During pregnancy and delivery, you may wish to receive care from an OB/GYN. But if your pregnancy is low-risk, you may also choose to be seen by a midwife.
Here at Westover Hills Women’s Health, we’re proud to offer our patients the option of having prenatal and delivery care from one of our excellent certified nurse midwives. These caring, experienced providers are specially trained to give our low-risk patients the very best pregnancy care.
Certified nurse midwives (CNM) are licensed health care providers who specialize in women's health, pregnancy care, and childbirth. Across the United States, CNMs attend about 10% of births. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists supports CNMs for pregnancy care.
We would like to tell you more about midwife care. Read on to learn about some of the benefits of receiving pregnancy care from one of our midwives.
Midwifery focuses on building relationships between women and their care providers. Your midwife gets to know you, answering your questions, offering you advice, and cheering you on. Your midwife also works with you to try to give you the individualized birth experience you want.
In addition to assisting you at birth, midwives see you throughout your pregnancy for routine checkups.
Midwife care is built on the foundational belief that pregnancy and childbirth are natural, normal parts of a woman's life, and unless a woman has a medical condition or pregnancy complication, she does not require excessive clinical care.
Midwives are also committed to giving women a birth experience that aligns as closely as possible with their goals. Patients who prefer a more natural approach to pregnancy care and delivery may choose to see a midwife who shares their interest in keeping things as natural as possible.
Women who are assisted by midwives during childbirth tend to have fewer interventions than those who give birth with doctors. Part of the reason for this is that midwives work with lower-risk patients. But midwives also tend to have more time to give their patients during birth.
Overall, midwifery is linked to lower rates of cesarean sections, induced labor, and medicated births, according to the American Pregnancy Association. But midwives do perform standard pregnancy monitoring, such as ultrasound.
Because our midwives are highly trained medical professionals, they have the experience and training necessary to provide a full range of care to laboring mothers.
If you begin to develop complications that increase your risk and require a physician's intervention, your midwife consults with one of our OB/GYNs, Dr. Houmam Al-Hakeem or Dr. Edward B. Blackmon Jr. If necessary, you are transferred to their care.
Although our midwives don't assist at home births, they provide a caring, homelike atmosphere during your hospital birth.
Many of our low-risk patients appreciate working with midwives throughout their pregnancy and delivery because this approach offers the best of both worlds: natural care and the experience and training of certified medical professionals.
To schedule a midwife visit at one of our two San Antonio, Texas, offices, call us today or use our online tool to book an appointment.
