Frequently Asked Questions

A midwife is a healthcare provider specializing in normal pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and newborn care.

The Midwives Alliance of North America defines midwives as “traditional care providers for mothers and infants. Midwives are trained professionals with expertise and skills in supporting people to maintain healthy pregnancies and have optimal births and recoveries during the postpartum period. Midwives provide women with individualized care uniquely suited to their physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and cultural needs. Midwifery is a woman-centered empowering model of maternity care that is utilized in all of the countries of the world with the best maternal and infant outcomes such as The Netherlands, United Kingdom and Canada.” 

We are both Licensed Midwives (state licensure) who are licensed and overseen by the Medical Board of California (the same agency that licenses physicians), and Certified Professional Midwives (national certification). 

The Midwives Model of Care is based in the belief that pregnancy and birth are normal life events and includes: 

• Monitoring the physical, psychological and social well-being of the pregnant person throughout the childbearing cycle 
• Providing the pregnant person with individualized education, counseling, and prenatal care, continuous hands-on assistance during labor and delivery, and postpartum support
• Minimizing technological interventions
• Identifying and referring clients who require obstetrical attention

We place an emphasis on evidence-based, individualized care, informed consent discussions, and shared decision-making. It is our responsibility to consider your individual needs, desires, and the evidence, but we respect that you are ultimately the one making the decisions that are right for you, your family, and your baby.

Giving birth is safe, despite what is often depicted in the media. Many studies have examined the safety of out-of-hospital birth and have come to the conclusion that for low-risk pregnant people, out-of-hospital birth attended by a skilled provider and a hospital birth of similar circumstances have equivalent safety outcomes. There are inherent risks regardless of where a person is giving birth, and having trained providers with medical intervention available to them, if needed, increases safety. If at any point a higher level of care is needed, we will transfer to a hospital in an effort to prioritize your safety and well-being.

Most healthy pregnant people are considered low-risk and can safely birth their babies outside of the hospital. Additionally, one of a midwife’s most important tasks is screening and monitoring their clients to ensure that only low-risk pregnancies are birthed at home. However, only doctors and midwives have the training to determine if you’re a good candidate, so be sure to consult with us or another licensed practitioner for the safety of you and your baby.

Our routine visit schedule is as follows, with additional visits scheduled as needed:

Prenatal Care

• 0-28 weeks: every 4 weeks
• 28-37 weeks: every 2 weeks
• 37-42 weeks: weekly until birth

Postpartum Care

• Home visit approximately 24-48 hours after birth
• Optional lactation consult on day 4-5
• Office visit at 7-10 days, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 6 weeks

At this time, we are offering visits in your home, and then telehealth visits whenever possible based off of CDC guidelines.

We offer all standard prenatal lab testing, and can refer out to other providers and specialists as needed (for example, in the case of ultrasounds). Typically, we are coming to our clients’ homes for any lab work, blood draws, etc. and for Kaiser clients, we will guide you through scheduling with the lab and beyond.

Nope! Midwives are Primary Care Providers for the normal prenatal, labor/birth, and postpartum period and can also provide referrals as needed. Our prenatal care includes all the same clinical components as obstetric care, such as listening to the baby with a doppler or fetoscope and taking your blood pressure, but includes about 45 minutes beyond the clinical monitoring that is filled with getting to know you and your health, and addressing all of your questions. Postpartum care also includes an average of six hour-long visits, and we do well-care for your newborn for the first six weeks. You do not need a physician involved in your care unless a complication arises, in which case we can refer you for consultation, concurrent care, or a transfer of care. However, you are welcome to have concurrent care with an OB/GYN if you choose!

A midwife, just like a doctor, is a medical health professional whose responsibility is the health and safety of the birthing person and baby. On the other hand, a doula is focused primarily on the comfort and well-being of the whole family, which is often in the form of physical and emotional support during labor, often before the midwife arrives. Midwives and doulas together make a great team and many people choose to have both. We highly recommend having a doula at your birth.

If you have a PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) Healthcare Plan (for example, Blue Cross Blue Shield), our biller can verify your benefits with what’s called a Verification of Benefits (VOB). Then, our biller will submit a super bill to your insurance company for reimbursement. Your insurance company will be billed directly for lab work and ultrasounds. All clinical care provided at Bay Midwives is cash pay only, and payment plans are available upon request.

Absolutely! This is available to anyone who requests it. We also take personal checks, direct deposit, and electronic payments. 

We may be biased, but…absolutely! Think of it this way; the average amount of money spent on a wedding in the Bay Area is about $40,000! You’d be paying significantly less than a quarter of that amount for quality maternity care and to ensure the health and safety of pregnant person and baby. And, we offer payment plans for those who request one.

Our services and the care you receive are worth much more than we charge for, especially compared to what most people pay out of pocket for a hospital birth.

Yes; many of our clients choose water birth, and it is a great way to cope with labor! Click on the link to learn more about the evidence surrounding water birth.

We will want to confirm with you the details of your surgery, but yes, we offer VBAC and TOLAC (Trial of Labor After Cesarean). 

We recognize that there are people who would like to have the benefits of midwifery care but choose, or for medical reasons need, a hospital birth. For these families, we offer prenatal and postpartum care. We will organize care with an obstetrician or Certified Nurse Midwife who will oversee your birth in the hospital. You have the option for a midwife to attend your birth as a support person, too, if allowed.

The most common reason we transfer to the hospital is for non-emergent reasons, such as a long and exhausting labor. There are a few scenarios that can be more urgent; however, our midwives are highly skilled healthcare providers who are trained to recognize and resolve any issue quickly or to initiate help when needed. We are prepared with the equipment, medications, and skills to handle emergencies in the rare event one does occur. Should a situation arise during your prenatal, birth, or postpartum care that increases your risk, your midwife will consult with a physician or transfer your care to one of the local hospitals.

We accept transfer at any point in pregnancy. 

Because we are out-of-hospital providers, we are unable to administer pharmaceuticals for pain relief. That being said, we are trained in helping people cope with the discomforts of labor using other methods, some of which include:

• Continuous physical and emotional support and guidance
• Water therapy
• Massage
• Vocalization
• Breathing exercises
• Visualization
• Acupressure
• Positional changes and freedom of movement
• Herbs and essential oils
• Hot/cold packs
• TENS unit
• Music
• Freedom to eat and drink as you please
• A private, peaceful environment in the comfort of your own home

Also, we highly recommend considering a doula and childbirth education classes to help you prepare and cope with labor if you have the resources, especially if this is your first birth!

We are trained to repair first and second degree tears (the most common). If we do not feel confident about a repair, we will transfer to the hospital for a surgeon to perform.

We monitor your baby using what is called “Intermittent Auscultation (IA)” with a handheld fetal doppler. Studies suggest that the use of IA for low-risk birthing people reduces the risk of unnecessary medical procedures, including cesarean and instrumental delivery, compared to Electronic Fetal Monitoring (EFM) done in hospitals. We use the doppler during your labor and birth, and/or a fetoscope at your routine visits to assess the baby.

We conduct a newborn exam within the immediate postpartum period, and evaluate the baby at every routine newborn visit.

We have an arranged back-up midwife who would be available to attend your birth in the rare case that two clients are in labor at the same time. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen often, especially given that we cap our client load, but we are prepared if it does!

We bring monitoring equipment for you and the baby, which includes a handheld fetal doppler and vital signs equipment, resuscitation equipment, antihemorrhagic drugs and other medications for rare emergencies, supplies for the newborn exam, suturing equipment, herbs, and other various supplies. We are also certified in Neonatal Resuscitation (NRP) and Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers (BLS).  

We offer Vitamin K, eye ointment, the CCHD screen, and the California Newborn Screen. The only things we don’t offer routinely that hospitals do are the Hepatitis B vaccine, which you can receive from your baby’s pediatrician, and a Hearing Screen, which we will give you referrals for. 

This varies based on individual factors, but generally, we stay 2-4 hours postpartum if both the birthing person and baby are stable. 

Generally, no! We are not only meticulous, but have prepared a birth kit for you to order that contains disposable birth supplies, many of which will help ensure your home stays clean. Once everyone is stable and comfy in bed, we will quietly clean up and your home will look as it did before the birth (only with a newborn!). 

Doulas are a great resource for those who have access to them, and we consider them a great addition to our team! Evidence strongly supports the use of doulas for labor and postpartum support to improve outcomes. Studies show that people who use doulas are less likely to need pain medication, less likely to have interventions such as cesarean-section (c-section), more likely to have shorter labors, and are generally happier with their birth experience. Midwifery care in and of itself positively impacts these results, and adding a doula to the team provides even greater benefits.

Unfortunately at this time, it is not the standard of care for us to offer home birth for twin or known breech births. However, we are happy to offer monitrice services for these clients if they birth in the hospital, where we act as an experienced and educated labor support person, which often helps families maintain some continuity of care.