Saint Francis adds midwife option for expectant moms

Expectant parents in Southeast Missouri have another option when it comes to prenatal care and delivery. Saint Francis Healthcare System now offers the services of a certified nurse midwife.

Tracy Carr is a certified nurse midwife who sees patients at Cape Care for Women and Cape Primary Care and delivers babies at Saint Francis Medical Center.

According to the American Midwifery Certification Board, Missouri has 88 certified midwives and certified nurse midwives as of September 2015.

Emily Sikes Blattel, marketing communications specialist at Saint Francis, said Carr is the only certified nurse midwife practicing in Cape Girardeau.

Midwives are health-care professionals who care for women throughout pregnancy and childbirth.

They provide women with individualized care according to their mental, emotional, spiritual and cultural needs, along with physical needs, according to the website of the Midwife Alliance of North America.

They offer their expertise to help women have healthy pregnancies, optimal births and successful postpartum recoveries, often without the use of medication.

“Women who choose a birthing plan with a midwife tend to have more autonomy,” said Rachel Williston, president of the Missouri Midwife Association.

“As a mother, if I’m going to birth with a nurse midwife, I tend to have more options; I tend to get more explanations.”

Nurse midwives offer longer office visits than obstetricians, “and that time is focused on education and teaching,” Williston said.

“Some women like midwives’ holistic approach to pregnancy and childbirth,” Carr said in a news release. “At Saint Francis, we recognize that there are many different kinds of patients who have different needs, and we want to give them an alternative option for giving birth.”

The method isn’t meant for high-risk pregnancies, but women who need little or no intervention can do well with midwife services.

Although some midwives assist women with home births, “most certified nurse midwives do only hospital births,” Williston said.

Carr delivers babies at the hospital. If complications arise, an obstetrician will be available for emergency services, as well as neonatologists and perinatologists.

“Nurse midwives are trained as nurses first, so our primary concern is to focus on the patient and her needs,” Carr said.

bbrown@semissourian.com

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