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Low-Intervention Birth Plan
If you want an unmedicated, or natural birth experience, work with your Essentia maternity care provider to create a low-intervention birth plan. You can trust that your care team will respect your preferences, and follow your birth plan as closely as possible while keeping you and your baby's health our top priority. We will encourage you to move around throughout labor with only occasional monitoring.
Is Low-Intervention Right For Me?
Ask your Essentia maternity provider about a low-intervention birth plan if you:
- Are carrying a single baby
- Have a healthy pregnancy with no complications
- Don’t have a chronic health condition
Low-Intervention Maternity Services
The Birthplace at Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth, MN offers a low-intervention pathway for healthy pregnant women who are a low risk for complications, by partnering with the Obstetrics & Gynecology department at Essentia Health Duluth Clinic.
Our pathway focuses on natural, individualized, family-centered care. We partner with you in planning all aspects of your birthing experience.
Risk Screening
Screening is an essential part of providing safe care to patients seeking this pathway. Talk to your Essentia maternity provider to determine if you're a good candidate.
Prenatal Care
We take a unique team approach to prenatal care. Your first visit is with your obstetrician. The rest of your visits will be varied between your obstetrician and midwife, based on where you are in your pregnancy.
The midwife and OB/GYN team focus on pregnancy as a normal, physiologic event in a woman’s life and screens for problems along the way.
Our midwife visits focus on meeting the individual needs of each woman and family. Special attention is given to nourishing the mind, body and spirit. Education is focused on nutrition, exercise and the physiologic and emotional changes that occur during pregnancy.
Our Services
- Prenatal class on low-intervention birth
- Prenatal education in visits that allow plenty of time for your questions
- Prenatal visits with the medical expertise of an obstetrician
- Education and counseling in nutrition, exercise, physiologic and emotional changes
- Assistance in developing a personalized birth plan
- Holistic support in labor and delivery
- Breastfeeding education, assistance and encouragement
- Postpartum care and family planning
Delivery - What to Expect
The Birthplace has private rooms with bathrooms, tubs and showers. To promote comfort during labor, we encourage women to monitor their own nourishment by drinking plenty of water and eating light snacks as needed.
We promote the use of birthing balls, hydrotherapy and we welcome doulas. We also utilize other holistic modalities to increase comfort. Our goal, like yours, is a peaceful transition to motherhood. Immediate skin-to-skin contact and rooming in with your baby are encouraged. If you baby needs help after birth, you can feel safe knowing the region's only neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is right down the hall.
Contact Us
Learn more by calling 218-786-3800.
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Obstetrics
Depend on Essentia Health Obstetrics to provide care that fits your needs, from pre-natal, to birth, to post-partem care.