Maternity Services

Group Health has been offering maternity services since 1946, when the first Cooperative baby was born at St. Luke's Hospital in Seattle. Since then, we have grown to serve families throughout Washington state and North Idaho. We want to serve you, too!

Choice and Support
Group Health's maternity programs are designed with your special needs in mind. We offer a wide range of choices, from midwifery care to specialized obstetrical care and from home birth to hospital care in your community. Whether you want an unmedicated childbirth or an epidural as soon as possible, a lot of support or just a minimum of routine prenatal visits, we make it easy to choose the providers and support you want.

During your pregnancy, you have a choice of providers:

• An obstetrician/gynecologist
• A certified nurse-midwife
• Your primary care physician
• Licensed midwives who do home births for low-risk women

Use our Provider Directory to help you find one. Simply choose a location, your preferred type of specialist (see descriptions below), and click "Yes" under "Provides maternity services." Whomever you choose, you will also have access to a variety of support services, including childbirth, lactation, and parenting education.

Members who live in the Seattle area can deliver their babies at our Family Beginnings Birth Center on the Capitol Hill campus. Members in other areas usually have their babies at nearby community hospitals.

Obstetrician/Gynecologists
Ob/Gyn physicians provide maternity care and deliver babies for women with both uncomplicated and higher-risk pregnancies. Their practices also include reproductive medicine, menopause care, gynecologic surgery, and other women's health concerns.

You can receive maternity care from Group Health Ob/Gyns at any of our specialty medical centers in Western Washington. We contract with community Ob/Gyns in other areas.

Midwives
Midwives provide prenatal care and deliver babies. Certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) focus on education and health care for women and their families, providing complete hands-on maternity care and hospital deliveries for women experiencing normal pregnancies. CNMs have hospital privileges and work in collaboration with Ob/Gyn colleagues and the patient's personal physician to assure continuity of care. Group Health CNMs provide maternity care in most areas served by our medical centers, and we contract with community CNMs in other locations.

CNMs are registered nurses accredited in midwifery by the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Each meets state licensing requirements and has passed a national examination. Many of our CNMs also provide gynecologic care, including periodic pelvic examinations for non-pregnant women, contraception, and menopause counseling.

Licensed midwives care for low-risk women who want to deliver at home. These providers are available to members in most of the communities we serve. Licensed midwives are licensed to practice by the state and have passed both written and oral exams. They receive their training in school and in apprenticeship programs with experienced midwives.

Family Medicine Physicians
Family medicine physicians are specialists in prevention and general health care, and are trained during their residencies to provide prenatal care and deliver babies. Many of our family medicine physicians provide maternity services as part of their practices, in addition to well-adult and well-child care, illness prevention, managing chronic illnesses, basic internal medicine, pediatrics, and gynecology.

You can receive maternity care from Group Health family medicine physicians at many of our medical centers in the Puget Sound and Spokane areas. Contracted family medicine physicians provide care and deliver babies for Group Health patients in some other locations. Check our Provider Directory to see if family practitioners provide maternity services in your area.

Family medicine residents: Based in Seattle, Group Health's three-year Family Medicine Residency has been training family physicians since 1969. (It was one of the first such programs in the nation.) The residency is fully accredited, and is affiliated with the University of Washington and the Network of Family Medicine Residencies of Washington, Montana, and Idaho.

As part of their training, our residents work regularly with the Group Health Ob/Gyns who practice at Family Beginnings. The residents provide prenatal care at the Family Health Center at Capitol Hill under the supervision of their teachers, who are experienced, board-certified family medicine physicians. They deliver babies at Family Beginnings under the supervision of these preceptors or one of our Ob/Gyns.

Contracted Hospitals and Providers
Group Health contracts with hospitals throughout Washington state and North Idaho to provide convenient birth services for all our members. Group Health doctors and certified nurse-midwives deliver babies at specialized birth units in some of these hospitals.

For instance, Group Health Ob/Gyns and midwives deliver babies at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue and St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma. In Olympia, Group Health Ob/Gyns, midwives, and family medicine physicians deliver babies at St. Peter Hospital. Group Health family medicine physicians also deliver babies at Harrison Hospital in Silverdale and at Providence Everett Medical Center in Everett.

In Spokane, Group Health family medicine physicians deliver babies at Holy Family Hospital and, along with Group Health midwives, at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

At other hospitals, Group Health contracts with community physicians and CNMs to provide maternity services. Obstetrical providers work closely with pediatricians and home health services in the communities Group Health serves.

Education and Classes
In the Seattle area, prenatal and baby care classes are offered by Group Health and its partner, Great Starts Birth & Family Education.

Outside Seattle, check the Group Health Classes & Events page for prenatal classes near you. In addition, all members may ask their providers about classes, or contact Group Health's Resource Line.

Your partner or support person is invited to attend all classes with you, and individual teaching is available to those who cannot attend the scheduled group sessions. Some classes have a registration fee.

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