MONITRICE SERVICES
prenatal support, labour & birth attendance, & postpartum support for clients planning a home or birth centre birth
MONITRICE SERVICES
We offer monitrice services for clients planning an out-of-hospital birth* at their homes or at The Midwife Center.
A monitrice is a non-medical attendant with assessment and clinical skills. Skills include: observing vital signs, foetal heart tones, vaginal exams/labour progress assessment, newborn assessment, breastfeeding help, and prenatal education. The monitrice does not perform these tasks at the hospital, birthing centre, or when the midwife has come to your home unless the caregiver consents. A monitrice does not make primary care decisions and reports directly to the midwife or physician for those instructions.
Because I am a midwife, I have the skills to better monitor labouring clients at their homes as their labour companion (like a "doula") before their attending midwife arrives or until it is time to transfer to the birth centre. I am able to monitor blood pressure, temperature, foetal heart tones, spacing of contractions, labour progression, and dilation (cervical checks) if desired. Most labour companions ("doulas") are not able to provide this kind of care, because they have not been trained to and/or their certifying organisation does not allow them to.
On top of the extra skills and knowledge I bring, I can do all of the other typical labour companion ("doula") duties like: offering emotional support, massage/reflexology, keeping clients hydrated and fed when hungry, explaining interventions and procedures, natural pain management, advocating for client, etc..
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*In the event that you need to transfer from your home/birth centre to the hospital, I will follow you and continue to provide labour companion/doula care for you there if that is desired.
YOU ARE HIRING A MONITRICE, NOT A MIDWIFE
I wish it was not necessary to include this informations, but it should be abundantly clear that when hiring me as your monitrice you are not hiring me to attend the birth of your baby as your midwife. If I am supporting you during labour as your monitrice and you refuse to call your midwife or to transport to the birth centre, I will call 911 and leave your home. Period. Additionally, if your intended place of birth was to be the birth centre, I will contact them to make them aware of the situation.
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There will be no baiting and switching. There will be no trying to not pay for midwifery care and attendance by hiring me as your monitrice and then trying to get me to attend your birth at the last minute in labour. I will NOT do it. If you want to hire me as your midwife, but are afraid of financial constraints, talk to me (I am a reasonable person) instead of trying to trick me.
OUR MONITRICE SERVICES INCLUDE
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3-4 Prenatal Visits (ideally one each trimester and 1 of the visits with your provider so we can meet)
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Labour/Birth Support; On-call from 37 weeks to 42 weeks gestation
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2 Postpartum Visits at 3 days & 3 weeks postpartum
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Birth Plan/Vision preparations
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Access to lending library of books & DVDs
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24hr email support
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Additional Prenatal/Postpartum Visits are available at a rate of $100 per 1-2 hour visit
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PAYING FOR YOUR MONITRICE
Global Fee for Services: $2100
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2/3 of fee ($1400) is due by 37 weeks gestation; including a $500 deposit due at contract signing
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Remaining 1/3 of fee ($700) is due by 3 weeks postpartum
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Monthly payments in some amount are expected
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Clients committing to our Global Fee who pay in full no later than 24 weeks gestation will receive a $600 discount.
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Repeat Midwifery or Monitrice Clients will receive a $600 discount.
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Discounts are not stackable with themselves or our sliding scale.
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We do offer a sliding scale for those can not afford our full fee; clients pay what they can afford between $1200-2100
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We are always willing to work with a client’s particular financial situation. We understand that the ability to pay out of pocket for healthcare is easy for some clients & families, but not the case for many and often times very difficult for those who need the option of affordable care the most. Our fees are set to allow for flexible payments — in hopes that we can serve as many clients & families as possible, not just those with the financial means. While we are not able to bill Medicaid or private insurance for our services, our fees are much lower than most insurance deductibles. If you are in need of utilising a payment plan or our sliding fee scale, please contact us for more information and if you are transferring care late in your pregnancy, we may be able to offer you a discount. Please inquire. We EXPECT that clients who can pay our full fee (or close to it) for services do so, because this helps subsidise the care for those clients who are not able to pay the full fee, which allows us the ability to continue to offer & provide affordable options for personalised care.
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We Accept Payments Made Using: Cash, Numbered Checks, Credit Cards, Paypal, Square, and gift cards from Amazon.com and Target. If you prefer another method that is not listed, please let us know. We can also provide you with a detailed receipt for reimbursement purposes if you belong to a cost-sharing organisation/community or you intend to attempt to seek reimbursement from your private insurance carrier. If you or your spouse have an FSA, HSA, HRA, or MSA you can use the debit/credit card for your account to pay for our services.
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REFUNDS
We do not offer refunds at this time.