Once you've chosen to hire us to assist you, we will begin seeing each other every 4 weeks until you are 28 weeks pregnant. Once you are 28 weeks pregnant, visits become once every 2 weeks until you are 36 weeks pregnant. For the 36 weeks appointment we will come out to your home so that we are certain we can find your home, you can show us around and get comfortable with our presence in your home, review your birthing supplies, etc. After the home visit will see each other weekly in our office until the baby is born. We schedule a full hour for you at each visit - take as much or as little of that hour as you like! We can be fast if you're in a hurry, but often take the majority of the hour if you aren't in a hurry as it is important to us to get to know you and your family on a personal level as well as ask all of the important medical questions.

Because we schedule a full hour for each prenatal visit, it is extremely rare that you have to wait at all for your appointment! We believe that your time is just as valuable as our own - as much as we don't want to wait for an appointment, we don't want you to have to wait!

At each visit we will begin by simply talking - discussing nutrition, concerns or questions you may have, finding out how you are feeling and how you have been since our last appointment. After that, you will do a urine check and weigh yourself. We will finish up by checking on your baby (feeling for baby's position once the baby is big enough, listening to the baby's heartbeat), measuring your uterus, and taking your blood pressure.

We STRONGLY believe in informed consent - that means that while we are required by the Arizona Department of Health Services to offer a great number of tests and procedures, we will discuss everything with you beforehand and customize your care, performing only those procedures that you have chosen and feel are best for you. The tests and procedures we offer you are as follows:

Every care provider has their own routines or things that they do with most births when things are occurring in a normal, healthy manner.

Our routine labor/delivery care You are free to move throughout labor, walk around, choose a position of your choice. You are encouraged to eat/drink throughout labor You can choose to have as few or as many people as you desire at your birth. We enjoy working with doulas, and believe that in many cases children (older siblings of the baby) are a beautiful and welcome addition to the birth You will push in whatever position you choose - squatting, hands and knees, semi-sitting, standing - it's your choice. No episiotomy - if we perform an episiotomy, it means that we feel that someone is at risk or that you have requested one. Usually our clients don't tear at all - but studies have shown that tears heal faster and hurt less than an episiotomy. If you do tear, we are prepared to repair it. Dad is as involved as he would like to be! If he wants to catch his baby, we will help talk him through that! Baby is placed immediately on mom's belly - moms body is perfect for keeping her baby warm and feeling safe, and makes her available for breastfeeding whenever they feel ready for it. Breastfeeding is always encouraged The umbilical cord is only clamped once there is a reason to clamp it - delayed cord clamping is the norm (this means waiting until the cord has stopped pulsing and delivering blood/oxygen to the baby, or until the placenta is born). Some reasons for clamping and cutting the umbilical cord would be: cord blood collection: this requires immediate clamping/cutting of the cord to try to get as much cord blood as possible as there is a minimum amount required to be collected in order for them to store your baby's stem cells. mom and dad want the freedom that comes with having baby's cord cut, so that dad can hold baby across the room or other family members may hold baby. Placenta is allowed to deliver when it's ready - we don't yank or pull on the cord to rush it. Baby is not taken from mom and dad for at LEAST an hour - and then is only placed next to them while we perform an exam on the baby.

We will clean up quite a bit after the birth, usually starting a load of laundry, cleaning up all of our supplies, wiping anything that got soiled down.

Once everyone is stable and healthy and things are cleaned up, we will leave - this is usually about 2-3 hours after the birth.

We will be back to your home to check on you and your baby a day after the birth, then again 3 days after the birth. At the 3-day visit we will review and have you sign the birth certificate which we will submit for you. After that, we will see you in our office at 1 week, 3 weeks, and finally at 6 weeks. At these visits we will answer any questions, make sure that baby is gaining weight and breastfeeding is going well, make sure that you are healing appropriately, answer family planning questions, and have closure to this intimate relationship we have built over the past many months.

If something happens which requires more assistance that we can provide, that is when we will head to a hospital. The midwives will go to the hospital with you and continue to provide emotional support throughout the birth as well as advocate for you.