Midwifery care
The Essential Role of Midwives: Nurturing Life's Beginnings
In the journey of childbirth, where the miracle of life begins and grows, midwives stand as the guiding light, offering their expertise, care, and support. The word "midwife" literally translates to "with woman." This etymology beautifully captures the essence of what midwives do: they stand with women through the journey of pregnancy, labor, childbirth, and the postnatal period. Midwives provide care, support, and guidance, embodying a role that is vitally important in contemporary healthcare. Their practice is centered on supporting the natural process of childbirth, advocating for the woman's wishes, and ensuring the health and well-being of both mother and baby.
Midwifery is a profession that combines the art of caring with the science of health care, focusing on pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period, including care of the newborn. Midwives are specialists in normal pregnancy and birth, grounded in an understanding that childbirth is a profound experience, which should be empowered and supported in a manner that is respectful, individualized, and minimally invasive. They are trained to recognize the variations of normal progress of labor, and how to deal with deviations from normal. They can provide all necessary support and care during pregnancy and childbirth, and refer to obstetricians or other specialists if a high-risk condition arises.
The significance of midwives extends far beyond the act of delivering babies. Research has consistently shown that midwifery care contributes to better outcomes for mothers and babies, including lower rates of cesarean sections, reduced instances of preterm birth and low birth weight, and improved rates of breastfeeding. Moreover, the model of care promotes a more natural, empowered childbirth experience.
What are appointments like?
Appointments are leisurely, up to 45 minutes long. They are mostly aimed at getting to know the client, answering her questions, providing education, supporting physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, performing belly checks and blood pressure checks, and preparing her for labor, birth, and beyond.
Prenatal care
Compassionate care is always tailored to each unique pregnant mother who enters care with us. An initial intake assessment is done to understand the needs our clients have so we can target getting social support on board from the very beginning.
The prenatal schedule of visits are monthly from 12-28 weeks, every other week from 28-36 weeks, and weekly from 36 on until birth. Routine blood work is done at 12 weeks and 28 weeks, and an ultrasound is done at 21 weeks.
Labor and birth
We do not attend births in the hospital at this time. A plan will be made with each client as to which hospital she wants to give birth at, and prenatal records will be sent over to that hospital at 36 weeks so the on call OB or midwife will have your records to care for you in labor.
We have a wonderful doula program that offers continuity of care with a support person and advocate for an empowering birth. We encourage prospective clients to look at this service here.
Postpartum and newborn care
Once discharged home from the hospital, clients will call and let us know that they have given birth and we will get her set up for the postpartum and newborn visits that happen at 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4-6 weeks post-birth.
Meet Heather Soper, CNM
Heather is the founder of The Village Prenatal Clinic and has been a Certified Nurse Midwife for 9 years. Since she was young, she felt the call to midwifery and can’t remember a time that she wasn’t drawn to mothers and babies. Her passion is to provide professional, holistic, empowering, woman-centered care from conception through postpartum. She values and listens to her clients and provides respectful care that is personalized to each mother. The part about her role as a midwife that she loves the most is connecting and knowing her clients well enough to give them support mentally, emotionally and spiritually- not just addressing physical health.