Mums-to-be talk about what to expect when you are expecting

Описание: (25 Apr 2019) In a big room full of mums-to-be, pregnant women check each other's blood pressure and weight and a nurse-midwife measures their growing bellies.
Pregnant women at the clinic can opt to join a two-hour group session for their monthly checkups instead of the traditional one-on-one office visits with their doctor that are usually recommended.
A nurse-midwife does routine exams during the visits and checks for complications, but mothers-to-be take the lead role, sharing their pregnancy experiences.
"It's pretty much patient-led, so even though the nurse and I will facilitate the conversation, a lot of the patients will begin to talk about solutions, things that work for them, comfort relief, comfort measures, that sort of thing," says Dolly Pressley Byrd a nurse-midwife at Mountain Area Health and Education Center clinic.
Monthly sessions involve about 10 women, all at the same stage of pregnancy.  
A nurse or nurse-midwife typically oversees discussions on topics including common pregnancy discomforts, stress management, nutrition and inducing labour.
Fathers or other partners are invited to attend and participate.
A young woman's revelation about her strange cravings for glue and fabric softener receives some chuckles, followed by the nurse's explanation that odd signs like that can signal iron deficiency.
It's the kind of quirky topic that doesn't always surface in typical 15-minute prenatal checkups when doctors can seem rushed and patients hesitant to mention those little nagging worries that may seem inconsequential.
But in a more relaxed group setting, women open up and conversation flows beyond vital signs, weight gain and due dates.
Kailee Morel Alvarez had never heard of group prenatal visits when she learned she was pregnant last summer.
But the 21-year-old and her husband were sold after their first visit to Mountain Area Health Education Center's OB-GYN clinic.
Her daughter, Sofia, was born in February.
"Definitely reassuring coming to the group and being able to hear all of the stories from everyone," Morel Alvarez explains.
She was troubled by cramps and early contractions but was pleased to learn that other women were experiencing all those things too.
"I was really scared like what if something happens, it happens in the early stages usually, so I was really worried about that," she explains.
This low-tech approach hardly seems the epitome of 21st-century medicine.
But group prenatal care may have important benefits beyond camaraderie.
Some studies have found fewer preterm births, low birthweight babies and newborns requiring intensive care; and higher breastfeeding rates in women who receive group care.
It's a model the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recently endorsed as a promising option.
"We are really interested in understanding how it is that improvements in social support, reductions in psychosocial stress, may actually change a woman's physiology during pregnancy and may lead to improved birth outcomes," says Dr. Ann Borders of NorthShore University Health System in Evanston, Illinois.
She is a member of a committee that developed the ob-gyn group's position on group prenatal care.
How group prenatal care might lead to mother-and-child health improvements is unclear.
For some women, it's the first time in their adult lives that they've sought medical attention. Group sessions can facilitate those changes and more.
Some doctors think benefits may be related to reducing stress.
The Asheville clinic, which uses a program called Centering, has offered group care since 2013; last year 400 women took part.

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