The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
CenteringPregnancy: Focused care for you and your baby.
We all need a friend who we can laugh with, cry with, complain to, and just talk about anything with. When you’re pregnant, you need someone who understands your pregnancy highs and lows.
“Cleveland Clinic’s CenteringPregnancy group involves a different level of patient education. The women in the group make connections with nurse midwives, facilitators, and other patients,” says Sue Hudson, CNM, a certified nurse midwife at Cleveland Clinic Lakewood Medical Building. “The women in the group share similar pregnancy experiences and often become pregnancy BFFs.”
CenteringPregnancy offers a unique form of supportive prenatal care that involves group appointments. The program aims to improve pregnancy outcomes by lowering the rate of preterm births and increasing breastfeeding.
Ms. Hudson says CenteringPregnancy focuses on:
• Education: Learning about pregnancy, delivery and infant care from specially trained nurse midwives, physicians and other medical professionals.
• Group communication: Shared medical appointments with a set group of up to 10 expectant women, all in similar stages of pregnancy. The two-hour sessions replace 10 regular well-check visits for women with a low-risk pregnancy.
• Medical assessments: Private check-in with your provider at each session.
• Support: Building relationships to connect and provide support, including community resources, healthcare and social support.
“Centering is truly beneficial for moms and especially their babies. We help to educate and empower women for happy, healthy, fulfilled pregnancies,” says Ms. Hudson.
¿Habla español? Lorain Family Health Center offers CenteringPregnancy groups in Spanish.
The CenteringPregnancy program is offered on the West Side at Cleveland Clinic Lorain Family Health and Surgery Center, Lakewood Medical Building and Westlake Medical Campus. For more information about CenteringPregnancy or to learn about current groups and locations, call 216.491.0141.