Care for Families Planning a Hospital Birth
For many families, a planned hospital birth is the right choice based their health, comfort, current pregnancy needs, insurance and finances, housing situation, or personal preferences. Home-based midwifery care and doula care both have a lot to offer in supporting and nurturing families who are also receiving obstetric or nurse-midwife care for a planned hospital birth.
Currently I am only offering prenatal and/or postpartum midwifery care for families planning a hospital birth. I am not available for labor and birth doula care, postpartum doula care, or full integrated midwifery care for families planning a hospital birth. I am happy to offer recommendations of others who offer those services.
An initial 1/2-hour consultation is free to all families as a place to ask questions, get to know one another, and decide if it is a good fit for us to work together. Contact me to set up your consultation.
Postpartum Midwifery Care
Many families planning a hospital birth wonder, “what happens when we go home with a newborn a day or two after giving birth?!? I wish the postpartum nurses could come to our house!”
Unfortunately our current system of hospital-based care does not offer significant support for families once they are discharged from the hospital, typically 1 or 2 days postpartum. Most families have a few early postpartum pediatric visits, but after leaving the hospital the person who gave birth typically only sees a care provider again once at 6 weeks postpartum.
Postpartum Midwifery Care is a great complementary source of support, care, and family nourishment after a hospital birth.
We have one appointment together prenatally to get to know one another, make plans for your postpartum support system, and discuss your family’s needs and preferences. But please don’t hesitate to contact me even if you have already given birth and want postpartum care!
The first postpartum visit is typically right after you get home from the hospital, to provide support in this transition time. However, families with longer hospital stays may choose to have their first visit in the hospital.
As with homebirth postpartum care, I offer subsequent postpartum visits at your home. I will see you 3 more times in the first 2 weeks, and then again at 4 weeks and 6 weeks postpartum.
Our postpartum visits will vary, depending on you and your family’s specific support needs. It is typically a mix of:
assessing you and your baby’s health and wellbeing, including physical, emotional, mental health, and relationship health
lactation/nursing/feeding support and advice
discussing how your family is doing with the many transitions of early postpartum time
strategizing for sleep, nutrition, and support
connecting you with community resources and services
FEES
My fee for full postpartum midwifery care is $1000. We can also arrange a postpartum care plan with fewer or more planned visits based on your family’s needs, and adjust the fee accordingly.
As a starting point for our conversation about fees, please look over my payment and fees guidelines to learn more about sliding scale and barter options.
Birth Doula
I am not currently accepting new labor and birth doula clients.
A birth doula is a great support and resource for almost anyone planning a hospital birth. Unfortunately most hospital nursing staffs don’t have as much time as they would like to provide continuous labor support, which is where a birth doula comes in! There is ample, high-quality evidence that birth doulas improve the physical and emotional experience of labor and birth.
I am happy to attend births at home or in birth center and be your birth doula in those settings as well as hospital births.
As a birth doula, I come to your home and/or birth location and offer you physical and emotional labor support at whatever point you are ready for that.
If you are planning a hospital or birth center birth, I can support you in deciding when is the right time to go to your birth location. I will continue to provide labor and birth support while you are laboring and birthing there as well.
I am also there to support anyone with you, such as a partner, friend, or relative, so that they are best able to stay fully present in supporting you as your main important people. I find this happens best when your support people can take breaks, eat regularly and take naps, ask questions, and feel reassured about the normalcy of labor and birth being an intense experience.
We meet twice prenatally for one-hour appointments so we can get to know one another, and talk through what kind of support feels best to you. If you are planning a hospital birth, we will also review what options and decisions commonly arise in the hospital, and discuss your needs, preferences, and decision-making around pain management and hospital procedures.
I am on call for your birth from 36 weeks of pregnancy until you give birth. I come to you at any point in labor when you are ready for my support.
Two one-hour postpartum visits are included in my role as your birth doula. The focus of my postpartum doula visits varies depending on what your family needs most. Options include newborn care, lactation/nursing/feeding support, help with sleep and nutrition, strategizing to get you the full postpartum support you need, discussing emotional and mental health, and talking through the birth.
While I am trained and experienced as a midwife, if you hire me as your birth doula I am not there in my full capacity as a midwife. I am not able to be your primary care provider and cannot offer any clinical midwifery care as your doula.
FEES
My fee for doula care is $1500, which includes 2 prenatal visits, labor support and birth support, and 2 postpartum visits.
As a starting point for our conversation about fees, please look over my payment and fees guidelines to learn more about sliding scale and barter options.
Integrated Midwifery Care for Planned Hospital Birth
I am not currently accepting new clients seeking midwifery care for a planned hospital birth.
With integrated midwifery care, I incorporate my skills and training as a licensed midwife to support families planning a hospital birth. Sometimes this type of care is called monitrice care. This is a great option for families that really want homebirth-style midwifery care, but also want or need to give birth in the hospital.
I see you for full midwifery prenatal and postpartum care, the same as I provide for homebirth families.
I am on call for your labor and birth from 36 weeks of pregnancy until you give birth.
I provide labor support at home, which includes my midwifery clinical skills as wanted or needed to assess the health and wellbeing of you and your baby (e.g. checking blood pressure, listening to the baby’s heart rate, and offering internal cervical exams). This can be really helpful for families that want to labor at home as long as possible, and want extra support to feel confident in doing so. First-time parents and families planning a VBAC often particularly appreciate this type of labor support.
I am there to support you in deciding when is the right time in labor to transition to the hospital, and my labor and birth support continues when we arrive there.
In the hospital, my role is similar to a doula: I provide emotional and physical support, suggestions to support labor progress, and decision-making support, but I am not your clinical or primary care provider at the hospital.
Postpartum care typically starts after you are back home again from the hospital, but can be arranged as need for your family. I provide full postpartum midwifery care, the same as I provide for homebirth families.
FEES
My fee for integrated hospital birth midwifery care is $2800, which includes full prenatal midwifery care, labor support, birth support at the hospital, and full midwifery postpartum care. We can also arrange a care plan with fewer appointments - just 2 prenatal and 2 postpartum visits rather than full midwifery prenatal/postpartum care - and the fee for that care plan is $2000.
As a starting point for our conversation about fees, please look over my payment and fees guidelines to learn more about sliding scale and barter options.