Triangle Birth Network
Empowering families. Improving birth.

Childbirth Choices :: Choosing a Care Provider

OB/GYNs | Family Practitioners | CNMs | CPMs | CenteringPregnancy

Most pregnant women receive traditional prenatal care: every month or so for most of their pregnancy, they trek to their care provider’s office to pee in a cup, have their blood pressure taken, step on the scale, and listen to their baby. They may spend more time waiting to see the provider than actually talking to someone, and the whole experience can sometimes be alienating, particularly if you have to wait thirty minutes in order to spend five minutes face-to-face with your doctor! And when you do finally see your care provider, many times the conversation is so focused on what could go wrong—high blood pressure, low blood pressure, a premature baby or a too-large baby, gestational diabetes, and on and on—that you may come out of your visit with less confidence and joy in your pregnancy than when you went in! What’s more, research has yet to show that traditional prenatal care does much to improve the health of mothers and babies1. Many practitioners have come to believe that there must be a better way, and one new model has begun to gain widespread acceptance: group prenatal care, called “CenteringPregnancy.”

CenteringPregnancy is a new model of providing prenatal care to groups of women at the same time. Each mother receives 5-10 minutes of individual physical assessment from her care provider after monitoring her own weight, blood pressure, and urine. The rest of the prenatal visit is group discussion, support, and education. According to the CenteringPregnancy website, “The CenteringPregnancy® Program alters routine prenatal care by bringing women out of exam rooms and into groups for their care. Women have their initial intake into their obstetric care in the usual manner with history and physical examination occurring within the office/clinic space. Then they are invited to join with 8-12 other women/couples/teens with similar due dates in meeting together regularly during their pregnancy. The groups form between 12 and 16 weeks of pregnancy and continue through the early postpartum period meeting every month for the first four months and then bi-weekly.”

Women who have taken part in the CenteringPregnancy program rave about their experiences. They make friends with other women due around the same time, receive support for what they are going through, don’t waste time waiting for their appointment, and are able to take charge of their own care.

If you are a very private person, or not comfortable in groups, traditional prenatal care may be best for you. But now, mothers in the Triangle area can choose to try a new approach to group prenatal care.

Click here to read one local woman’s account of receiving group prenatal care in our area.

Local practitioners who offer CenteringPregnancy prenatal care include:

To learn more:

1. Thomas P, Golding J, Peters TJ. Delayed antenatal care: does it affect pregnancy outcome? Soc Sci Med 1991; 32: 715-23.

Douglas KA, Redman CW. Eclampsia in the United Kingdom. BMJ 1994; 309: 1395-400.

Vintzileos AM, Ananth CV, et al. The impact of prenatal care in the United States on preterm births in the presence or absence of antenatal high-risk conditions. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2002; 187: 1254-7.

Vintzileos AM, Ananth CV, et al. The impact of prenatal care on postneonatal deaths in the presence or absence of antenatal high-risk conditions. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2002; 187: 1258-62.

Binstock MA, Wolde-Tsadik G. Alternative prenatal care: impact of reduced visit frequency, focused visits and continuity of care. J Reprod Med 1995; 40: 507-12.

Sikorski J, Wilson J, et al. A randomised controlled trial comparing two schedules of antenatal visits: the antenatal project. BMJ 1996; 312: 546-53.

Villar J, Baaqueel H, et al. WHO antenatal care randomized trial for the evaluation of a new model of routine antenatal care. Lancet 2001; 357: 1551-64.