What is midwifery care? Read about our services below.
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Prenatal Care: Our prenatal care includes a free one-hour consultation, monthly one-hour prenatal visits until 32 weeks of pregnancy, bi-monthly visits until 36 weeks, and then weekly visits until your baby is born. Prenatal visits take place in our office in Montavilla at SE 79th and SE Stark St in Portland. We come to your house for a 36 week prenatal visit to prepare for being there for the homebirth. We provide informed choice about all routine prenatal testing, and referrals for ultrasound or other testing when necessary. We offer all the same bloodwork, screening and diagnostic tests that are routine for prenatal care and can do most of these tests in our office. Beyond monitoring our clients' vitals, listening to the baby's heart beat, and palpating and measuring the belly at each visit, we spend time building a relationship of trust with our clients and leave plenty of time to make sure that all of your questions are answered. |
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Labor and Birth:
Your midwives are on call 24/7 for your home birth before and after your due date. We provide complete labor and birth support in your home. Your birth team will consist of midwives Catherine and Sarah, and possibly one midwifery student who you will have met throughout your prenatal care. During labor, we monitor the well-being of the client and baby and use intermittent fetal heart rate monitoring with a hand-held doppler. We offer water birth, and we have birth pools you can rent for use. At births, we are present to think quickly when changes need to be made to protect the well-being of the client and/or baby, but most of the time we are simply quiet witnesses to the physiological process of birth. We provide immediate postpartum care for at least 2-3 hours after the birth, until both the client and baby are stable, breastfeeding is established, and we have completed a full newborn exam. |
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Postpartum Care: We offer full postpartum care for the first six to eight weeks after the birth for both the client and baby. Visits take place in your home at one day, three days, one week, and two weeks after the birth. Then we see you back in our Portland midwifery office at four weeks and six to eight weeks postpartum. Additional visits take place on a case by case basis as needed. We monitor vitals of both the client and baby at each visit, ensuring that the client is healing well from the birth and that the baby is healthy and gaining weight. We provide breast/chestfeeding support, answer any questions that arise and spend time loving on the new family! We always offer a pap smear to the client at the last postpartum visit. |