During your journey through motherhood, being guided by a comprehensive healthcare provider is vital during the prenatal stage. Over the course of nine months you and your provider become partners on a birth journey that is unique to you.
What Is Midwifery Care?
Our Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM) have all received their masters degrees in midwifery. Many of them are previous labor and delivery nurses who felt the calling to provide a more personal and holistic hands-on approach when overseeing pregnancy or women’s health.
To ensure that you’re receiving the best medical attention, midwifery care usually works alongside an OB/GYN physician. A midwife offers a wide range of healthcare services:
- Prenatal appointments and monitoring.
- Ultrasounds and prenatal blood work.
- Attending birth and newborn care.
- Postpartum care.
- Advising on nutrition, lactation and fertility.
- Family planning.
- Pap tests and breast exams.
- Screenings for STIs and other vaginal infections and diseases.
Midwifery Care & The Prenatal Stage
Your prenatal period starts at the conception until your due date of birth, lasting for about 38 weeks. Throughout this stage, it’s important to get constant checkups from your midwife, so you and your baby can stay healthy.
Your midwife will be in charge of monitoring your baby’s development and ensure that routine tests are done to identify if there’s any underlying problems. Through these regular consultations, you’ll also receive guidance and advice for your everyday life while you’re pregnant. Depending on how far along your pregnancy is and how vulnerable you are to complications, your prenatal visit schedule may vary. If you are a healthy between the ages of 18 and 35, your midwifery care calendar could look like this:
- Every 4 weeks for the first 32 weeks
- Every 2 weeks for the 32nd-36th weeks
- Every week from the 37th week until giving birth
If you have a high risk pregnancy, your midwife and OB/GYN team can make a customized schedule for you, managing any health difficulties that you may present.
Midwifery Care During Pregnancy: 4 Reasons To Choose It
Giving birth to a healthy baby also means having a healthy pregnancy, which requires you to get the best medical services at every stage. Some of the benefits that make midwifery care services a priority for mothers are:
- Fetal Development Monitoring
- Lifestyle Guidance
- An Approach to Mental Health
- Preparing for Parenthood
1. Fetal Development Monitoring
A crucial part of your first prenatal visits is monitoring your baby’s growth inside your womb. Your midwife will analyse ultrasound reports, blood tests results, and may use other diagnostic tools to get insight into your overall health. Ultrasounds will assess your fetus’ size and heartbeat.
3. An Approach to Mental Health
During your pregnancy, you can experience severe mood swings, anxiety, stress and other symptoms that can affect your emotional health. Through regular midwifery care appointments, you will receive the support you need for your mental well-being, and also referrals to other professionals if needed. Your prenatal visits are not only focused on your physical health, but they are also a space where you can be safe to talk about your concerns as a mother.
2. Lifestyle Guidance
When you’re expecting for the first time, detailed advice is always welcome. A midwife can guide you on nutrition and habits that can keep you and your future baby healthy. Normally, they recommend personalized dietary plans with balanced meals filled with nutrients like folic acid, calcium, iron, etc.
4. Preparing for Parenthood
Prenatal visits also provide families advice about newborn care and preparation for childbirth. Some of the most important topics discussed in consultations include:
- Stages of labor
- Pain relief options
- Breastfeeding
- Recovery: It may be recommended that you stay in the hospital for several days after surgery and longer if necessary (often for a caesarean birth).
- Post Partum: Physically healing after delivery and knowing the signs of post-partum depression
About Lone Tree’s Mission
Lone Tree OB/GYN & Midwives is a full-service obstetrics and gynecology office with a team of highly regarded providers recognized throughout the Castle Rock, Colorado, community for their exceptional care.