LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – As the conversation surrounding maternal health care continues, Lubbock midwives say they are working to fill in the gaps. Midwives at two Lubbock birth centers say they are hearing from more women who have struggled to find an obstetrician or get an appointment before 20 weeks of pregnancy.
At Heartbeat Midwifery in northwest Lubbock, Clinical Director Carmen Geyman says the center serves low-risk, healthy mothers and babies. It offers prenatal care, like lab work and sonograms and some postnatal care, like breastfeeding support, along with labor and delivery in one of three birth rooms.
While Geyman says it’s an option for moms who want an unmedicated labor with a little more freedom to move around, some women are considering birth center care because they cannot find another provider.
“The amount of people that call. Like, last week we turned away 15 people in one week who are calling saying, ‘I’ve called every OB office. I can’t find anyone,’” Geyman said. “And this option of care is really great and it’s really fantastic. But you have to really want it.”
Clinical Director Caroline Jones of Held Midwifery in the medical district said the center has also received more calls recently.
“We definitely have seen an increase of calls coming in saying, ‘I don’t know where I want to deliver or that I even want to be at a birth center or out of hospital, but I can’t get into an OB. Or if I can get in, I can’t get seen until 20 plus weeks,’” she said.
Geyman said she opened Heartbeat Midwifery seven years ago because Lubbock did not have a strong midwife presence. In her more than 20-year career, she has taught more than 40 students, many in the area, hoping to give patients more options.
“Everyone should be able to, in my opinion, should be able to have true informed consent and true choice. Whether that’s being here, whether that’s being home, whether that’s being at Held, whether that’s at the hospital. Everyone should be able to be like, these are my options. These are the OBs. These are the midwives. This is what is offered. This is what I want and this is why I want it,” she said.
Both midwives said they can transfer clients to a hospital if they need more extensive care, but Geyman said relationships between midwives and hospitals need to improve.
“I would love to see a much, much better working relationship between the midwives and the hospital. We’re frequently treated like we don’t know anything, like we don’t have any information to give, that we don’t have relevant information for the situation at hand,” she said.
Jones said both hospitals have options for nurse midwives. A UMC spokesperson said two certified nurse midwives have faculty appointments through the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Nursing and privileges at UMC.
Jones, also a certified nurse midwife, said she hopes policies will change in Lubbock to allow midwives to work both at an independent facility and as in-hospital providers. She said not every woman can give birth in a birth center.
“Right now in this city, they won’t let you do both, but I’m hoping that will change because I think it can be a model that other cities have that we could adopt,” she said.
Geyman said misinformation about the cost of a birth center can deter some families. She said most midwives charge $6,000 to $8,000, which she said may be comparable to what patients pay through insurance deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums for in-hospital births.
The midwives say they hope they can provide care for more low-risk women, allowing hospitals to focus on more complicated cases.
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