photo credit: Melissa & Bryan Ripka (ripkas), via flickr.com
If you are pregnant and choose to receive care at the University of Iowa Hosptials and Clinics, there is a wonderful option for getting high-quality care and socialize with other moms who will be giving birth around your same due window: Centering Pregnancy. From
the website:
UI Women’s Health is excited to offer an enhanced model of prenatal care known as CenteringPregnancy—a unique model of prenatal care in groups.
Each woman has an individual prenatal visit at the beginning of her pregnancy which would include her physical exam. If you choose the CenteringPregnancy model you will be one of eight to 12 mothers who will meet in a group through the remainder of your prenatal visits. These meetings offer a supportive and collaborative environment for women to share pregnancy experiences—whether it is physical, emotional or medical. Three primary components of care are included in each group meeting: health assessment, education and support.
A CenteringPregnancy group meets monthly for approximately 90 minutes to two hours. The group is led by a health care provider—at UI Women’s Health that health care provider may be a doctor or a nurse midwife. Regular health assessments such as belly checks and heart tones are done privately at the beginning of the session, allowing for the one-on-one care of a traditional prenatal visit. A guided discussion on specific topics with group participation follows and is a cornerstone of the meeting’s success.
