Community birth is a safe option for people who are healthy and low risk. The following are conditions that we cannot accept for out of hospital birth;

• Heart disease
• Moderate to severe renal disease
• Current drug or alcohol addiction
• Epilepsy
• Diabetes
• Bleeding disorder and/or hemolytic disease
• Sickle cell anemia
• Smoking past 12 weeks of pregnancy
• Hypertension
• Twins
• Previous cesarean birth

*Age or IVF are NOT risk factors that exclude you from birth center care. This list is not exhaustive. If you think you may have a condition that might risk you out of care, please call to discuss it with us. This list does not exclude you from any of the other services we offer.

We are happy to begin your care as soon as possible. We are happy to provide a “confirmation of pregnancy” visit for you, if you have not had one elsewhere. If you have had care from another provider for this pregnancy, we can accept your transfer into practice up until 32 weeks of pregnancy.

We do provide all ultrasound services in our office for those who desire them. They are not done at every visit, and need to be scheduled in advance. Ultrasounds are not a requirement for care or for birth in the center.

Complications can present during the course of pregnancy care or during birth. In the event that a condition makes you too high risk for birth outside of the hospital, we can still continue to care for you! You will NOT be required to change providers if midwifery care in the hospital is still appropriate for your situation. Our midwives have admitting privileges at North Suburban Medical Center, and can continue your care there. We do have two physicians in our office who are available for consultation or co-care if needed. They do not provide any care in the birth center facility. All physician related services happen in our clinic or the hospital ONLY.

We provide care for both our client AND baby in the postpartum period. We believe in the 4th “trimester” of care. When parent and baby are cared for as a couplet, information and care plans work more smoothly. We also believe that care after the birth is just as, if not MORE important than prenatal care. We send you home after your birth to tuck into bed with your sweet new baby, and we expect you to stay there! Around 24 hours after the birth, we will have a tele-visit. We will talk all about how you and baby are doing. At two days, both you and baby will come in for a full evaluation in our office. We do this again when your baby is 8 to 10 days old. At this visit we will “discharge” baby from our care, and they will continue care with the pediatric provider of your choice. We see you once more at six weeks post birth to be sure that all is well, and discuss any birth control options if you choose.

Of course! We are happy to provide birth control, yearly wellness visits, cancer screenings or any other GYN services you may need throughout the seasons of your life.

We are in-network with most major insurance companies and accept Medicaid. For more information call our office.