MIDWIFERY SERVICES INCLUDE:
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Complete Prenatal care
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Labor support from the onset of active labor
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Two midwives present for birth
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Immediate postpartum support until mom and baby are stable and settled into their nest
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Collaborative care with physicians if needed or desired
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Access to birth tubs
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Education and access to referrals and resources as needed
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Complete postpartum care through 6 weeks
Prenatal care with a Licensed midwife is the first of many things that set us apart from standard care. We are here to support you and we recognize that you are the central decision-maker for your family. Throughout your pregnancy we discuss the birth process and your individual desires and needs so that you feel prepared for your birth.
The excessive use of high-tech equipment used in hospitals often shifts the focus from the laboring mother to machines. Overemphasis on technology has not been shown to increase safety for healthy, low-risk mothers and babies. Your comfort will not prevent us from closely monitoring vital signs to ensure that you and your baby are progressing safely through labor.
In the home setting, babies are welcomed with joy and respect, and parents receive personal, individualized support.
Because our clients are healthy, birth-educated, we encounter few complications. Nonetheless, we are fully trained to evaluate labor and birth and to carry out emergency medical procedures as needed. We never delay necessary medical care. The majority of our hospital transfers are not urgent but are due to lengthy labors or caution. When a family transfers to the hospital in labor, we accompany them to brief the doctors and nurses about the situation, the family's wishes and to serve as a doula throughout labor and birth. We then continue our planned postpartum care schedule.
Our intimate care and support continues well into the fourth trimester. In home postpartum support helps to ensure your family is transitioning well and thriving. We provide six scheduled postpartum home visits for mother and baby to be sure your family is thriving. These visits include support with breastfeeding, assessment of mom's physical and emotional health as well as baby's feeding, health and growth.
We are always available by phone for urgent concerns if they should come up.
MONTRICE/ SERVICES INCLUDE
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2 prenatal visits
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2 postpartum home visits
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Labor support and monitoring in active labor at your home and then your place of birth
Although, as midwives, we specialize in unmedicated physiological childbirth, we understand that is not everyones story and there is a wide range of possibilities. Whatever your individual needs are, we are there to support you through your journey.
A Cochrane review published in 2012 found that in labors with the continuous presence of a doula, laboring mothers experience:
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Reduced use of pitocin
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Decreased rate of interventions during labor
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Less need for pain medication and less requests for epidural
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Higher satisfaction with birth outcomes
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Much lower c-section rate
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Higher chance of a spontaneous vaginal birth
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Shorter labors
As your doula, our role is to support you physically and emotionally during labor by providing gentle, verbal encouragement through each stage, reminding you to listen to your body and walk you through the unfoldment of your birth. We support you physically and emotionally while advocating for you and providing evidence based information throughout the birth process. Our goal is for you to leave your birth experience feeling cared for and supported. You should always be at the center of the decision making process. We want you to feel confident that you are making informed decisions for your family. We encourage families to ask questions and research their options! We have a plethora of tools, old and new, physical and learned that we use when they will be helpful for you. This is your birth and our job is to support you.
A montrice is a wonderful option for women who would like to labor at home as long as possible, but deliver in a hospital setting. Licensed Midwives are able to monitor the advancement of labor, yours and your babys well being in your home until it is time to go to your out of home birthplace. We help to make that transition at the right time, and continue to support you as a doula when you are with your planned care providers.
Collaborative Care
If you are planning to birth in a hospital or birth center and you would also like to enjoy the benefits of midwifery care, prenatal and postpartum care are offered individually and as a package with doula or monitrice support in leu of home birth. This is a great option for families who desire personalized, intimate and detailed prenatal/postpartum care with a midwife yet plan to birth outside of their home. Please see the descriptions above and inquire if this option might be right for your family.
