Grove Creek Medical Center, an affiliate of Bingham Healthcare, offers a team of Certified Nurse-Midwives in addition to their Ob-Gyns. Many women prefer the holistic and personalize approach to care that midwives offer.

Our midwives see patients in Pocatello and Blackfoot and deliver babies at Grove Creek Medical Center in Blackfoot. To learn more about what Grove Creek has to offer and to take a virtual tour of the facility, please click here.

What is a Certified Nurse-Midwife?

Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs) are highly trained medical providers with a Master’s in Nursing. Like a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, they specialize in women’s health, with additional training in pregnancy and birth.

Midwives are trained to provide more holistic, relationship-based care. They tend to get more time in visits with patients to get to know them and hear all their concerns, and they treat their patients as partners and trust them to make decisions about their healthcare.

Pregnancy and Birth

Midwives are experts in normal birth; they know that problems do arise and are trained to monitor for and handle them, but they trust that most of the time, birth proceeds normally. Many women receive care from a midwife without ever needing consultation from an OB. Just like OBs, CNMs provide comprehensive prenatal care, manage labors, administer Pitocin, catch babies, and handle many emergencies.

However, sometimes complications do arise, such as gestational diabetes, hypertension, or fetal distress during labor. Often, our midwives often still remain the primary provider as long as they are in communication with a doctor about the plan of care. Other times, complications require direct physician care, and our midwives will help ensure a seamless transfer to one of our skilled OBs. If a C-section becomes necessary during labor, your midwife will stay with you to welcome your baby.

Primary and Well-Woman Care

Did you know that nurse-midwives can do a whole lot more than catch babies and provide prenatal care? While most people only associate midwives with pregnancy and birth, nurse-midwives are in fact primary care providers. That means that they can provide care for anyone from menarche (the first period) through menopause – whether it’s for well-woman exams, Paps, contraception, pelvic pain, infertility, STD treatment, or depression. In fact, 50-60% of our midwives’ day is spent providing care to non-pregnant women.

So next time you have a healthcare concern, consider seeing a midwife!