Precious Thoughts
Homebirth midwifery services based out of Wentzville, Missouri.
Photo taken by Jessie Anderson and generously shared by these AMAZING parents
Our approach
As a midwife, I believe in the Midwives Model of Care, a fundamentally different approach to pregnancy and childbirth than contemporary obstetrics. Midwifery care is uniquely nurturing, hands-on care before, during, and after birth. Midwives are health care professionals specializing in pregnancy and childbirth who develop a trusting relationship with their clients, which results in confident, supported labor and birth. Certified professional midwives are trained to provide comprehensive prenatal care and education, guide labor and birth, address complications, and care for newborns. The Midwives Model of Care™ is based on the fact that pregnancy and birth are normal life events. The Midwives Model of Care includes:
monitoring the physical, psychological and social well-being of the mother throughout the childbearing cycle
providing the mother with individualized education, counseling, and prenatal care, continuous hands-on assistance during labor and delivery, and postpartum support
minimizing technological interventions and
identifying and referring women who require obstetrical attention.
The application of this model has been proven to reduce to incidence of birth injury, trauma, and cesarean section (1).
The Midwives Model of Care at home
Homebirth has historically been the normal atmosphere for women to labor and birth. Women are rediscovering the benefits of homebirth and desiring to have that experience for their birth. Women choosing home birth have a much higher chance of:
Enjoying a natural physiologic birth, along with a much lower chance of experiencing unnecessary medical procedures, with outcomes that are just as safe, compared to healthy mothers and babies birthing in hospital.
Women planning a home birth have exceptionally low chances of needing a cesarean.
Families with special circumstances, such as younger or older mothers or mothers planning a natural birth after cesarean, have the opportunity to receive gentle or personalized choices, which hospitals may not be able to or willing to offer due to their protocols.
Fathers and siblings benefit from being included and valued.
Homebirth offers mothers a safe option who may want to avoid hospitals because of a previous bad experience or fear of a bad experience.
Families have the advantage of choosing the provider they want to invite to offer them one-to-one care in labor. Usually this personal and intimate support begins early pregnancy and lasts through a couple weeks after birth.
Staying at home is usually a more attractive option in labor than a cramped car ride to a hospital!
Financially homebirth is more affordable than hospital birth because of the low need for expensive medical procedures.
The lack of disturbance allows full expressions of the laboring woman’s hormones which enhance ease, pleasure, safety of mother and baby, their bonding and breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding is more successful giving life-long health advantages to both mother and baby.
According to a recent US survey, safety is the number one reason couples give for choosing homebirth. Giving birth at home is a safe choice, according to the best international research. Babies have equally good perinatal mortality- risk of dying around the time of birth- compared to low-risk babies born in hospital. Mothers have strikingly lower rates of medical procedures (2)
Birth Matters
Photo taken by Jessie Anderson, photographer. Kindly shared by this special family!