Centering Pregnancy

When you're sitting in the waiting room hoping you'll get in to see your midwife sometime in the next century, do you ever think to yourself, "there must be a better way to do this?" Well, there is! It's called Centering Pregnancy. We're going to be offering a Centering Pregnancy program at Waco Center for Women's Health. It's a group prenatal care model that is sweeping the country. Women are grouped into "Centering Groups" of 6-10 people with due dates in the same month. When they arrive they do the usual blood pressure checks and weighing. Each woman then meets with the midwife in a private, partitioned-off corner of the room to listen to the baby heartbeat, measure growth and ask questions. While she is doing that, the other women are having a snack, visiting and preparing for the education session. Once all the babies have been checked the midwife and her co-facilitator lead the group in educational games, discussions and activities designed to fully prepare a family for a new baby. The entire process takes 2 hours, it starts and ends on time and it's chock full of good information and care. No waiting room! Private issues and problems are addressed in the traditional exam room when needed. Each patient has the same number of prenatal visits that they would have under the traditional care model. We are hearing rave reviews from patients who have done this style of prenatal care. So, ask us about this new type of prenatal care and we'll be glad to fill you in!

More Baby Party Pictures

4th Annual Baby Party - 2011

Today is the Day!

Baby Party Today! 3-5 pm. Northern Gateway Pavilion. Cameron Park, Waco, Texas. Baby races, raffle prizes, cake, lemonade, petting zoo and lots of fun!

4th Annual Baby Party!

It's Baby Party time! Sunday, October 23rd from 3-5 pm. The party will be held at the new Northern Gateway Pavilion in Cameron Park. It is located just across the road from Lover's Leap. We will have signs posted to help people find the way. If you have a baby who was delivered by the Waco Center for Women's Health Midwives, we hope you have received you invitation. If you've moved and didn't get an invitation please come anyway! Family members of all ages welcome! We have all kinds of fun planned... cake, prizes, raffle, a petting zoo, playground fun, and the famous baby races! Our theme this year is "Farm Babies". The cake is going to be amazing! Our kids are old enough for a new race category. We already have the newly crawling and the newly walking, and now we can have running!

Our sponsors are Waco Center for Women's Health (of course), World Hunger Relief Farm, Pinwheel kids, Baby Wait, Sironia, Studio 200 Salon, Sharkey's Cuts for Kids, and Starbucks on Wooded Acres. All these places have donated either a gift basket, a gift certificate, or a petting zoo (World Hunger Farm).
See you there!

Midwife Commercial Coming your Way!

Galit, Cindy and Christy had a wonderful time last Thursday afternoon when they gathered for the filming of a TV commercial with about 20 of their patients. Channel 25 came out and taped several interviews with women who have been cared for by the midwives. They also shot a lot of cute baby footage! A huge thanks to all who participated. We should be able to see the commercial on Channel 25 soon. I'm told they work quickly!

Wonderful New Midwife Coming!

Galit Church, CNM is the newest addition to our team. She comes to us, newly graduated with a Master of Science degree in Nurse-Midwifery from Vanderbuilt University in Tennessee. She'll be starting in March 2011. Galit's student nurse-midwife opportunities included a busy 3 months at Fort Hood where she delivered many, many babies. Galit brings a fresh, young perspective to our practice and looks forward to taking the lead on some innovative prenatal care initiatives at Waco Center Midwives.

An Interview

Not too long ago Providence Hospital interviewed me for their newsletter. Here's the interview and the picture that went with it. I like to caption this picture "at least Christy's having fun!" The picture was taken at our annual Baby Party last August.

What is the definition of midwifery?

The word "midwife" comes from an old German phrase meaning "with woman." Originally it referred to being the attendant for a woman in childbirth, but the role of a Certified Nurse-Midwife has expanded that definition: A Certified Nurse-Midwife is with women through all phases of life, not just during the event of childbirth. CNMs serve women from adolescence through late adulthood. We do well-woman exams, primary care and perhaps most importantly, recognize what's normal and what's not normal. We frequently refer a woman to a physician if her symptoms, lab results and other testing indicate an abnormal condition. Certified Nurse Midwives are team members with physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, ultrasonographers, therapists, social workers, laboratory technicians, and many others on the health care team.

Why do you personally feel it is so important?

My first love is pregnancy and childbirth. Carl Sandberg said, "being born is important." With our busy schedules, hospital policies, pain, fear of complications and the like, we lose sight of that fact. Being born is a sacred experience for the baby, the mother, the family, and I've discovered, for the midwife. I also love the continuity of care that occurs when I see a woman in early pregnancy, follow her closely through the 9 months, attend her in labor, deliver the baby, follow-up postpartum and then see her for the rest of her life for pap smears, future pregnancies and referral to specialists. I get to know the entire family and often extend into the next generation with care for her adolescent daughter.

How is being a midwife different from other physicians in your office?

Because I don't have surgeries and high-risk patients to take care of, I can devote more time to education, listening and the practice of "presence". Presence is that continuity of care, it's being there. It's the continuity of being at bedside through the whole labor, and when the time comes, stepping to the end of the bed and gently "catching" the baby as it is delivered into our hands by the mother.

How does one find out more about it?

The American College of Nurse Midwives is our professional organization. Its website ACNM.org has wonderful information and resources.

Why might it be preferred over traditional childbirth process?

People prefer it over the medical way for many reasons. Presence is probably the biggest reason. The continuity of care and availability of the midwife to the patient is very popular. The midwifery philosophy is that birth is not an illness. In a healthy, normal pregnancy and birth, the midwife can be more flexible with positioning, monitoring, ambulation and mother-baby-father bonding. We think the stress on education is also important to people. When circumstances stray from the realm of normal, the CNM is quick to recognize that and consult or refer to her physician team-mate. Since all deliveries are at Providence Hospital, emergency equipment and staff are readily available when needed.

Do you follow the patient throughout entire labor & delivery process?

I try my hardest. For women who chose natural labor, I am there at their side nonstop. If a patient has an epidural and is very comfortable I don't usually hover at the bedside. I stay in the hospital and do other tasks but try to make it clear to them that I am close by and they should call if they need me. Once active labor begins, I'm there continuously. If I have two patients in labor I do the best I can to run back and forth.

Do you order epidurals and other needed medicinal intervention?

Yes, I order epidurals and other pain medicines for labor in the very same way the physicians do and the medical team will administer as needed.

How will being a part of Providence Healthcare Network and our new Women & Newborns Center benefit you and your patients?

I strongly believe that Certified Nurse Midwives offer the best of both worlds. A woman can experience safe, personal, individualized, intensive care that is trusting of the birth process God set in place, while at the same time having the safety net of equipment and physicians readily available when high-risk situations develop. Providence and Waco Center for Women's Health have been phenomenal in their support of this philosophy. The Providence Hospital Women and Newborns Center renovation will bring exciting changes! We'll have two beautiful rooms with all the amenities to welcome a laboring woman and her Certified Nurse Midwife in attendance: a labor tub, labor ball, squat bars, warm compresses, cool cloths, showers, and much, much more, but best of all, we will continue to have the supportive and caring staff that have been working with a Certified Nurse Midwife and witnessing these important births for 4 years now!

Samples of my work!

A funny list of alternate names for midwives.

I've kept a list of funny things people say when they're trying to describe or ask for a "midwife". In the places I've worked I've been called.... (this is for real!)

Wet Nurse (!)
Housewife
Den Mother
Middlewife
Half-Mother

I love it. Got any other ideas?

Welcome to 2011

It's a new year and we have exciting changes coming to Waco Center Midwives. Cindy Mabry has already started her new schedule and is awaiting her first Providence Hospital delivery. The construction at the hospital continues and things look promising. We're in the process of hiring a third Certified Nurse Midwife and hoping she can start her orientation in February! I'll give more details as soon as a few more things are finalized. Suffice it to say the Cindy and I are very, very pleased. Please continue to spread the word far and wide, that Waco has a wonderful Certified Nurse Midwifery Service.