Village Prenatal begins October 16, 2010, Menlo Park

I'm very excited to announce we'll be starting Village Prenatal, October 16, 2010

Benefits of this program to our clients:

• Group learning and connection with other women/couples planning homebirth
• Convenience of Saturday morning sessions on a known schedule
• All-in-one, prenatal midwifery care and parenting/birth preparation

For more information, expectant parents may join us for information open-house on the following dates (rsvp to Rosanna):

• July 24, 10am-noon
• August 21, 10am-noon
• September 18, 10am-noon

More details: Every three weeks on Saturday morning, pregnant women/couples will gather to receive their prenatal assessments (privately with midwife), and then for group learning, connection and socializing.

Steps in the process and structure of the care:

• Initial private appointment with midwife for complete health history, physical exam, coordination of care, and facilitation of prenatal labs/screening (as appropriate)
• Join group prenatals every three weeks until 34-36 weeks
• at 36 weeks a homevisit from midwife for late pregnancy plans to labor/birth at home
• 37-42 weeks until delivery, additional private prenatals so that you're seeing your midwife weekly
• The birth!
• Usual postpartum homevisits and baby care, from your midwife
• Two to four postpartum group session during the 4-12 week postpartum period

Privacy is of utmost importance. Each session we will all be reminded that all discussions in group will remain private, not to be discussed beyond and outside of session.

The care still allows plenty of one-on-one time with your midwife. It simply adds to the potential depth and richness of the prenatal experience by fostering community and connection that comes from people gathering in groups.

For those that are not available for Saturday "group prenatal" or don't desire this type of care, the option still remains for regular private sessions: monthly visits from 6 weeks-28 weeks, every two weeks from 28-36 weeks, weekly from 37 weeks to delivery.

Group Prenatals

27 years ago when I was pregnant with my second child, I received midwifery care for a planned homebirth from June Whitson. June was working with Nancy Barnett at the time and the structure of the care was a group prenatal experience.

Pregnant women gathered every couple of weeks at the education room of the local free-standing childbirth resource center, The Birth Place. Each woman in their turn would see the midwife individually, have the usual assessments done, then return to the group for socializing and support.

What the experience gave me was a sense of community and normalcy. That I had common concerns and experiences with the other women. Especially important to my sense of well-being was being with other women planning homebirth and receiving midwifery care in a time and culture where it was not commonplace.

When I quit my career as an engineer in 2001 to return to school to study midwifery, I ultimately wanted to recreate the rich experience of group prenatals for my own clients.

And we are ready to launch, with a compilation of Birthing From Within style education and Centering Pregnancy, California Midwifery Service starts offering Village Prenatal Care. Start date, soon to be announced.

Centering Pregnancy is a robust model of group prenatal that takes all the best qualities of midwifery care and gathering in groups, facilitated by the care-provider (doctor, nurse or midwife) for larger institutions with the goal of replacing 15 minute individual appointments. Centering Pregnancy.

Birthing From Within is holistic parenting preparation that is honest with parents, considers cultural influences on birth, expands parents expectations, helps parents understand locus of control, and uses multi-sensory learning.

The goal of the offering is to further bring a sense of community, empowered experience, and enhance women and couples sense of well-being. All this serves in an indirect (nevertheless powerful) way, as well, to improve outcomes for birth and breastfeeding, and reduce risk of postpartum depression.

Check back here or our website for details.