WSNM Nurse Midwives

A certified nurse-midwife is a registered nurse who has completed an accredited education program in nurse-midwifery and has passed a national certifying exam. Certified nurse-midwives provide prenatal care, deliver babies, and offer women’s gynecology care from the first menstrual cycle through menopause. As a type of advanced practice clinician, nurse-midwives focus on educating and partnering with women in their health care and in their childbearing. They also work in collaboration with physicians when needed, in a team approach that ensures that women are linked up with the appropriate or desired level of care.

At Women’s Specialists, nurse-midwives believe that birth is a natural and normal process. We blend time honored traditions in providing care in labor with evidence based practice from the fields of women’s health, obstetrics, breastfeeding, primary care and mental health care.

Midwives at Women’s Specialists take a personal approach to childbirth, stressing the importance of education and emotional support for parents. We recognize the the many ways that women view a good birth experience and we help you navigate through decisions of pain management in the process of having your baby. In labor, we will honor and follow physiologic principles for childbirth wherever possible so that birth leans into the normal and that breastfeeding can be most successful. Even in higher risk pregnancies with planned interventions, midwives can be care providers for you alongside physician support. This collaboration allows us to provide safe and satisfying births for many women.

 

 

Midwives and Advanced Practice Clinicians (nurse practitioners and physician assistants)provide expert care in birth control consultation, in dealing with painful or irregular periods, abnormal bleeding, advising and assisting women who desire pregnancy, diagnosing pelvic issues, , treating sexually transmitted infections, placing intrauterine devices (IUDs) and the contraceptive implant (Nexplanon), prescribing birth control pills, and some offering hormonal replacement therapy and placing pessaries. Midwives and Advanced Practice Clinicians can also manage some primary care issues such as thyroid disorders and urinary tract infections, and offer cancer screening and general health counseling. We refer to physicians right here within our practice and to outside specialists when needed.

 

Midwives take care of many of the women who come to have their babies in the Women’s Specialists practice, either in the prenatal period only or throughout the pregnancy and birth. Currently this depends on the facility you choose for delivery.

Women’s Specialists has a large physician group who deliver babies at Lovelace Women’s Hospital and at downtown Presbyterian Hospital . There is a Midwife group dedicated to the Lovelace Women’s Hospital site for deliveries, but they can also see you for prenatal care if you are planning your birth at the main Presbyterian Hospital.  Midwives are located at three of our prenatal offices for clinic visits.

For continuity of care, many of our midwives work from sunrise to sunrise, but never more than 24 hours at a time. Physicians are readily available. You may choose to see a physician for prenatal care and be attended in labor by a midwife, or see a physician for the entire prenatal and birth experience. Sometimes women start out with a midwife in their care and then start seeing a physician for care if certain medical problems arise. With consultation between midwife and physician, many women can choose to continue with midwifery care. The relationship between midwives and physicians at WSNM is friendly and mutually supportive.

Four times a year we hold a Meet the Midwives event where women can become familiar with the team of midwives and ask questions individually.