Alba Birth Center provides comprehensive, collaborative prenatal care focusing on patient choice, education and support. Each prenatal visit is a time to not only assess how your pregnancy is going physically, but also a time for you and our midwives to get to know each other. Our enhanced Midwifery Model of Care is designed to prioritize your individual needs and choices. We take the time to build a strong relationship with every mother that walks through our doors. Each pregnancy is as unique as the life it brings into the world, so our midwives are committed to tailoring your prenatal care to ensure a positive, empowering experience.
Alba Birth Center strives to ensure you feel supported throughout every aspect of your prenatal care. Extra costs of additional appointments, labs and ultrasounds are the last thing you need to worry about. Unlike a hospital setting, our appointments are twice as long, we will always welcome additional visits outside the standard visit schedule and we include all visits and standard labs and ultrasounds into your prenatal service package, at no additional cost. You deserve to be treated with the highest respect, autonomy, love and awe. Not nickel and dimed.
Below is Alba Birth Center’s minimum prenatal visit schedule.
We are here to walk with you through this exciting time! Our team is made up of women who are committed to your personalized care, and who love serving both mothers and their families. Our collaboration of care model allows you to establish a strong bond with each of our compassionate and experienced midwives throughout your prenatal appointments. You don’t need to worry about guessing whether your primary provider will be on-call for your labor and delivery. By seeing each of our pregnancy care providers, you will feel comfortable and confident in your team when your big day arrives.
Meet Our TeamYour initial prenatal visit is the longest appointment, averaging around 60 minutes. Whether you’re a first-time mom or a seasoned mom looking for a different experience this time around, your initial visit at our prenatal care clinic is centered around getting to know you and your birth desires. We will review your family, health and obstetrical history, listen to your baby’s heartbeat, complete a fetal growth check and complete your initial labs. Alba Birth Center offers the Gender SneakPeek test which can be performed at this appointment or anytime throughout your pregnancy after 6-weeks.
Each routine prenatal health visit is 30 to 45 minutes focusing on your personal questions, education for a healthy low-risk pregnancy, monitoring the progress of your baby’s development, as well as fears and expectations for your upcoming delivery. You will feel safe and supported receiving personalized pregnancy care focusing on you, your baby’s growth and family needs. Standard maternity labs will be completed at your 28 and 35-week visit and an anatomy scan can be completed at or around your 20-week visit. All labs and ultrasounds are completed at Alba Birth Center.
Alba Birth Center is family focused and our team loves having partners, older siblings, and any other members of your support team take part in your prenatal visits. Whoever you include at your appointments is completely your choice, along with their level of involvement. Siblings often assist throughout the appointment by measuring your tummy and listening to your baby’s heartbeat.
If you started care with another provider and are worried it’s no longer the right fit, that’s ok! We accept late-to-care transfers. Depending on how far along you are into your pregnancy, we may require you to come bi-weekly for our team to get to know you and learn how we can best support your goals for your labor, birth and postpartum period.
We are always available. From your very first appointment at our prenatal center, you will receive our emergency phone number and will have access to our midwives 24/7. Alba Birth Center believes our patients deserve nothing short of exceptional care and therefore does not utilize an answering service. Our midwives answer every call and text – no need to worry about being put on hold or speaking to a nurse who you’ve never met.
Contact UsEach prenatal healthcare visit focuses heavily on education surrounding not only a healthy pregnancy but also your labor and birth plan. We encourage you and your partner to play an active role in planning what you want your birth and labor experience to be – do you want to labor alone, have continuous monitoring and support, a water birth, hydrotherapy, essential oils, etc.
Alba Birth Center offers multiple additional educational courses onsite to prepare our expecting parents prenatally, for their labor, birth and postpartum period. Our goal is not only to guide you through this chapter in your life, but also to equip you with the knowledge you need to feel confident throughout your pregnancy and after.
Upcoming ClassesAlba Birth Center’s goal is to be a safe space where every person who walks through our door feels confident, comfortable and heard. Your prenatal, birth and postpartum experience matter to us, and every detail of Alba Birth Center is designed with mothers and their families in mind. Our prenatal clinic rooms are styled for conversation and unhurried visits with no awkward paper gowns or cold exam rooms. We help our patients, their significant others and family look forward to every visit with compassionate, expert pregnancy care in a comfortable and welcoming environment.
Contact UsPrenatal care monitors the progress of your baby’s development throughout your nine months of pregnancy. One of the perks of midwifery centered care and a deep passion of our midwives at Alba Birth Center, is that we use the time in our prenatal visits to really delve into what it means to nurture one’s mind, body, and soul during pregnancy. We know how imperative it is to foster a safe and healthy pregnancy journey to allow for a beautiful and smooth transition into postpartum. We know that prenatal care does not just happen inside the walls of the clinic once per month, good prenatal care is a daily practice. We recognize this and pour into our mothers and babies so that pregnancy is smoother and safe.
Your first prenatal visit should be between 8 and 12 weeks.
Yes! Family centered care is the best kind of care. We really encourage all our mothers to bring whomever they wish to each of their visits and birth. We know that a birth team composed of who SHE wants, is the best kind of birth team.
We suggest you wear loose fitting clothes – something comfortable! During your appointment, you’ll have the option of having your initial labs drawn. Having the ability to lift your sleeve is helpful. Also, if you agree, your midwife will examine your growing belly. Wearing a shirt that can be easily pulled up is also helpful.
While standard practice in a hospital setting, Midwifery Care does not support pelvic exams during your prenatal appointments. At Alba Birth Center, we truly believe birth is a normal physiological process and our goal is to offer the best possible care with the least amount of intervention. We encourage each family to ask these valuable questions in each appointment to better understand the risks and benefits of interventions such as this.
