This pregnancy, Mary Greenwood wanted a little extra support and to meet other moms, too.
So the Lake Stevens mom signed up for a program at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett that takes a different approach to caring for pregnant women.
The program is called Centering. It’s part medical appointment and part educational support group.
The same group of expectant moms meets 10 times throughout their pregnancies. The two-hour sessions are led by a nurse midwife, and the women get prenatal care, education and a chance to make some new friends.
The program started last year and is so popular, Providence is hiring four more nurse midwives. Providence expanded the program to its Mill Creek clinic and plans to expand to Monroe next.
In this program, nurse midwives handle the prenatal care and delivery for mothers with low-risk pregnancies. Babies are delivered at the hospital. If there’s a problem during the pregnancy or delivery, doctors are on hand to handle complications. Pelvic exams occur in private.
Greenwood likes the idea of a natural birth, but prefers to deliver in a hospital.
“I think the idea of a home birth is great but if there are complications, I didn’t want to drive to the hospital while I’m pushing,” Greenwood said.
This model gives physicians more time to care for high-risk patients and to respond to emergencies in labor and delivery, said Dr. Kevin Pieper, chief of Providence’s Women’s and Children’s Division.
“Midwives are really the experts in low-risk obstetrics,” he said. “They provide more individualized, supportive care to those laboring naturally.”
Midwives also tend to have lower Cesarean rates than physicians, Pieper said. The midwifery group at Providence has the lowest C-section rate in the country for a practice its size.
The model expands Providence’s ability to provide timely access to prenatal care in Snohomish County, he said. Plus, moms are happier.
At a recent session, seven expectant mothers all due in November met at a conference room at Providence’s Pacific campus. Midwife Jamie George met with each mother privately behind a curtain, performing the normal assessments that would happen at a prenatal checkup while music played softly. It’s called “belly time.”
Meanwhile, the other moms chatted while they waited for their turns, and also weighed themselves and took their own blood pressures.
The program actually gives expectant mothers more time with their midwife — a total of 20 hours instead of a series of short visits.
“For us, we get so much more connected to these patients in our groups,” George said.
The moms can bring a support person. One expectant father sat close to his partner during the session, holding her hand tenderly. Two other women brought their mothers.
Megan Belisle’s partner will likely be away from home working when their baby comes. He’s a reactor mechanic on the USS Nimitz. The Marysville woman has family to support her, but she likes the idea of meeting other women who will have babies the same age.
“I absolutely love this,” she said. “I can’t imagine doing something different.”
Once George is finished meeting with all the women, she leads a lively discussion. The program follows a curriculum developed by a nonprofit called the Centering Healthcare Institute, and this time she spoke about pain management during labor. She let the women’s questions and concerns guide the conversation. Most of the moms in this group are struggling with back pain.
It’s early but the program is showing some promising results. Women participating in the first few groups had fewer preterm deliveries than other women who gave birth at Providence. Of the 35 moms in the program who delivered babies between December and April, two had preterm deliveries — a rate of 5.7 percent compared to the hospital’s rate of 7.74 percent. Providence operates the third-largest birthing center in the state with more than 4,200 babies born annually.
“We’re not sure why,” George said. “The thought is maybe they’re more educated or comfortable or maybe they’re less stressed. Perhaps they are more aware of the warning signs.”
The mothers universally loved the program. All of the 69 mothers who participated rated the program as either four or five out of five — that’s considered highly satisfied.
George said that the labor and delivery unit manager reports that mothers who have gone through the program are far more prepared post-partum.
“The nurses don’t have to teach them much,” she said.
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