Nurse Midwifery
Caring Health Center is pleased to be working in collaboration with Bay State Midwifery and Women’s Health to provide our families with the best possible birthing care offered. Nurse-midwives are available for consultation at our Forest Park and Main Street Clinics, while babies are delivered at Baystate Medical Center’s Wesson Women and Infants’ Unit. This is the premier provider of obstetrical services in our region, and offers the latest medical advances in neonatal care, including the only Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the area. This ongoing partnership underlines the commitment of Caring Health Center to our young families.
Nurse-Midwifery
Nurse-midwifery is the tradition of women caring for women during pregnancy and childbirth. The certified nurse-midwives at Baystate Midwifery and Women's Health are committed to care that is physically and emotionally supportive. We believe in helping women create a birthing environment that is calm, empowering and supportive of the natural process of labor. We encourage our patients and their families to include elements of their own cultures and traditions in the pregnancy and birth experiences.
The Nurse-Midwife Advantage
National health care studies report that nurse-midwife/physician teams have significant advantages over facilities where nurse-midwifes are not available. These collaborative teams incur lower health care costs, maintain higher birth weight figures and lower infant mortality rates. There is also a reduced need for episiotomies, anesthesia, and Cesarean sections.
Studies have shown that women who use nurse-midwives have a high rate of vaginal births compared to Cesarean births. The U.S. average is about 31% for Cesarean births, within Baystate Midwifery and Women’s Health it is 12%.
Ongoing Care
Baystate nurse-midwives:
• deliver babies;
• care for women from puberty through post-menopause, through every
stage and transition of a woman’s life, before, during and after
pregnancy;
• provide regular ongoing gynecologic care such as pap smears and
breast exams; offer advice about reproductive health;
• and provide information about birth control options, nutrition and
exercise, childbirth methods, and infant health.
Nurse-midwifery services are covered by most insurance carriers.
Patient Education
Our nurse-midwives counsel you throughout your pregnancy to help you make more informed decisions about your health care. We offer birthing classes to prepare you and your partner for a safe and satisfying birth experience, and offer guidance about nutritional, newborn and postnatal care.
Childbirth
Nurse-midwives help women create a caring, comfortable birthing environment that caters to each woman’s personal needs. You are encouraged to make decisions about everything from the need for or type of anesthesia you prefer, to the labor position in which you are most comfortable.
Baystate’s certified nurse-midwives work in collaboration with physicians to provide primary care to women with low risk pregnancies. Obstetricians are immediately available for consultation during pregnancy or in the event a problem arises during labor or delivery.
Over 100 Years of Experience
The nurse-midwives at Baystate Midwifery and Women’s Health are highly educated professionals with backgrounds in both nursing and midwifery. All are certified by the American College of Nurse-Midwives, licensed to practice and prescribe medications by the state of Massachusetts, and credentialed by Baystate Medical Center. Our nurse-midwives are also qualified to provide routine gynecological care, preconception counseling, and family planning services.
The nurse-midwives of Baystate Midwifery and Women’s Health have over 100 years of accumulated clinical practice experience delivering babies and caring for women. Nurse-midwives have been on the staff of Baystate Medical Center since 1980, delivering over 10,000 babies in that time. Approximately 20 percent of all babies born at Baystate are delivered by a certified nurse-midwife.
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Caring Health Center is pleased to be working in collaboration with Bay State Midwifery and Women’s Health to provide our families with the best possible birthing care offered. Nurse-
Nurse-
The Nurse-
Studies have shown that women who use nurse-
Ongoing Care
Baystate nurse-
• care for women from puberty through post-
pregnancy;
• provide regular ongoing gynecologic care such as pap smears and
breast exams; offer advice about reproductive health;
• and provide information about birth control options, nutrition and
exercise, childbirth methods, and infant health.
Nurse-
Patient Education
Our nurse-
Childbirth
Nurse-
Baystate’s certified nurse-
Over 100 Years of Experience
The nurse-
The nurse-
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