IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY - Expectant mothers in Cambridge Bay will soon have the chance to give birth closer to home now that the hamlet's birthing centre has hired its first midwife.

Sharyne Fraser is Cambridge Bay's first full-time midwife. At least one more is expected to join her in the coming month.

Another midwife is on the way, and a third will hopefully be in place by the new year, according to Clara Evalik, the regional director for Kitikmeot health and social services.

Pregnant women are now sent to Yellowknife or Edmonton three weeks before their delivery date, said Evalik.

"It's supposed to be an exciting time, giving birth to a baby," she said. "But when you're in Yellowknife on your own and the family members are not a part of the birth, it's unfortunate."

Kelly Lear is due February 26. She is taking early maternity leave to be extra careful during her pregnancy. "That's how badly I want to stay in town," she said. Her pregnancy is low-risk so far and that's the way she intends to keep it.

"Just the thought of going down (South) for a month before, sitting twiddling my thumbs, it would be very easy for any woman to set into depression," she said. "Being home around family makes it so much easier."

She's "very excited" about the midwifery program, Lear said, though it's a big change.

"I feel confident, but it is the first time. The first time for anything would make you nervous," she said.

The midwife's arrival is the start of a major change for the way the community will approach pregnancies, Evalik said.

In January the first students will begin a three-year midwifery program at the community's Nunavut Arctic College. Four or five students will make up the class.

"It's a small group but basically we want to be able to hire these individuals right into the health facility," said Evalik.

They have already received 10 applications from around the Kitikmeot region, she said.

The students will spend their practicum hours in the health centre throughout their program. The working midwives will be involved in the school, helping to train the students, according to Evalik.

Sharyne Fraser, the first midwife, arrived in Cambridge Bay at the end of September from Penticton, B.C. A love of her profession and the Northern lifestyle were what brought her to Cambridge Bay, she said in an e-mail interview.

A former nurse, Fraser has worked previously as a midwife in Rankin Inlet and has been involved with the Nunavut Arctic College midwife program since 2006, teaching in both Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit, she said.

Her goal in Cambridge Bay is to develop the birthing centre to "give women of the Kitikmeot a choice of birthing closer to home," said Fraser.

"My hope is that for the women who want to give birth in their own community, that they will get the highest standard of care possible," she said.

Midwives are different from doctors in that they "specialize in mothers giving birth," Evalik said.

"I like to think that we shouldn't treat it as an illness, it's a natural thing."

A doctor will always be on hand, however.

"There's always going to be back-up," she said.

The first Cambridge Bay deliveries will take place in the new year, Fraser said. High-risk pregnancies will still be sent to Yellowknife or Edmonton, according to Evalik. Once the midwives are all in place and the system is organized, they will look at providing midwife services for women from other communities in the Kitikmeot, Evalik said.

The birthing centre part of the health centre has been ready and waiting since 2005 when the health facility first opened.

"It's been part of our implementation plan for the Kitikmeot health facility for a number of years now," said Evalik. "We're just getting to the stage where we're going to implement the midwifery program."

Health centre staff is extremely supportive of the midwife program, Evalik said, as midwives will work with expectant mothers throughout their pregnancies.

"It will take the pressure off community health nurses," said Evalik.