Our Services

Services Offered

At Natural Birth Center and Women’s Wellness, we ensure that your care is thorough and unhurried, and the best in all of Los Angeles. Whether your visit is for prenatal care or a well-woman exam, visits are individually customized to your unique desires. Our luxurious birth centers also serve as a safe and spa-like environment for natural childbirth. Our Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM) participate in your birth experience in either in our freestanding birth center, your home, or the hospital. Our center is the only freestanding birth center in Los Angeles and Orange County with a CNM who can manage your labor and birth at the hospital in the unlikely event of transfer. One of our midwives, Simona Istrate also has Registered Nurse First Assistant (RNFA) certification that enables her to assist in your care in the unexpected event of a cesarean section. Our birth center team is committed to supporting a woman’s choice to birth where she feels most supported and safe. Your birth experience will take place in family-centered atmosphere that is dedicated to empowering women and accommodating your cultural, religious, or personal requests within the circle of safety.

Preconception

Choosing to bring a new life into this world is one of your life greatest decisions. There are many questions you may have regarding family planning, nutrition, exercise, and most importantly labor and birth options. We are here to help you, your partner and family plan your first or next pregnancy. Make an appointment to visit with our midwives to start the journey to a healthy and safe pregnancy.

Infertility Consultation

Couples who are having difficulty conceiving can be in a delicate and frustrating  state.  Our midwives are here to provide you with educational, emotional support and treatment. We don’t jump to conclusions, but rather walk through the entire process with you, discussing all possible causes and  treatment options. Difficulty conceiving can be caused simply by inaccurate timing to more complex issues that need to be dealt with medically or surgically.

Given the unique situation for each family, we offer infertility evaluation and treatment referrals, including a consultation with our resident homeopathic practitioner.

Prenatal Care

All of your prenatal care will take place in one of our up-scale and luxurious free-standing accredited birth centers in Los Angeles. Our visits are designed to empower, support and educate you and your family so you are able to make your own birth decisions. An unhurried one-hour first visit allows for plenty of time to get to know one another, discuss health issues, nutrition, exercise, body changes, and emotions. Next, we conduct a complete physical and pelvic exam, including a Pap smear and testing for sexually transmitted infections at your request. All lab work is done in-house for your convenience. We take the time to answer questions, explain standard protocols, and prepare you for the journey of labor, birth and motherhood.

• Visits once per month until 28 weeks
• Every 2 weeks from 28-36 weeks
• Weekly visits from 36 weeks until delivery
• More visits are always an option upon request or need
• All prenatal labs completed in the birth center
• NST/AFI (fetal monitoring and a measure of amniotic fluid) done at 40 weeks to ensure baby is happy and healthy
• Referrals for ultrasounds conducted by our collaborating perinatologist

Birth Center Birth

If you are looking for the peace, safety, and freedom from interventions to let your body birth as nature intended in its own way and time, you have found your birth home.  Our birth centers are elegant, similar to an up-scale hotel, and are the only free-standing accredited centers in Los Angeles that are less than a half mile from our collaborating hospitals.

Once you are in active labor you will be greeted by familiar faces, ready to continue your exciting birth journey. You and your family are welcomed into an environment of relaxation, support, and comfort that will allow your body to birth as nature intended. Our birth centers are equipped with all the necessary emergency equipment should a problem arise. However, unlike hospitals, our emergency equipment is not what you see when you walk in.

We encourage eating and drinking in labor, and assuming any birth position your body desires.  At your birth, everyone who begins the labor process with you stays with you until you and baby are ready to leave.  We also welcome family and friends.  After your postpartum transition, your new family leaves for home, leaving the rest to us.

All our midwives are certified in neonatal resuscitation, CPR, IV infusion, suturing,  and other emergency measures.

Homebirth

In the comfort of your home is where you may feel the most safe, free and relaxed. This is a wonderful environment to birth your baby. In the event of a home birth, there is more self and home preparation that may be necessary, but you will be fully prepared by our midwife. Your prenatal care continues at our birth centers, but when labor comes, our midwife will come to you. The same emergency equipment and supplies available at our birth centers are brought to your home. You and your baby’s safety is our priority. However, it is important that a hospital be in a safe distance from your home.

 

Water birth is also an option at home by either purchasing or renting a portable pool. Afterwards, you are able to snuggle in bed with your newborn, rest and wake-up to familiar sights and sounds. We stay with you during the first postpartum hours to assist in breastfeeding, monitor your transition to motherhood, and ready your house for your new addition to the family.

Nitrous Oxide

We do not offer this service at this time due to COVID 19.
Using Nitrous Oxide is an additional method of pain control during childbirth, and is offered at the Natural Birth Center and Women’s Wellness.

• Nitrous Oxide takes effect in seconds and offers a reduction in pain and anxiety during labor and childbirth.
• It is patient controlled, which means the user is in charge of when a dose is administered, via inhalation.
• It is safe for both mom and baby, and dissipates within 2 seconds once breathed.
• There are no lasting effects, and you can be up and moving around to actively participate in your labor.
• Unlike its common use for anesthesia, the dosage used for labor pain control is much smaller, allowing you to be completely alert at all times.
• The dose allows for the peak of contractions to be more tolerable, while still providing complete control and awareness for the mother.

Benefits and Advantages:

• Self-administered
• Easy-to-use
• Takes effect quickly
• Quick recovery/does not stay in system
• Allows for active participation – can be used at any time in labor right up to the birth
• Can move around freely
• Does not interfere with labor process or ability to push

Waterbirth

For no addition charge but many additional benefits, all our birth suites are equipped with luxurious and spacious birth tubs.

Embraced by warm water, your pregnant body will float, relax and open. Birthing in water has the added benefits of acting as a pain reliever, promoting relaxation, inhibiting anxiety, and reducing the severity and incidence of tearing. Water birth is one of the most gentle and peaceful forms of births for both mom and baby.

VBAC Birth

If you long for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) you have picked the right birth center. Our midwives know and trust that VBAC is a safe option for mom and baby, and will support and educate you in order to avoid an unnecessary repeat cesarean section. You will be provided complete information about the benefits and risks of vaginal birth and elective cesarean so you can make the choice that is right for you and your baby. Women who go into labor naturally, progress without complications, and are surrounded by love and experienced midwives are more likely to birth vaginally at our birth centers. Again, in the event that transfer is needed, our proximity to the hospital is unbeatable.

Postpartum Care

After the birth of your baby and placenta, you and baby will continue to be monitored and pampered for 2-3 hours. This is a perfect time to bond as a family, initiate breastfeeding, and rest all under the watchful care of your midwife and birth team. We ensure you stay hydrated, eat a healthy meal, and prepare you for the first days at home.

Postpartum care includes:

• First visit 24-72 hours at the birth center visit
• 2-week visit at the birth center
• 4-6 week visit at the birth center
• Breastfeeding support throughout the postpartum period and beyond

Newborn Care

A thorough and respectful exam of your baby, right by your side, is done before you leave for home. Many aspects of the exam can be done without separation from mother to ensure undisturbed attachment in the first precious hours. We also encouraged partners to help weigh, measure, and observe the exam. You are given the decision to accept or deny antibiotic ointments, Vitamin K, and the newborn metabolic screening. Our midwives will review the normal newborn transition and warning signs that may warrant a visit to your pediatrician or hospital.  You will be provided information regarding obtaining a birth certificate, newborn feeding and voiding activities, and cord care. Before you leave with your adorable newborn, we assure that you both are healthy, stable, and ready for the transition to home.

Well-woman Care

Midwives are experts in caring for women throughout their lifetime. Whether you are a returning or new client we welcome you to receive holistic womanly care at our birth centers. Unlike the bright lights and cold environment of other offices, Natural Birth Center & Women’s Wellness exam room is warm, inviting, and feels like your own home.

Services include:

• Gynecologic care including: Pap smears and Pelvic exams
• STD testing and vaginal infection checks
• Breast exams
• Natural family planning
• Contraceptive management
• Yearly physical exams
• Natural menopause

All services are completed with respect for the whole woman, paying attention to the connection of mind, body, and soul for a healthy, loving, and vibrant life.

Collaborating Physicians

Here at NBC & WW we have a great working relationship with our physician colleagues. We refer to our collaborating Obsterician-Gynecologists when something deviates from normal and is considered more high-risk during pregnancy.  We will also consult with the physician if anything is abnormal during the course of the birth or immediately afterwards. In some cases, our collaborating obstetricians and midwives will co-manage your care.  Around 36 weeks gestation, you have the opportunity to meet our collaborating obstetricians, so in the unlikely event of a hospital transfer you will be familiar with our colleagues.

A subspecialty of obstetrics, perinatologists are concerned with the care of the fetus and complicated, high-risk pregnancies. Our CNM’s will refer you to our collaborating perinatologist if consultation is needed. However, perinatologists are also who you will visit to complete the 20 week anatomy ultrasound and any follow-up ultrasounds as needed.

Within hours of birth, we will perform a newborn exam right by your side. We also work with pediatricians and recommend that you take your newborn to be examined within 24-48 hours after the birth.