Welcome to Around the Circle Midwifery.

In our free consultation visit, please ask about our experience and qualifications, and anything else that may help you in choosing the right care providers for this very special experience. The following information will help you to learn more about what you can expect from your midwifery care.

Licensed Midwives in Washington have completed a comprehensive midwifery program at a state-accredited school, and have passed the state licensing exam. Program standards are based on those adopted by the International Confederation of Midwives and the International Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Licensed Midwives are trained and authorized to provide complete maternity services.

Our services include individualized and comprehensive prenatal care, instruction in self-care, nutritional counseling, birth at home or in a free-standing birth center, lactation support, and postpartum care for you and your baby. We believe you should be an active participant in your healthcare and will make every effort to provide you with information and education regarding all options, so that you (and your partner) may make informed choices about your care. We encourage you to bring your partner, and/or friends or relatives that are planning to support you during your pregnancy, labor and birth, and during the immediate post partum period, to your appointments.

We generally set aside one hour for each prenatal visit. We schedule monthly visits until your seventh month, at which time we will begin seeing each other more frequently. During your last month, until your birth, we will want to see you each week. In addition to our visits, we encourage you to attend childbirth classes focused on out-of-hospital birth.

Throughout your prenatal care we will be talking about your plans, hopes and concerns about childbirth and motherhood. We recognize the birth of your baby as your own special experience and we will be honored to provide the kind of care you desire. We can talk about relaxation techniques and different positions you can use to help you be more comfortable throughout your labor, as well as talk about the experience of labor and birth itself. In the last months of your pregnancy, we will talk about home preparation and the supplies you need to have ready in anticipation of your birth.

As the time of your birth draws near, we may have more frequent contact with you as you begin to feel more imminent. We stay on call 24-hours a day. We can always schedule additional visits if you feel a need. We will come to be with you during labor, when your labor becomes active. There will always be at least one trained birth assistant, in addition to the midwife, at your birth. During labor we will monitor your vital signs, check on your baby's well-being, and support you in the ways you desire.

After the birth we will stay with you for approximately 3-4 hours unless otherwise needed. During that time we will monitor you and your baby carefully, encouraging early breast- feeding success, while affording you time alone together to bond as a family. We will give your baby a thorough newborn exam (by your side) to make sure everything is fine. We will also talk about postpartum care of the infant and mom in the days after birth.

The following day we will check in on your new family, at your home, to see how you are feeling, how your baby is doing, and if you have any special needs or questions during this unique time of adjustment. We visit with you again a few days later to offer breastfeeding support, monitor your health and recovery, and to monitor your baby’s growth. We will schedule at least two additional visits in the following six weeks to insure adequate support and a healthy outcome. If you are interested, we can explore the right birth control options for you during this postpartum period. We also offer standard newborn screening tests and a follow-up Pap test.

We are able to bill most insurance companies and DSHS for our services. If you plan to pay out-of-pocket, we ask that your bill is paid in full prior to your birth. We have a payment plan for people in need and would like to hear from you at the beginning of your care if you will have difficulty paying the full fees. Please make compensation your responsibility. We greatly appreciate it.

We look forward to getting to know you during the next few months as your belly grows round and you ready yourself, and those around you, for the birth of a new little person into your lives. Working together with a midwife during pregnancy, labor and birth can be a very special and rewarding experience.

Philosophy Statement

As midwives, we believe the practice of midwifery to be distinct from the practice of medicine. Midwifery is a discipline pertaining to a normal cycle of life, the childbearing years. We base our profession on a model of care which affirms that:

Women are strong, and capable of great and ordinary things--as care providers we must not stand in the way of their knowledge and inner wisdom, rather, we should honor and nurture that strength which is inherent in every woman. We believe that the birth experience belongs to the woman and her intimate family. We, as attendants, are guests and witnesses in the lives of others.

Women are the primary care providers in their own lives and often in the lives of their families. Midwives respect the dignity and rights of the women they serve and strive to work in collaboration with them, supporting women to make informed decisions about their care and to take responsibility for their own well-being.

Physical, emotional, social, cultural and spiritual factors together, contribute to the health of individuals, and play a significant role in childbearing. Each woman has a unique experience of pregnancy and childbirth. To the best of our ability, we shall individualize our midwifery care to offer support in a manner which respects and addresses each woman’s unique needs.

Midwives recognize the value of a consistent care provider throughout the childbearing cycle and offer continuity of care whenever appropriate. We provide health care within a community context. Our practices reflect an awareness and integration of cultural standards, midwifery and medical standards and an ability to network with available social and health care services and resources.

There is an inherent perfection in childbearing and birth as a significant life process, one which does best without interference. We understand that attempts to control the process inevitably alters it, and frequently may harm the delicate balance. We embrace non-intervention consciously, quietly facilitating the spontaneous process of pregnancy, labor and birth, utilizing interventions only as truly necessary for the safety and well-being of mother and child.

Knowledge is to be shared freely --with students, other midwives and health care providers, with pregnant women and their families. Open collaboration creates an atmosphere of peers, co-learners, and community, one in which all participants hold a piece of the truth and all are of value.

We affirm that choice of birth place and birth attendant are basic rights of all women and their families. For there to be authentic choice, we, as midwives will continue to educate and reach out to the public and the medical community, working to insure that safe, accessible and affordable out-of -hospital birth options are available to women throughout our state.