You will have the benefits of Nurse Midwifery care in the Wellness Model, in which we provide relationship-based care where you get to know your midwife and your midwife gets to know you. To facilitate this care, each of our prenatal appointments are at least 20 minutes long. The wellness model means we believe in prevention through education of how to best care for yourself and your family. Our midwives work with you during your pregnancy to give suggestions and options to help keep you as healthy as possible. We are also the only local facility that offers water birth! We believe YOU are in charge – it’s your body, your pregnancy, your family, your birth, your baby – YOUR care. We provide you with information, and you decide what to do with it. With the exceptions of labs, regular attendance at prenatal visits, a 20 week ultrasound, and listening to the baby intermittently with a doppler during labor, all care is yours to accept or decline.

We like to start seeing our clients for their fist prenatal visit around 8-12 weeks of pregnancy. We will accept clients transferring their care from another provider/office up to 32 weeks of pregnancy. Beyond 32 weeks, we will consider a transfer of care from another provider/office on a case-by-case basis. 

It is our experience that doula support makes a significant difference toward having a successful natural birth experience. In births where a trained professional doula was present there is a:

31% decrease in pitocin use (if pitocin is needed, a transfer out of birth center care is required)

28% decrease in risk of c-section birth (if a c-section birth is needed, a transfer out of birth center care is required)

12% increase in likelihood of a spontaneous vaginal birth (which means staying at the birth center)

9% decrease in the use of any medications for pain relief (which means staying at the birth center)

14% decrease in the risk of the newborn being admitted to special care nursery (which means mom and baby stay together at the birth center)

34% decrease in risk of being dissatisfied with the birth experience

This is why we require doulas especially for our first time parents and for those having their first VBAC, and why we strongly encourage having a doula for all our clients.

We practice as a team of nurse midwives with a rotating call schedule, so we need you to meet with each midwife multiple times throughout your prenatal care so you get to know them and they get to know you. Our goal is that you know the midwife who is on call who meets you at the center for your birth. The midwives rotate call so that the on-call midwife can be relatively rested to be able to provide the best possible care to you and your family. So, no, we can’t guarantee any certain midwife will be present at your birth.

Because the vast majority of our clients are using the insurance plan they contract with to help cover the costs of their care, the amount that will be due out of pocket varies widely. It typically depends on many things that your insurance plan dictates like: allowable amounts, deductible, co-insurance, copay(s), whether there will be a new plan year starting during your pregnancy and a new deductible due, whether baby will be covered under mom’s deductible, or will have their own deductible to meet after they are born, as well as other factors specific to certain plans. Again, the best way to find out specific information on *your* plan is to use the “contact us” form here    https://beginningsbirthcenter.com/contact-us and request to pay the verification of benefits fee to have our verification company check your particular plan. 

We do have a pre-pay discount option for those without any health care coverage. This option can’t be used if we are contracted with your insurance company. If you have questions about the pre-pay option please contact us here     https://beginningsbirthcenter.com/contact-us 

Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM) are licensed and trained as Registered Nurses and Midwives. The entry-
level education required is a Master’s Degree in Nursing. CNMs can practice in all states, can prescribe
and administer medications in all states, can attend births in all settings (home, birth center, or
hospital), and can provide care from puberty through menopause. CNMs are licensed Advanced Practice
Nurses in Colorado, the same as any other nurse practitioner. Being licensed and carrying malpractice
insurance allow us to be contracted with insurance companies.

Certified Professional Midwives (CPM) are trained in midwifery only. Someone can become a CPM
without going to a school by completing an apprenticeship and undergoing the PEP (Portfolio Evaluation
Process). If schooling is part of the process, the school may or may not be accredited. Non-accredited
schooling requires PEP as well. The minimum education for a CPM is a high school diploma or GED.
CPMs can practice in some states, but some states will not recognize CPMs. In Colorado, the state has a
process for registering CPMs and by registering they agree to follow certain rules about their practice;
CPMs are not licensed in Colorado and don’t carry malpractice insurance. CPMs in Colorado can attend
home birth but not birth center or hospital births. In addition, CPMs cannot write prescriptions or
administer certain medications, and the care they can give is limited to pregnant, birthing, and post-partum women.

Yes! As a courtesy to our clients, we will send billing for your care to the company you contracted for health care services in most cases. We have worked very hard to get contracts with most major plans, including Tricare Select (Tricare Prime with referral only), CHP+, Colorado Medicaid, United Healthcare, Cigna, Humana, Anthem BCBS, and Christian Care Medishare. We are considered in-network with *most* of the plans within each of these companies. We have also worked with clients with sharing plans such as Liberty HealthShare, Samaritan Ministries, Christian Care Ministries, and Altrua HealthShare.  Aetna and Kaiser remain out of network – we attempt about every 6 months to request to be in-network and they both tell us every time their network is full. Aetna, however, has given “exceptions” to have care with us covered as in-network in some cases, and in other cases the out-of-network benefits with Aetna still result in lower out of pocket costs here at the birth center versus in-network OB/Hospital care. The best way to find out if *your* plan covers care at the birth center is to use the “contact us” form here    https://beginningsbirthcenter.com/contact-us and request to pay the verification of benefits fee to have our verification company check your particular plan. 

Items you’ll want to consider bringing from home are a nursing bra or tank, hair ties and a headband, a toiletry bag with toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, soap, makeup remover, and lotion; a swim top for mom & trunks for partner, a change of clothes for mom & partner for going home, healthy snacks and drinks, a great playlist, your preferred essential oils for massage/diffusing, your phone & charger, baby’s diaper bag, baby’s coming home outfit, a swaddle blanket, newborn scratch mittens, and your infant car seat installed. Postpartum essentials that would normally be purchased for an at-home birth like a perineal cleansing bottle will be provided for you at the Birth Center.

Some conditions/situations that are risk factors and make a client an inappropriate candidate for birth center birth include the following (this is not considered an exclusive list, other conditions/situations may occur that require transfer of care). 

• Heavy vaginal bleeding
• Multiple gestation (twins, triplets, etc.)
• Preterm labor prior to 36.4 weeks with cervical change
• Post Term Pregnancy: pregnancy beyond 42.0 weeks
• Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR)
• Polyhydramnios or oligohydramnios
• Intrauterine fetal demise (IUFD)
• Incompetent cervix
• Placental complications including but not limited to placenta previa or placental abruption.
• Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes Prior to Onset of labor (PPROM).
• Ectopic pregnancy
• Gestational diabetes requiring management with oral medication or insulin.
• Anemia unresponsive to treatment: hemoglobin levels below 9 despite iron therapy during the 3rd trimester
• Syphilis (primary)
• HIV Positive
• Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy
• Conditions that require blood thinning medication be given throughout pregnancy (with the exception of low-dose aspirin in certain situations)
• Preeclampsia with or without severe features
• Gestational hypertension 

We are equipped with medication and equipment to manage complications or emergent situations for mother and baby. Often we will be able to manage those entirely here at the birth center, or if not, we have access to emergency services to get you to the care you need at the hospital two miles away – UCHealth Memorial North. If we go to the hospital during labor, a birth center midwife or nurse will go with you to get you settled. Once a plan is in place with the provider at the hospital, we fully transfer care to the OB hospitalist on call. We can resume postpartum care as appropriate and as you desire for you and/or the baby after discharge from the hospital.