A promising start with Centering Pregnancy

Centering Pregnancy is a different way of providing obstetric Health. Instead of standard individual consultations, a group of pregnant women are offered Health . Eight to 12 women with the same gestational age meet and attend 10 two-hour group sessions (including one after birth). Because of the group approach, pregnant women receive an average of 17 hours more Health than in an individual course and more topics can be discussed in depth. 

Healthy choices

During the meetings, various topics are discussed, including nutrition, pregnancy ailments, childbirth, feeding your baby after birth and parenting. There is plenty of time to ask questions and share experiences with other pregnant women. Midwife Tara Sevenich of Puur: "Participants learn how to make healthy choices for themselves and the baby. Every meeting they measure their own blood pressure and weigh themselves. That's how you track your own health. Monitoring the baby's growth is done by the midwife."

Centering Pregnancy is a project of Kansrijke Start and is part of Vie - Leven in Beweging. Alderman Huub Wiermans of the municipality of Kerkrade: "Obstetric Practice Puur will be the first practice in Parkstad to implement this form of Obstetric Health in collaboration with Youth Health Care and Maternity Care. We know from experience elsewhere that pregnant women stop smoking more often, get a healthier lifestyle and better mental health. So they learn to make healthier choices, not only for themselves but also for the baby."

Meetings are known in advance until the end of the pregnancy. The group is supervised by a midwife from Puur and a second supervisor. These are a maternity nurse and a youth nurse. Fabienne Rikers, operational manager of maternity care at Geboortezorg Limburg: "Our presence allows us to see early on what problems a vulnerable mother might have. We can gear our maternity care specifically to that. Perhaps extra Health is needed outside regular hours. We wouldn't have this information if we didn't participate with Centering Pregnancy." 

More self-confidence

The youth nurse joins two meetings to highlight topics related to the period after pregnancy. Linda Wijnen, youth nurse at GGD Zuid Limburg: "The advantage of this is that the parents-to-be get acquainted with the Youth Health Care (JGZ) and know what to expect, when and with what questions they can come to us. This already creates a bond with JGZ which makes us easily accessible for parents to reach when the baby is born."

"By participating, expectant parents gain insight into that which may await them after the baby is born, making them better prepared for parenthood. As a result, they gain more self-confidence and stand firmer in their shoes as parents which contributes to a promising start for their baby."

Learn more

If you are pregnant and would like more information about Centering Pregnancy or would like to join the group, discuss it with the midwives at Midwifery Practice Pure.