We are the largest labor and delivery unit within I think it's 100 miles in either direction.

That said, my department loses money every single year.

Its very costly to run an obstetric unit because it has to be staffed 24/7 and it's something that we have to, I wouldn't say wrestle with, but manage each year.

Then I make sure I dont hear an arrhythmia which is an irregular heart beat.

I think that's why it's so important that we maintain this sort of mixed midwife model.

Wow, little guy!

Youre trying to get out of there?

There are no other hospitals in this area that do what we do where you are going to be directed to a midwife unless you risk out and need to see a physician.

Bianca?

Hey!

Hi Bianca, how are you?

Nice to see you.

Im good thank you.

This is Tessa.

And they are not just delivering babies.

Our midwives are helping women through their health throughout their lives, whether they're pregnant or not.

In this room we were doing what wed call contraception management.

We can insert IUDs.

This is called a Nexplanon.

Its a form of birth control or contraception.

If you dont get a period at the beginning of September, well be surprised.

OK. Youll take a test and youll call us, OK?

There is a real financial advantage to this model.

A midwife typically earns about one third of what a physician earns.

So from a cost perspective, we are able to have a really robust staffing plan.

We're able to staff this unit in a way that would not otherwise be possible with a fully physician- led model and then also provide really, really superior care.

OK, Ill be back.

Ill be back honey.

I was a labor and delivery nurse for about 16 years.

After working in labor and delivery for a while, I felt like some of the women's voices weren't being heard.

Some providers, I felt like werent asking the women what they wanted, and so I realized in order to change that, I had to be a provider myself.

I did work in a big city in Denver, and the resources for these women was, like, abundant.

So I knew that Denver didn't need me.

Little mountain towns, they're the ones that needed me so I came here.

This is the noise of the pulsating of the blood through the cord.

A lot of people, when they hear midwives, they think of, like, crunchy, like herbs and, gongs and crystals and that kind of thing.

And they prescribed all of my medication through my pregnancy.

They did all of my blood work.

It was still a very, like, medical process.

A certified nurse midwife has a graduate school degree.

You're a nurse, you have a bachelor's, and you do another two to three years of a master's.

Midwives are just taught in school to trust the body, trust the women, trust the baby.

We are low intervention, we only intervene if needed.

But we do let you get an epidural.

Theres just normal scar tissue were going through right here.

Doctors are great.

We need them when we have a C-section, we need them for moms that have high blood pressure, diabetes, other issues.

But most of the time women don't have issues.

We do get women that come from an hour away to our clinics, to our hospital.

We also have a very big immigrant population, Spanish speakers from lots of Central American countries.

Sometimes, lots of people don't make it to their appointment because they missed the bus or they don't have transportation.

There are so few large medical centers regionally so you have a lot of patients driving really far to get their care.

There are other practices in the valley, but we're one of the few that take Medicaid without limit.

Hi!

Hi sweetheart.

Can I hold you?

I think midwifery is a calling.

So those that become midwives, I feel like are just like born into it.

For me, it's another day.

But for lots of moms, it's one day and depending on how she felt with her body and had a voice will determine the way she tells her child that birth story for forever and ever.

Hi baby!