OUR PHILOSOPY
Expert pregnancy care
We are an experienced, empathetic & accommodating group practice.
Our philosophy is the mother is having the baby. Village Maternity MD’s job is to help her. We are a source of information and support, but the mother is the leader. If you are floundering, we are there with comfort and suggestions. If there is the potential for harm, we are responsible for the safety of your birth.
Village Maternity MD has all the high-tech benefits of modern obstetrics. We offer advanced genetic testing, sonograms, consultations with Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialists, and epidurals on demand. The choices are yours.
Prenatal visits are in our private office with a member of our prenatal team. When you are ready to give birth, a member of the laborist team will meet you at Metropolitan Hospital on the Upper East Side.
MIDWIFE & DOCTOR COLLABORATION
The desire for an uncomplicated pregnancy and birth
Village Maternity MD’s NYC midwives and doctors collaborate to aid in uncomplicated pregnancy and birth. Yet, nature and history have taught us that sometimes there are complications. Our maternal-fetal medicine specialists have unique qualifications to help you through any obstacles. They are trained to recognize problems and advise on how to avoid dangers.Our hospital partner, Metropolitan Hospital, shares a long tradition of excellent care and support for physiological birth. It has among the lowest cesarean delivery rates of any hospital in Manhattan with outcomes equivalent or better.
EVIDENCE-BASED MATERNITY CARE
You deserve minimum intervention and maximum safety
Our team bases their care on evidence-based literature including the 2014 ”Obstetric Care Consensus” and the 2017 “Approaches to Limit Intervention During Labor and Birth”. These two documents discuss our core value of assessing “ the short-term and long-term tradeoffs between cesarean and vaginal delivery as well as the safe and appropriate opportunities to prevent overuse of cesarean delivery, particularly primary cesarean delivery.” Village Maternity MD recognizes women deserve minimum intervention with maximum safety and positive experience.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Midwives are health care providers who offer services to women of all ages and stages of life. With their advanced education and focus on research and partnering with women, they are among the most modern, forward-thinking health providers in the US today.
Most midwives in the US have a master’s degree and must pass a national certification exam. There are different types of midwives, each holding certifications based on their education and experience. Certified nurse-midwives (CNM) and certified midwives (CM) attend approximately 93% of all midwife-attended births in the United States. Since 2010, both CMs and CNMs need a master’s degree to practice midwifery. Midwives provide a whole-woman approach to care. Many offer care from puberty through and beyond menopause. Midwives work with women to prepare for pregnancy, provide care through labor and birth, support you as you move into parenthood, and some can provide care for the newborn baby during the first 28 days of life.
A physician is a general term for a doctor who has earned a medical degree. Physicians work to maintain, promote, and restore health by studying, diagnosing, and treating injuries and diseases.
Doulas interest most first-time mothers. Doulas provide personalized, compassionate, and agenda-free birth and postpartum care. Doulas help cope with early labor and can provide postpartum help. Some doulas also provide breastfeeding and lactation support.
Midwives work with all members of the healthcare team, including physicians. Midwifery care fits well with the services provided by obstetrician/gynecologists (OB/GYNs), who are experts in high risk, medical complications, and surgery. By working with OB/GYNs, midwives can ensure that a specialist is available should a high-risk condition arise. Likewise, many OB/GYN practices include midwives who specialize in care for women through normal, healthy life events. In this way, all women can receive the right care for their individual health care needs.
Midwives are a part of the OB/GYN team. They work with physicians and OB/GYN resident s. If any complications arise during labor or birth, the team will come to help or take over if necessary.
Your midwife will explain the reasons for such a procedure if required. Your partner or support person will be able to go with you to the operating room. In most cases, your midwife will go too, unless she has another laboring mother.
A birth plan is a way to prepare yourself for the actual day. It’s a useful tool to outline your preferences during labor and delivery. Your birth plan may include things like; whether you desire pain medication, plan to use visualization or meditation, prefer to have dimmed lights, etc. It can also include who you’ve chosen for labor support, preferred positions during labor and birth, and whether you prefer delayed cord clamping. March of Dimes has a basic birth plan that you could download and customize.
NITROUS OXIDE
Your pain relief options
“Nitrous oxide inhalation analgesia (usually a blend of 50% nitrous oxide and 50% oxygen gas) for labor pain has been commonly used for decades in Great Britain, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and other countries . . . The patient self-administers the anesthetic gas, as needed, using a hand-held face mask over her nose and mouth or a mouthpiece. A demand valve on the portable gas tank opens with inhalation and closes with exhalation.”
temporarily discontinued for covid precautions
WIRELESS MONITORING
Fetal safety through wireless monitoring in labor
Most babies tolerate labor quite well, but some do not. We offer wireless electronic fetal monitoring (sometimes called telemetry), which continuously evaluates the baby’s status while allowing the mother freedom to move about as she wishes, even into the shower. However, not every labor requires this level of surveillance. Intermittent checks of the baby’s heartbeat may be adequate reassurance in uncomplicated labors, but if continuous monitoring is needed, it is available without confining the mother to bed.
“Normal human labor is characterized by regular uterine contractions and repeated episodes of transient interruption of fetal oxygenation. Most fetuses tolerate this process well, but some do not. The fetal heart rate (FHR) pattern helps to distinguish the former from the latter as it is an indirect marker of fetal cardiac and central nervous system responses to changes in blood pressure, blood gases, and acid-base status.”
OUR FAVORITE NYC DOULAS
Village Maternity MD welcomes doulas. Here is a list of some we love.
