Prenatal Care

Prenatal Care

The purpose of prenatal care is to evaluate and care for you, your baby, and your family throughout pregnancy and postpartum. Our goals are to maintain the health of you and your baby, to monitor for development of any high risk conditions, and to educate you and your family in reference to pregnancy, birth, and   transition to parenting.

Traditional Way of Delivering Care:

www.acog.org

Centering
www.centeringhealthcare.org

Centering prenatal care at SWHC started in 2009, but it has been widely practiced in many parts of the US for a long time.

Imagine:

  • No waiting for your visit.
  • A community of friends.
  • Relaxed time with your nurse-midwife.
  • An opportunity to talk about pregnancy, birth, parenting and even set personal goals.
  • Time for lots of discussion.
  • Fun at your visits.
  • Twenty hours of  care for the same cost of  2-4 hours total with individual care.
  • Better birth outcomes.
  • Creative problem solving.

Learn about:

  • Nutrition.
  • Comfort issues.
  • Stress reduction.
  • Exercise.
  • Infant feeding.
  • Oral health.
  • Birth preparation and recovery.
  • Parenting.
  • Sexuality and contraception.
  • Infant development.
  • Issues of abuse.
  • Communication and self-esteem.

If you choose this type of prenatal care, you will be in a group with other women whose due dates are close to yours. In each of the ten sessions, you will have a private time with your health care provider and some refreshments. Then you’ll meet as a group to discuss questions, concerns, and solutions.

You’ll meet other expectant moms and have an opportunity to share stories and learn from one another. You’ll be able to talk about health issues that are important to you and all the things you’re going through—physically and emotionally.  When polled at other sites, 96-97% of all women stated they prefer receiving their prenatal care in group.

Check-ups, support, and education all take place in a group setting.

Quotes from some moms who have participated in Centering Pregnancy at our office:

“I really enjoyed being with other people who knew what I was going through.”

“I felt more comfortable talking about my problems in the group.  Often things I didn’t ask still got answered when other people brought up the topic.”

“It felt good to have such long meetings with the midwife.”