Why Choose Central Park Midwifery?
With so many options for giving birth in New York City, what sets Central Park Midwifery apart?
- Truly client-/patient-centered care: We provide care that revolves around creating relationships with clients so that people are really heard, held, and supported in ways that most align with their individual needs.
- Longer visits: Our first visit will be an hour long, followed by 30-minute appointments for your follow up visits.
- Emotional and mental health support: We provide not only expert medical care, but a great deal of emotional support, because we know the importance of mental health.
- Individualized care: Care that goes above and beyond and is truly personalized and unique for each client.
- Continuity of care: We get to know folks very well. This means when someone calls in labor, they are well known to the midwife on call - we know who you are, your history, and are on a first name basis. We don’t have to ask a lot of questions to find out about you or your history.
- Three midwives: People get to know each midwife well. At the same time, we have a rotating schedule, so we get adequate time off to recharge.
- We work as a hive! Anything you tell one of us, we all will be informed and in the know so you don’t have to repeat any of your preferences or experiences twice. This also means that nothing gets missed in your care as we all work together to make sure to provide comprehensive care.
- Co-management with other providers, including high risk pregnancy experts: We have strong and trusted relationships with the Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) high risk obstetric team at Mt Sinai West. Should complications arise, we are able to co-manage along side their team, and clients stay with us as their primary provider. Collaboration with MFM is continuous and truly collaborative, allowing the midwives to manage complications if they arise.
- Communication: We use multiple, convenient ways to get in touch with the midwives - email, call, and text.
- 24/7 direct access to the midwives: We do not use an answering service, so when you call our emergency number, you'll speak directly with one of the three midwives.
- Extensive phone support during labor: Talk with one of the midwives as much as you need while you’re still laboring at home.
- Quick responses to correspondence: You'll hear back quickly from the midwives, office assistant, and medical biller.
- Thorough answers to all questions: We answer all questions thoughtfully, and no question is too big or too small.
- Incredible resources: We have a large library of information the midwives have written so people can look back at it as often as they'd like. We provide information from nausea to constipation relief to personalized doula recommendations, and we even arrange connections amongst our clients (with all parties' full consent) so they can support each other!
- Highly experienced midwives: We have over 30 years of experience among all of us. We have worked across a variety of settings and with higher risk populations, and always in hospitals.
- Small practice size: We limit the number of clients we take each month to 8-10, which means we have more time and attention for each pregnant client during appointments, and also while in labor. Usually, we have one client in labor at a time.
- Midwifery owned and operated: CPM is the only private midwifery-owned hospital-based practices in Manhattan. This means we don't have investors or shareholders making demands on how many clients we take on.
- Well established: We are one of the longest standing midwifery practices and the oldest established midwifery practice at Mount Sinai West, so we are well known within the hospital system. Elaine started CPM in its current form in 2014 and we have worked with thousands of New York City (and surrounding area) families in the last decade.
- Strong relationships with doctors, nurses, and hospital staff: We work as a team to help clients achieve their birth goals. We strongly advocate for our clients and avoid common unnecessary hospital interventions without conflict.
- Holistic and integrative approach: We have knowledge about/ recommendations for all manner of healing modalities like medications, supplements, acupuncture, chiropractic care, etc.
- Wellness based and preventative care: We emphasize overall health and wellness with non-judgmental care.
- Supportive hospital environment: We offer low intervention birth in a hospital. We worked at the former Mt. Sinai West Birthing Center for years prior to its closure. While Manhattan doesn’t have any birth centers, we operate similarly to how we would in a birth center setting as we focus on minimizing interventions unless medically necessary.
- We meet and triage people in labor at the hospital so that we can assess labor ourselves and not rely on the hospital staff to check and admit someone. This is very unique and is not offered by most practices.
- Postpartum support unlike any other hospital-based practice: This includes at least two offered postpartum visits (around weeks 2 and 6), frequent texting with midwives, and continued email support and sharing of resource documents and referrals.
- Postpartum text and phone support: Even if you have no questions, there are frequent check-ins.
- Postpartum planning: Thoughtful preparation — both in what to expect and in how to plan. The midwives truly get to know clients so we can support and guide them through the transitions into parenthood.
- Referrals for other types of providers: We provide tons of wonderful, vetted referrals for essentially every other provider type - primary care providers, lactation consultants, endocrinologists, acupuncturists, pediatricians, and so much more!
- Our office space is cozy and non-sterile - no scratchy paper gowns to be found!
- Helpful billing and insurance resources: Personalized help to navigate insurance and billing. Even if someone does pay out of pocket fees, we work to keep fair and comparable fees, and to increase accessibility, especially for BIPOC and queer folks.
Praise for Central Park Midwifery's Uniqueness
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From Clients:
Not all midwife practices are created equal. I had assumed that a large, hospital-based (staff) midwife practice would deliver comparable care, but found that they were much more focused on metrics rather than a holistic viewpoint. After having an induction with a large hospital-based midwife practice with my first delivery, my second experience at Central Park Midwifery exceeded all expectations. I was not one of the midwife’s many patients at the time of delivery. At Central Park Midwifery I am treated with so much empathy and receive thorough, thoughtful care. I continue to visit from my yearly exam, even though I am not pregnant, because I'm never going to find this level of care anywhere else. - Michelle G. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ After I found out in my second pregnancy that the midwives I used for my first delivery no longer lived in NYC, I started asking around for recommendations for a new practice. My pregnant friend, who had also delivered with an alternative practice during her original pregnancy, let me know she was using a group called Central Park Midwifery and was really liking them. I reached out, spoke with Christina, and immediately felt confident that they were the midwives for me. Throughout the pregnancy, with the ups but also many discomforts, they were there by my side. Whenever I had a question or concern, I reached out to them and they were immediately responsive. The midwives would send recommendations on how to tackle aches and pains, explain in detail how to understand lab results, and provided expectations for each trimester. When labor started I felt confident that the desires for the birth that I discussed with them prior to would be achieved; and they were, Jenna helped me in position after position to keep the labor progressing and my son was delivered healthfully. And Elaine and team provided the most extensive postpartum followup, touching base with me every few days, working through health issues related to both the pregnancy and those separate from it, and continuing to provide the support I needed. I’m grateful to Central Park Midwifery for allowing me to achieve the pregnancy and birth I had hoped for. - Y. Amron, gave birth 11/2022 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Central Park Midwifery is an absolutely wonderful midwifery practice. The support and care Christina, Jenna and Elaine provided me in my pregnancies is the best I have ever encountered (and I have had experience with two other Manhattan-based hospital midwifery groups, both of which were really good but unfortunately have been disbanded). I moved to Central Park Midwifery somewhat late into my second pregnancy when the hospital where I was planning to deliver stopped offering midwifery-led care. I then subsequently had my third baby with the support of Central Park Midwifery. Elaine, Christina and Jenna took so much time with me at each appointment, answering all of my questions and making sure I was supported and nurtured. I wasn’t a first time parent so I probably didn’t have the same amount of questions or need for information as some other birthing people but I did have particular concerns and issues that I wanted to discuss in light of my prior birthing experiences. Each of Christina, Jenna and Elaine tailored their care and our discussions to exactly my circumstances: I always felt like they were responding precisely to my unique needs and wants and were invested in my pregnancy and birth experience. They gave me really practical steps for things I could do to increase the likelihood of having natural births in a hospital setting and minimise the chance that circumstances would arise needing medical intervention. They also gave me thoughtful, effective guidance throughout the postpartum experience to ensure my physical recovery and mental health. All of my births were really empowering experiences and I look back on each of them so fondly. I know it was the guidance and care of Central Park Midwifery that contributed to the memories of each of my births being so positive. Christina was with me when I birthed my second child and she was an absolute superhero: she provided me with guidance, direction and calm in turn as I needed it and respected and advocated for my wishes at every step (beyond what I had experienced before). At first I was disappointed that Christina couldn’t also be with me for the birth of my third child (Elaine was on shift when I went into labor) but I immediately realised that Elaine was the perfect partner for that birth journey. That particular birth had some dramatics but Elaine kept absolutely cool (and kept us cool), kept me informed and together we came up with new and revised plans as things changed. Her presence in the delivery room was so very helpful and her encouragement got me out of my head and focused my belief in myself even when my strength was waning. I honestly don’t think I would have been able to have the birth experiences I had if it wasn’t for Central Park Midwifery and their incredible care. - Alicia H, who had 2 babies with CPM |
From Colleagues: As a childbirth educator and doula since 2010, I have known and deeply respected Central Park Midwives for years. While I haven't personally attended a birth with them, I've received stellar personal GYN care from them, and I've heard endless praise from clients and doula colleagues alike both privately and on my birth stories podcast. They provide highly respectful, compassionate, inclusive, nonjudgmental care. I'm grateful to have them to highly recommend to expectant parents! (Insider tip -- book early as they book up fast.) - Lisa Greaves Taylor, Birth Matters NYC & East River Doula Collective ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As a birth doula I’ve experienced a wide variety of obstetric and midwifery practices in NYC. Very few come close to the kind of attentive, supportive, evidence based, yet individualized care that I see with the three midwives of CPM. To have that kind of care, especially in a hospital environment, is a very special thing.” - Sara, Doula ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Central Park Midwifery is my first recommendation for any client planning a hospital birth in NYC. You absolutely cannot compare the level of attention and experience, or care and kindness you get from Elaine, Christina, and Jenna — and I've worked with a lot of OBs and midwives! They go above and beyond their clinical responsibilities (which they perform amazingly) to offer my clients warmth and encouragement. They're also amazing advocates who know how to navigate the hospital environment, while preserving patient choice and autonomy. Honestly, if I could get every one of my doula clients to give birth with CPM, I'd be the happiest doula in the city! We're so lucky to have all three of these awesome midwives catching babies and caring for growing families. - Sarah-Grace, Doula, Golden Bow Birth --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Central Park Midwifery is my absolute favorite hospital-based midwifery practice in NYC. As a current homebirth midwife and former hospital midwife I am always amazed at the quality of care that CPM provides. Elaine, Christina, and Jenna are thoughtful, smart, attentive, and compassionate practitioners who know how to navigate the hospital system to support their clients in having the birth they want and need - a birth in which they are heard and empowered no matter the outcome. I would give birth with them myself in a heartbeat, knowing just how well I would be cared for not only during the birth, but also throughout the entire pregnancy and postpartum period as well." - Chloe Lubell, Cosmos Midwifery ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "I first started hearing great things about Central Park Midwifery from a number of clients and it was remarkable that they had wonderful experiences with the midwives. I started referring to them, as well, along with a handful of other midwifery and low intervention OB practices. However, over the last few years, since the closure of the Mt. Sinai West birthing center and as other practices have folded, merged or changed hospitals, Central Park Midwifery has remained a stable and reliable presence, and is always my top recommendation because they offer (in my opinion) the best hospital based maternity care in NYC. I use them for my own GYN care, and have worked with them as a doula and as a midwifery student and they are always my first recommendation for anyone seeking a hospital birth in the city. CPM only take a limited number of clients, and because of their close relationship to the MFM doctors and the Mt. Sinai hospital staff, are able to collaboratively manage both low and high risk pregnancies. So even if a client were to develop gestational diabetes or GBS strep, I know that their care is evidence based and as low intervention as possible. They get to know all their clients extremely well through hour or 30min long appointments so they can truly personalize care. They offer unparalleled, accessible resources from headaches and nausea, to doula and pelvic floor therapy referrals. They also respond to emails within a day and are reachable via text for emergencies - extremely rare for care providers who typically use answering services! While many practices claim to be low intervention, I can always trust the CPM midwives to practice medical management only when needed. They ensure to take the time to explain the risks and benefits, and that nothing is done without true consent. After giving birth, CPM goes above and beyond for their clients texting to check in every few days and offering timely breastfeeding and recovery care when it matters most. Even in cases when things don’t go as planned, clients always express how well supported they felt by the CPM midwives. In short, if you’re someone looking for reproductive care in NYC, look no further, I can’t recommend CPM highly enough!" Neelu Shruti, Founder Love Child Yoga |
285 West End Avenue, Suite Y2, New York, New York 10023 (212) 531-2229
© 2014 Central Park Midwifery (EKD Midwifery, PC)
© 2014 Central Park Midwifery (EKD Midwifery, PC)