Empowered Pregnancy

What is a birth center:
According to Kitty Ernst, FACNM, MPH, DSc and the founder of the first birth center in the United States, the environment is a homelike facility that exists within the healthcare system that focuses on the wellness model of care during pregnancy and birth. A birth center is guided by the principles of prevention, sensitivity, safety, appropriate medical intervention, and delivering care in a cost effective manner. This care is delivered in a family centered atmosphere to healthy women before, during and after normal pregnancy, labor, and birth.
In 2013 The National Birth Center Study II (Stapleton, et al) was published in the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health. This study showed that the quality of care given in birth centers has remained consistent over the past 25 years. Only 12% of all women who start out in a birth center setting will be transferred to a hospital during the course of their labor and of this less than two percent are for emergent situations. When women are properly selected to deliver in birth centers the maternal and fetal outcomes are the same as their counter parts who deliver in hospitals. In the 2013 birth center study found that there were no maternal fatalities and the neonatal fatality rate was 0.40/1000, which is the same as in a hospital setting. Birth centers also have much lower cesarean rates (only 6.1%) for women who start labor in our facilities than compared to over 30% for women who begin labor in a hospital setting. Birth centers can provide a safe alternative to hospital based maternity care and they can do it at a cost that is, generally, at least 50% less than an uncomplicated birth in a hospital setting.
What is a certified nurse midwife:
A certified nurse midwife or CNM is a licensed health care practitioner who is educated in two different disciplines of nursing. One is as an advanced registered nurse practitioner and the other is in midwifery. CNM’s provide primary health care to women from puberty throughout the rest of their lives, prenatal care, care throughout labor and delivery, care after birth, gynecological exams, newborn care, assistance with family planning decisions, preconception care, menopausal management and counseling in healthcare maintenance and disease prevention. Certified nurse midwives attend over 10% of all births in the United States and 4% of these bursts take place out of hospital. According to a 2009 Cochran met analysis study it was found that midwifery led care had better outcomes for women then did obstetrician or family physician led care. Midwifery led care is also cheaper than all other medical options.
Description of practice
Mission:
To advance our clients state of health throughout all stages of life by utilizing a Midwifery concept of care. We will provide education, encourage active participation in the health care process and promote self-empowerment to all of our clients and their families. Our goal is to encourage healthy life choices that prevent disease processes both before and during pregnancy and then empower women to continue with these choices throughout their lives. We will serve all women and children regardless of their social, racial or sexual background with the time and respect that every person deserves.
Vision:
To make the client an active participant in their own health care and the health care of their family. To us pregnancy as a stepping stone to instill healthy life style choices and then help my clients to continue with these choices throughout their lives. By intervening at an early stage, the goal is to decrease health care disparities in the long run. Heart disease and stroke are the number one and two killer of women. An easy modifiable factor in the prevention of both of these diseases is the prevention of type two diabetes. With our society’s epidemic of obesity, pregnancy is the perfect time to start education on diet and exercise and the prevention of or at least the delay in type II diabetes. There is no other time in a woman’s life when she is more motivated to be healthy then pregnancy and breast feeding. For this reason, pregnancy is the best time to educate women on healthy lifestyle choices and for health care interventions to happen.