comprehensive, and personalized care for your PREGNANCY
Prenatal Care
Birth Services
Birth Services
Prenatal Visits Include:
A full schedule of visits includes:
- Monthly visits until 28 weeks;
- Biweekly visits until 36 weeks;
- Weekly until 40 weeks;
- Twice weekly until birth.
- 24-hour availability of a midwife throughout the pregnancy
- Lengthy (30-60 minute) visits allowing ample time for discussion and education on all things pregnancy, birth, and post partum related.
- Most visits will take place in the comfort of our office but a few select ones will be in your own home.
- The midwife will listen to your baby’s heartbeat, check your baby’s growth and position, assess your vital signs, and discuss your health, nutrition, activity, sexuality, comfort, mood, and emotions.
- All necessary and routine labs will be done by the midwife after informed consent and education.
- Referrals and collaboration with an OB or MFM will be made for ultrasounds and other screenings or diagnostic tests.
- Access to our electronic health record which includes many resources
Birth Services
Birth Services
Birth Services
All Births Include:
- Patience and trust in both the birth process and your ability to listen and trust in your body and baby to achieve the most ideal birth you have envisioned for yourself.
- We offer delayed clamping and cutting of cord.
- We do immediate skin to skin with you and the baby, post delivery.
- We give you the freedom to move around in labor, eat/drink as desired, and push in whatever position best suites your needs/desires.
- We perform perineal or vaginal tissue repair if needed (1st or 2nd degree).
- You will have 24-hour availability of a midwife for labor, post partum care, baby, and lactation check in.
- We consult or care with a maternal fetal medicine specialist or obstetrician
- See below for additional details for Home Births & Water Births.
- See below for additional detail for Hospital Births, or VBAC clients.
Postpartum Care
Birth Services
Postpartum Care
Postpartum Visits Include:
- Your postpartum care will include four (4) visits with our midwives.
At each visit, the midwife will:
- check to see how you and your baby are doing both physically and mentally;
- assist you with breastfeeding;
- provide you with necessary resources & referrals, and;
- answer any questions you may have.
- Your first visit will be 24-48 hours after your birth, we will visit you at your home or at Cedars.
- Your second visit will be one (1) week after birth, and we will visit you at your home.
- Your third visit will be three (3) weeks after your birth, we will visit you at your home.
- Your final visit will be six (6) weeks after your birth, and will take place at our office.
At the last visit, we will follow up with the items covered in week 3, do a pap smear (if you are due for one) and address any questions or needs you might have related to contraception & family planning.
additional home & hospital birth information
Home Birth & Water Birth Patients
Home Birth & Water Birth Patients
Home Birth & Water Birth Patients
- For our patients who choose to birth at home, purchase of a home birth kit will be necessary.
- For our patients who choose to birth at home, water birth is a popular option. Regardless of whether the baby will actually be born in the water (which may be difficult to predict), laboring in water promotes comfort and relaxation. You can either use your own or buy a birthing tub for home births.
- The midwife and a qualified birth attendant (many times another midwife or an experienced labor and delivery nurse) will be present at your birth throughout active labor and the immediate postpartum period (usually lasting about 3 hours).
- The midwife will do a full newborn assessment, and if desired, administer routine medications at time of birth. She will also provide you with breastfeeding support
- A return home visit 24-48hrs post delivery. Visit will include assessment of maternal and newborn well being. Newborn weight, metabolic screening and congenital congestive heart disease screen will be performed. We do not offer Newborn hearing screenings or jaundice screenings (which are routinely done either in the hospital or in your pediatrician’s office).
-Should it become necessary to transfer care to a hospital, your care will continue with us as we have delivering privileges at Cedars-Sinai. You and your baby will continue to be monitored and delivered by the midwife - if clinically appropriate - or by one of our supportive doctors or in-house team members if there is medical urgency that is outside our scope of practice.
Hospital Birth & VBAC Patients
Home Birth & Water Birth Patients
Home Birth & Water Birth Patients
- When you think you are in labor – we will be in constant communication and decide together when to come to your home and do a labor check. Together, we will determine when is the best time to head over the the hospital.
- The midwife will call the unit ahead and you will be directly admitted to a labor & delivery room once you get there, thus bypassing the entire "triage" process that traditionally hospital patients are subjected to.
NOTE: The admission process will still require signing of papers and many questions by the staff.
- All the tools you were using at home to cope with labor will still be available for you at the hospital (shower, aromatherapy, massage, etc).
- In addition, should you choose to use IV pain medications or get an epidural, these options will be available for you in a hospital setting.
- While you labor at the hospital, the midwife will either stay by your side or be within very close proximity. She will make sure you and your baby are safe and your wishes are honored.
- Once the baby is born and you are stable, she will write admission orders to the post partum unit and come visit you there the next day.
- When its time to go home, she will assess you and discharge you with all needed instructions, resources, medications, and a plan to see you at home within a week.
- Vaginal Birth after a Cesarean Section (VBAC) is an option for clients who are candidates and planning to deliver at Cedars-Sinai.