Obstetricians, family practitioners, and certified nurse-midwives. Which medical professional may be right for you? Memorial Hospital of Carbondale offers the largest selection of physicians and certified nurse-midwives in southern Illinois. Since choosing who will deliver your baby is typically the first decision on the road to pregnancy, you should educate yourself on the different philosophies of childbirth. The following information is meant to help you decide whether an obstetrician, family practitioner or certified nurse-midwife is best for you.
Obstetrician/Gynecologist
An obstetrician/gynecologist (ob/gyn) may either be an M.D. (medical doctor) or a D.O. (doctor of osteopathy), both of which are recognized by the American Medical Association. He or she has completed a minimum of four years of specialized training in obstetric and gynecologic medicine and may be board certified or eligible by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Ob/gyns are physicians who specialize in women’s health and are experts in delivering babies. Ob/gyns excel at seeing most of their patients through happy, healthy pregnancies and deliveries. Certain pregnancies, however, can become classified as high-risk. In these cases, ob/gyns are the experts. Examples would be if a mother had a chronic medical condition like diabetes or if the mother was having a multiple birth. Should a mother require a cesarean section, an ob/gyn is the physician who would be performing the surgery. In addition, the ob/gyn can manage a woman’s health, provide family planning options, and help with fertility issues.
Family Practitioner
A family practitioner may also be an M.D. or a D.O., however, where an ob/gyn’s training is specific to women, family practitioners are trained to care for the entire family. If you have already established a comfort level with your family practitioner and he/she delivers babies, this may be the choice for you. Not only can this physician deliver your baby, but he or she can also be the child’s physician -- thus living up to the name “family physician.” A family practitioner has usually trained for three years in a residency program following medical school.
In the SIH physician family, seven family practitioners deliver babies. In addition, Southern Illinois University Medical School has designated offices in Carbondale and West Frankfort to train family practice physicians who also can deliver babies. Nearly twenty resident physicians are currently in training.
Nurse Midwives
Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs) are another option for delivery of your baby. CNMs are certified by the American College of Nurse Midwives and have a license from the state in which they practice. They are the highest trained midwife, starting their career as a registered nurse. They have hands-on experience as a labor and delivery nurse and have had at least one year of midwifery training.
A CNM has special training in women’s health care, focusing primarily on pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, newborn care, and gynecological care for women. CNMs can practice their scope of care in a hospital setting or in an off-site clinic and have privileges to deliver babies in hospitals such as Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. Should a woman’s pregnancy status become high-risk, CNM’s work collaboratively with physicians in caring for the patient.
CNMs are able to administer pain-controlling medication during delivery. However, with their specialized training, the CNM makes every effort to facilitate natural labor. They are very well versed in alternative birthing positions and other comfort measures during the labor process.
Each pregnancy is different and options are available for you to select the type of birth you want to have. Start by choosing a physician or nurse midwife that best suits your needs.
If you would like more information on the ob/gyns, family practitioners and nurse midwives that deliver babies at MHC please call the SIH Physician and Resource InfoLine at 866-744-2468 or explore the SIH web site at www.sih.net.
Physicians providing services at and admitting patients to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, Herrin Hospital and St. Joseph Memorial Hospital are not employees of the hospitals. Physicians exercise their own independent judgment regarding medical care and treatment and the hospitals are not responsible for their actions.