Midwifery Care and Services
Our concept of quality care revolves around the connections we make and nurturing the psycho-social aspects of pregnancy and parenthood.
“We had our first baby here and I’m so glad we did. The whole process was smooth and everyone was so kind. I loved my birth team!! Definitely going to be coming back when I have my next baby!”
– Rachel S
Prenatal Care
Quality prenatal care is the first step we make with clients to work toward a safe and satisfying birth. Midwives have the advantage over other maternity care providers by having the physical time to spend with each client.
During this time, the midwife will:
- Make appropriate clinical assessments
- Obtain lab specimens standard to pregnancy
- Give referrals as needed and create an individual care plan based on the clinical and social picture.
Clients are seen in the office with one at-home visit before delivery for those who choose home birth. The midwife is always on-call, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to attend to any pregnancy-related questions, emergencies, and extra visits that may be needed.
Labor and Delivery Care
By the time we reach the labor and birthing experience, our team has the privilege of knowing our clients not only by name but also knowing their individual needs and hopes for their birth experience.
At every delivery, we have a Licensed Midwife and a trained Birth Assistant present. We also welcome your own hired doula to be present as well!
Whether the delivery takes place at home or in our well-equipped and modern birth center, we are prepared with the necessary equipment, emergency medications, and nonpharmacologic methods of pain relief for the labor process.
The following list is part of our normal and routine care for those in labor, and are evidence-based maternity care practices:
- Freedom of movement during labor and encouragement of positions that assist in the physiologic process of birthing
- Labor support comfort measures
- Continuity of care team throughout labor, birth, and post-birth
- Warm water submersion for pain relief benefits, including delivery in water
- Skin to skin bonding immediately, no separation of mother and baby (outside of a medical emergency)
- Delayed cord clamping
- Physiologic delivery of the placenta
- Involvement of partner and support people as a vital part of the family experience
- Minimal disruption of the normal process of labor and delivery
- Adherence to birth plans presented by the family
The midwife team remains with clients for 4-6 hours following delivery; performing all the necessary examinations of mother and baby.
We make sure that before a mother and baby are discharged to home that our new parents have received education regarding danger signs, what is normal, and are scheduled for their first of five individualized postpartum visits with the midwife.
Postpartum Care
The postpartum time is one of the most important times of the childbearing experience. As mothers ourselves, we recognize the tenderness of the post-birth time and the needs that are at the same time universal as well as being unique as each individual mother/baby pair.
Unlike many other medical practices, we care for our clients closely after they have their baby by providing:
- Scheduled visits happening 24-36 hours after birth—at 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, and a 6-week follow-up visit focusing on well-person health and family planning options. The visit done at 24-36 hours is an in-home visit. The remaining postpartum care visits are done in the office.
- Caring for the parent and baby together to experience the dynamic between a parent and their new baby, evaluate what is working, and make suggestions to improve self-care measures, lactation, and overall postpartum recovery.
Postpartum care for mother and baby is a standard part of our services. This includes:
- 5 postnatal visits including one in-home visit
- Well-baby care
- Well-mother care including nutritional counseling and post-natal self-care
- Newborn Metabolic testing, congenital heart defect screening, and newborn hearing testing as required by Utah law
- Lactation support
- Emotional support for post-birth transitions (Postpartum Mood Disorders) with appropriate referrals given as necessary
- Additional lab testing for mother which may be billed separately
- Family planning and well-body care at 6 weeks post-birth