Prenatal appointments occur at my office. Each appointment is scheduled for one hour to allow plenty of time for questions, discussion of nutrition and any concerns of the parent(s) or midwife. Each visit includes checking blood pressure, weight gain, measuring fetal growth, listening to the baby, and any needed lab work is ordered. Prenatal visits are every four weeks until 28 weeks, then every two weeks until 36 weeks and then weekly until the birth. One of the prenatal visits will occur in your home when we do your homevisit around 36 weeks. We want to be familiar with your home before the birth. 

 

Once the baby is born, we stay approximately 3 hours after the birth, longer if necessary. During this time we ensure the mama eats and hydrates, ensure the baby latches on and nurses and assist as needed with breastfeeding, perform a thorough newborn exam, examine the woman’s tissue and suture if needed, continually monitor and evaluate postpartum bleeding, ensure the mother urinates and discuss postpartum instructions and answer questions.

 

There will be one day and three day postpartum homevisits to check on mother’s healing, vitals, emotional state, evaluate breastfeeding and monitor baby's color and vitals, answer questions and discuss any concerns of the parent(s) or midwife. At the one day homevisit is when the Newborn Metabolic Screen (aka PKU) is completed along with checking the baby’s oxygen saturation levels with a pulse oximeter.

 

There will then be one week and four week postpartum visits at my office. The last appointment will be at eight weeks to complete a Well Woman exam. This includes a Pap smear, breast exam, time for questions and discussing family planning.