Frequently Asked Questions
Questions about Frisco Midwifery & Birth Center
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Someday, soon, you’re going to be sharing the story of one of the most sacred and sentimental experiences of your lifetime – the birth of your child. Frisco Birth Center truly embraces the belief that your experiences through pregnancy, birth, and the first weeks of your baby’s life will have a profound impact on you and the way you see yourself and how you parent.
Throughout pregnancy you will experience a wide range of emotions. When the day of your birth finally arrives, and your newborn looks in your eyes as you bring her to your chest for the first time, you’ll have a whole new, rich, wave of emotions.
We believe that birth can be more than just safe.
It can also be sentimental, satisfying and transformative.
Frisco Midwifery & Birth Center is committed to supporting you and your growing family.
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We are fortunate to live in a metroplex with many fine midwives to choose between. There is a “midwife for everyone”. We all have different strengths and temperaments.
At Frisco Midwifery & Birth Center, our philosophy differentiates us from other practices.
We differentiate ourselves by fully embracing physiologic birth. We support the natural process of labor and birth without interruptions and unnecessary interventions. There are many subtle ways that philosophy shows up in labor. For example, we support the mother to birth at the pace her baby and body are ready – so we don’t do directed pushing. We know that the ideal labor hormones are made in the primal brain, so we don’t ask mothers a lot of questions in labor – we support you more intuitively, respecting the quiet environment. We are always striving to find ways to help birth be both safe and sentimental.
We protect your oxytocin (natural labor hormones) by doing an early labor assessment (usually in your home) to help you know if "it's time" to minimize the risk you'll "be sent home" in early labor.
We allow you to guide the decision of whether we check your dilation. We don't have a requirement to assess your cervix in order to admit you in labor.
We (and our midwifery colleagues) are also very different from traditional medical practices:
We practice ‘holistic’ care which means we look at the whole person, body, mind and heart/soul.
Body: At every prenatal appointment we schedule plenty of time to check on the physical wellbeing of mom & baby by checking vitals, listening to heart tones, measuring your growing abdomen, etc.
Mind: Then, we answer about your questions, offer educational resources from our lending library and extensive handouts to help you feel prepared.
Heart: The greatest benefit of holistic midwifery care is the opportunity to create heart-to-heart connections so you feel seen, heard, and safe with your birth team. We are intentional about caring for your heart too.
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Frisco Midwifery & Birth Center is committed to creating an intimate, concierge-style birth experience.
We never want to be so busy that we lose connection with the people we are serving.
And, we never want to miss a birth!
For that reason, we limit the number of clients we take each month.
We take a maximum of 4-6 families each month. Some of those are home birth clients, the others plants birth at the birth center.
When you decide you want to birth with us, you should go ahead and reserve your birth date sooner rather than later.
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We put as much focus on the experience of the baby as we do on the experience of the parents. We practice evidence based care and support the parents by encouraging confidence-building, family-bonding experiences from the time we first glimpse the baby’s head and through the weeks that we provide care for the MotherBaby
Physiologic Care: We carefully observe birth, but do not intervene or interrupt the process. We do not pull the head, or force the process. Mothers work to bring babies earthside at their own pace, safely and patiently.
The first touch goes to the Parents. As the head emerges, we love to guide the mother to touch the sweet soft head. As the shoulders emerge, we encourage the mother and father to place their hands under the baby as a commitment to have a safe place in your embrace for a lifetime. We often support one or both parents receiving the baby with our guidance.
The birth team honors the sacred experience of birth by being silent so the first voices the baby hears are the voices of their parents.
We wait to clamp and cut the umbilical cord until the placenta detaches on its own. It’s a beautiful support for the baby as he/she practices breathing air for the first time. We don’t want to rush the process.
Uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact with the mother and/or father during the first 2 hours after the birth is an important way to support the health and wellbeing of the baby, and the whole family.
Breastfeeding is natural but it’s not always easy. We provide breastfeeding education before birth, and breastfeeding support immediately after birth to help you get off to a great start from the first latch through the first 6-weeks of life.
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Yes! Childbirth education is a central part of Frisco Midwifery & Birth Center’s care. Before pursuing midwifery, each of us in the practice were certified childbirth educators and/or trained doulas. We incorporate education in many of our prenatal appointments.
We offer monthly birth, breastfeeding and baby care classes.
We even cover the cost of your Ready For Birth class and Newborn Care classes.
You can learn more about the classes by clicking HERE.
We want your whole family to feel confident and equipped to take care of your precious baby.
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LABS:
We draw all the standard pregnancy labs at our office during the initial prenatal appointment, at 28-weeks, and at 36-weeks.
There is no additional cost to these standard labs -- we cover them for you.
If, for some reason, you need labs drawn but can’t make it into the office, we can order any lab or send you for an ultrasound or biophysical profile with our consulting physician.
ULTRASOUND
We require 1 ultrasound - the Anatomy Scan. It is needed between 18-21 weeks. We will arrange that scan with a local sonographer or a physician we regularly consult with (at your preference).
If you want or need more than the 1 required scan, we are happy to arrange that as well. The ultrasounds are at your expense.
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We sure do! We lovingly call “water birth” and “aqua-dural” because of the effective pain relief it provides.
The warm water, buoyancy, and your body’s natural tendency to relax in a tub, combined with the dim lighting and supportive environment, make water birth one of the great resources for managing the challenges of the last part of labor.
Nearly all of the mothers we serve labor and/or birth in the water.
Questions about Creating a Birth Team
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We want the baby’s father to be as involved as he feels comfortable being.
We believe that when we can help father’s feel connected and confident in pregnancy and birth, they are much more likely to be involved and supportive earlier in their baby’s life.
That’s good for the whole family.
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Life is about to change dramatically for the older siblings when the baby comes.
There is great value in supporting sibling adjustment through pregnancy to help the older brothers / sisters feel safe and bonded when their new baby arrives.
We invite siblings to help us at prenatal appointments by “pushing buttons” and “measuring momma” so they can begin to anticipate the birth and find their way of belonging in the growing family.
One of the deeply held beliefs of the midwifery model of care is that birth is normal!
Nothing normalizes birth more than including children at their comfort / maturity level in any part of the process that you are comfortable with.
We love it when children are present for the birth at your comfort and theirs. What a beautiful experience to see that women's bodies are so strong and birth can be so powerful.
Some of our clients choose to hire a sibling doula to dedicate a skilled person to attend to the children and help them really feel comfortable in the presence of the birth of their baby sibling.
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We love doulas. We believe every family should have a doula on their birth team.
If we were to draw a Venn diagram of "what doulas do" there would be a bunch of things that doulas and midwives both focus on. We both support your birth experience and help you feel safe and confident. But there are MANY things a doula does that a midwife does not do, and vice versa.
A doula can begin supporting you in early labor in really practical, helpful ways. Her support in early labor can help you maintain your energy, increase your stamina, and help you overcome challenges that can derail your plans for natural birth.
Doulas also help with comfort and coping skills. They will be more likely to do hand rubs, foot rubs, hip squeeze, and placing cool cloths, for example. Midwives can be nurturing, but our focus is on clinical safety throughout labor, so we won't necessarily be the best source for your comfort.
In our experience, a skilled doula can help a client achieve her planned unmedicated birth and prevent transfers to the hospital for pain management. That's a great investment to support your hopes for this birth.
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There's nothing more impactful than seeing the photos that capture the story of the birth of your baby. A good photographer not only knows how to capture those sentimental details, she does it without interrupting the physiologic process of birth.
We work with a few excellent birth photographers. You can find them on our link for Trusted Colleagues.
Questions about the birth setting (Home or Birth Center)
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Honestly, the differences are almost too many to list. The entire way we look at birth is different. So the way we interact around it is different too.
In a hospital, policies are created to manage "worst case scenarios" and birth is treated like a sickness. As a result, the choices women have are limited, and the interventions are extensive.
The Midwifery Model of care is the opposite. Frisco Midwifery provides care exclusively to low-risk women with healthy babies. Because we believe birth is normal, we don't over-complicate it.
We do one-on-one assessments of your health and your baby's growth.
When we have a healthy-mom-healthy-baby, we do what we can to create a safe experience for both of you without unnecessary interventions.
Our clients birth in a dimly lit, calm environment surrounded by skilled care providers who offer support, encouragement and midwifery care. After the birth, we continue to support the whole family with focused attention on successful breastfeeding, beautiful bonding, and building your confidence as you enter the next season of your family's growth.
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We offer both home and birth center options to our clients.
Ideally, you should birth where you feel the most comfortable. Your comfort may be affected by so many individual factors. There is the perception that a birth center is significantly different from a home. In reality, other than the decor and location, they are essentially the same.
When a client comes in to birth at Frisco Birth Center, we take birth supplies from the supply room into the birth suite. When we birth at home, we go to the same supply closet and take the same supplies to your home. It really is that simple.
In both locations, we stay with you until you and the baby have both had your first meal. We complete the newborn exam. And we give you detailed information about caring for your baby.
If you birth at home, we tuck you all into bed, start the laundry, take out the trash and let ourselves out. If you birth at the birth center, you secure your newborn into the carseat and drive home about 3-1/2 hours after the birth.
We connect with you by phone after you wake up from a good nap. Then, we come to your home the next day to do a newborn exam, weigh the baby, and finalize the baby's birth certificate.
We return a couple of days after your milk comes in to repeat the metabolic screening and check on you and baby. Then, you come to the office at both 3 weeks and 6 weeks after the birth.
Questions about Safety and Complications
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In short: Yes. Research shows that healthy, low risk women have the same – or even better outcomes - when they birth in their home or in a birth center than if they birth in the hospital. Your safety is our priority. Safety is supported by risk assessments incorporated into each prenatal appointment, referrals or transfer of care when needed, and continuous care during labor, birth and the immediate postpartum period. We practice “evidence based care” meaning we do not offer services that increase your risk of complications, and we do offer holistic care that increases your health. For example, we include nutritional support, exercise and natural resources into your care. We do not do things that evidence shows increases risk, including inductions, continuous fetal monitoring, or medications. The Midwife Alliance of North America has created this resource that you and your family may find helpful when you are learning about the safety of Community Based Birth.
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Yes!
The evidence is clear that in most cases a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) is safer than a repeat cesarean for both the mother and the baby.
It’s not always easy to find a provider who will support a non-surgical birth for someone with a history of cesarean, so we do our best to take clients who are good candidates for VBAC.
We will need to review your surgical records, and do a risk assessment to make sure that you are a good candidate.
It’s a very big decision.
If you need more information, education or support as you navigate the desion to have a VBAC, we recommend 2 resources:
and
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Our top priority is your safety.
We are trained to detect and manage most challenges that can arise in labor and birth.
We carry medical equipment and medications in addition to the more traditional tools of classical midwifery.
We have oxygen, IV fluids and medications for hemorrhage and other complications.
In the course of labor, if it becomes clear that either the baby or the mother would benefit from a higher level of care than we can provide, we will quickly and efficiently arrange a transfer of care to one of the hospitals and physicians with whom we have a working relationship.
In those rare situations where a transfer becomes necessary, we continue to actively provide care in a support role until the birth.
And, when appropriate, we resume your care at your home or our birth center through the 6 weeks following your birth
We see hospital transfers as just a change of venue. It doesn't disrupt our midwifery relationship. We continue to support you in the ways we can within our scope until you return to our care.
Questions about Starting Care with Frisco Midwifery & Birth Center
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Let’s find out!
Most women are good candidates for midwifery care in a community setting.
We would love to talk with you and do a complementary risk assessment / screening to be able to answer the question of whether community based birth is a safe option for you and your baby.
Click HERE to schedule a free consultation. We'll answer your questions and show you around the birth center.
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Once you become our client, we provide all of your prenatal care on basically the same schedule as your Ob/Gyn did.
Unless something comes up that we need to consult with a doctor about, we provide all of your care.We also consult with physicians if something more complex comes up in your health.
But, if you are the typical, healthy mom with a healthy baby, you don’t need to see anyone else
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As long as you are a low-risk, healthy woman, with a healthy baby, and we can get your medical records for care you received in your pregnancy, we will consider accepting you into care, even late in the pregnancy.
If you come to us late in care, we will help you arrange financing and payment plans to make it financially affordable.
We ideally would like to see you more often to help build more of a connection if we have a shorter time to get to know you
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Yes!
When you are ready to start care with us, we’ll make it a super-easy process.
We’ll give you a Records Request form to sign. We’ll take care of the rest.
It’s seamless and simple.
Have more questions? We’d love to set up a time when we can meet with you to answer all of your questions.
Schedule a free consult, send us an EMAIL.