This gives every legal resident household an “advance refund” at the beginning of each month so that purchases made up to the poverty level are tax-free. The prebate prevents an unfair burden on low-income families. Learn more. Pay Tax on Only What You Spend. Be in control of your financial destiny. You alone can control your tax burden. If you’re thrifty, you’ll pay lower taxes than somebody who is not. Most importantly, you’ll be taxed fairly.

Everyone Pays Their Fair Share 

Tax evasion and the underground economy cost each taxpayer an additional $2,500 every year! But by taxing new products and services consumed, the FairTax puts everyone in the country at the same level at the cash register. Further, only legal residents are eligible for the prebate.

There are Fair Tax chapters is more than 20 states. The Virginia site is fairtaxnation.com/group/virginiafairtax. Read about the issue nationally at fairtax.org.

Another April 15 has come. Checks have been written to Uncle Sam; accountants are planning a day off after the three-month rush; people expecting refunds who filed in February are awaiting cash; and all the while one can’t help but wonder: Is this even necessary?

The Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent group within the Internal Revenue Service, says Americans spend $168 billion annually to file their taxes. The average self-filer spends 13 hours to do it—this accounts for short form filers who spend about 15 minutes to filers with a Schedule C or and a shoebox of 1099s. The Advocate also says American businesses and individuals spend an astonishing 6 billion—yes, with a B—hours a year to comply with tax regulations and file tax returns.

In Congress, typically when there is wrangling over taxes, it’s an argument over small changes in marginal rates and the income level required to bump your bracket. Those battles might win political points with party bases, but they ignore the fact that the federal tax code has grown to about 4 million words.

The accountants I know are smart people. Too smart, I’d say, to spend their productivity trying to figure out how much to pay the government or how to save some money avoiding it. Imagine unleashing all those brain cells on pursuits that grow businesses, rather than merely helping them comply.

I’m not against paying taxes. Without them there are no roads, no parks, no defense—pick your three or four favorites. But really? Can we not come up with a less burdensome way to collect them?

That’s a segue into a new periodic feature, From the Blogosphere, that offers ideas that challenge conventional wisdom and that can be explored on the Web. The first entry contains verbatim excerpts to an idea to replace the federal income tax with a national sales tax.

Unlike most sales tax schemes that attract only conservative outliers, the Fair Tax has a growing contingent of self-identifying liberals embracing the scheme. One of the distinguishing factors of the Fair Tax is that every taxpayer gets a monthly “pre-bate” depending on his or her circumstances, like number of dependents. The system is designed to be revenue-neutral, meaning it is supposed to take in the same amount the government already takes in. The pre-bate phases down for wealthier taxpayers.

The idea seems compelling. Why should we tax work? Why should we tax savings? Why should we get a tax break for buying houses we would buy anyway? Why allow mega corporations to pay negative tax rates (many do) and stick small business with the bill?

Another twist is that retailers who collect the taxes get paid to do it. Rather than throwing yet another regulation at business owners, they get a share of the take. See From the Blogosphere on page 16, and explore. If you have other ideas for From the Blogosphere—ideas that go against the grain of conventional wisdom and are not getting the public dialogue they might deserve—post them on our Facebook page.

In the meantime, if you owed taxes, be glad you made a little money. If you got a  refund, consider spending it locally.

By Doug Humphreys

Remember when everything had a season? Baseball in summer. Football in the fall. Basketball in the winter. There were multi-sport athletes, like Bo Jackson.

Deer hunting in Jefferson was much the same. In October you sighted your bow and hunted deer. The week of Thanksgiving the whole world stopped for buck season, and December was for does. Then the guns and bows were oiled and stuck in the cabinet until the next October.

Then came the 90s and everything got all competitive and specialized. Baseball found fall-ball. Basket ball found summer-ball. And sports like gymnastics and soccer exploded onto the scene, introducing sports that actually had no discernible offseason.

Hunting followed suit, becoming yet another sport with no offseason.

Don’t misunderstand, I’m not complaining. Quite the contrary. My son is the next Christiano Ronoldo; just ask him. He plays soccer year round and is only unhappy in the few weeks a year there is no soccer planned. My daughter is the next Gabby Douglas; just ask her. She flips and spins twelve months a year and wouldn’t have it any other way. My biggest joy in life these days is watching them do what they do . . . again, and again, and again.

I’m also a fan of the year round endeavor of deer hunting. The seasons, though a bit longer and with higher bag limits, are largely the same as in my youth. But during the “offseason” these days, there is much more to fill a hunter’s time.

The season now begins in February, walking woodlots and looking for sheds. Despite being a good way to stretch your legs and escape cabin fever, the horns a deer shed will let you know what bucks made it through the season and where a hunter might look for next year’s Mr. Big.

In April the food plots are planted. The ambitious plotters mix peas and tubers and radish and chicory creating an irresistible smorgasbord for deer. Because it’s cheap and easy and requires minimal time, I keep a small clover patch behind my barn. Simple as it may be, I deeply enjoy a morning of over-seeding and fertilizing every spring.

In June the trail cameras are hung by food plots and trails that lead to farmers fields, and the summer months are spent literally watching bucks grow. Woodlots and field edges are marked as having potential and evening walks find trees for stands.

Summer is also a time to spend walking 3D trails with your bow and shooting rifles off the bench in hunting positions. Hunters have learned that shooting isn’t a skill you’re born with, rather an art and science that must be learned and trained.

Fitness is also a year round activity for those who wish to really hunt. Especially those who want to really hunt in mountains. Not muscle-head weight training, but exercise that strengthens the core and quads and calves. Fit bodies sit more comfortably, walk more easily, and sweat less under stress and pressure. Any hunter will be a better hunter with fitness.

Hunters have also learned that time must be spent outside year round, not just in the fall. How good would a soccer player be if he only played in games? How good would a gymnast be if she only stood on a beam during a meet? Hunters must spend time outside year round. It’s a craft thing, and it’s real and means something.

It’s March and the deer hunting season is officially over, but the quest for deer doesn’t have to end. It shouldn’t end.

It’s said that 10 percent of the hunters have 90 percent of the luck. I’ll let you in on a little secret: It’s not luck. The 10 percent don’t hunt from just October to December saying quiet prayers that a deer walks by their stand. The proud few who always have meat in the freezer and good horns on the wall, they have no offseason.