Our Midwifery Model of Care

Our Collaborative Midwife-Physician Approach

At St. Peter’s Health Partners, our patients have the option of midwife or physician-led obstetric/gynecologic care. Our collaborative model allows women to choose the provider experience that best fits their needs. All our providers share a common goal: that you receive the best obstetrical and gynecological care available in the Capital Region.

A Nurturing, Evidence-Based Approach

At St. Peter's Health Partners, expectant mothers will find a warm, family-centered approach that includes you in the decision-making process throughout your pregnancy and delivery, no matter the provider you choose.

What Is a Midwife?

Licensed midwives provide complete care for a birthing person during their pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum experience. Midwives are vital members of your care team. They are educated in the physiological processes that occur in women from adolescence to post-menopause.

As with any provider, a midwife performs comprehensive health assessments, makes diagnoses, and provides treatment. Our midwives can practice independently or in collaboration with a physician. Your personal goals as well as your current and past health history help to determine the best type of providers to be involved in your care.

If you choose one of our highly skilled and experienced midwives as your sole provider, or as a complimenting member to a physician-led care team, you will be encouraged to be an active participant in every aspect of your health care.

Hallmarks of Midwifery Care

It is our organization’s goal that whichever provider you choose it is someone you are comfortable with and trust. We are confident you will find these qualities in any one of our providers. Our midwives aim to:

Promote a continuous and compassionate partnership with you.
Work closely with you to determine the best methods to promote your own general wellness and healing.
Create an open learning environment and use routine visits as opportunities for extra education.
Provide guidance, emotional support, and resources that empower those who choose a midwife as a partner in their health care journey.

The Midwives of St. Peter’s Health Partners

Whether you are occasionally seeing a midwife for your routine visits at our Albany practices and plan to deliver at St. Peter’s Hospital, or see the midwives at Capital Region Midwifery and look forward to a midwife-attended birth at Burdett Birth Center at Samaritan Hospital, we are confident you will enjoy your experience with one of our highly-skilled, licensed midwives.

Our midwives are well versed in providing specialized support across various birthing populations include those in their teenage years to those toward the end of their childbearing years.

The midwives of St. Peter's Health Partners have developed valuable skills working in diverse settings including homes, hospitals and birth centers. They have experience in trauma-informed care, navigating cultural differences in the birth setting, and trials of labor after cesarean section. Our midwives are always prepared to involve the families of the birthing person (to the extent determined by the birthing person) in the process of pregnancy and childbirth. The midwives strive to provide equitable, high-quality, accessible care regardless of one’s history, background, or identities.

Partnering with your Midwife to Cope with Labor

Your labor management options will differ depending upon which facility in St. Peter’s Health Partners you choose to birth. At a midwife-attended birth, the same pain management options are available to you as a birth attended by one of our physicians. Prior to your delivery, you and your midwife will discuss how you wish to manage the process of labor. Several options are available to you as a birthing person to maximize your comfort as your body prepares for the remarkable act of giving birth.

The positive presence of a support person during each stage of labor can have a tremendous impact on a birthing person's confidence in themselves during the process. Your midwife will review with you and your support person all your choices to manage the discomforts and stressors of your childbirth, including:

Hydrotherapy: or the use of whirlpool tubs to ease the intensity of contractions.
Staying Mobile: the midwives encourage you to walk and move about the birthing space as you please and will work with you to birth in whatever position you find most comfortable for delivery
Spinning Babies®: your midwives will work with your nursing team to use your anatomy and baby’s position to reduce pain in labor and delivery. This method is successful because it 1.) Aligns the uterus and opens the pelvis, 2.) Encourages the baby to reposition and move further into your pelvis in a way more conducive to uncomplicated vaginal delivery, 3.) Releases tight muscles and tendons that may be contributing additionally to the normal discomforts of labor.
Pharmacological: midwives may also order narcotic analgesics as an alternative pain management strategy and consult with anesthesia if an epidural is desired.

Physician Collaboration

Midwives are experts in normal birth, however, there are some conditions that may require the involvement and collaboration with one of our trusted obstetricians. These conditions may include:

Twin Pregnancy
Hypertension
Gestational Diabetes
Obesity
Drug/Alcohol Use

If these conditions were to occur in your pregnancy, it does not always preclude you from midwifery care at St. Peter’s Health Partners. Our midwives have developed close working relationships with the obstetricians and maternal-fetal medicine experts within St. Peter’s Health Partners and will call upon them at any time for support when they recognize it is best for you and your baby. In the weeks and months leading up to your birth, you may need to consult with a physician and some of these conditions may even require referral to other specialties to successfully manage them until the birth of your baby. We will help you make these connections and continue to follow you along your journey.

If at any time the midwife leading your care team feels the need for additional guidance for you and your baby, they will discuss your options and help you determine the best alternative provider to meet your needs.

Inclusivity

St. Peter’s Health Partners’ midwives and physicians pride themselves on the high standard of care they provide our patients regardless of age, religion, identities, or orientations. Our obstetric care teams are respectful of the rights of all individuals seeking our participation in their pregnancy and childbirth journeys.