About the Birth Center

The Mercy & Truth Birth Center was re-established in June, 2008. The staff attending births is Certified  midwives (CNM, CPM), registered nurse, doulas and MD’s from time to time.

            The clinic is open Monday through Friday for 8:15-4:45. The Mercy & Truth Birth Center provides a midwife/physician on call team 24 hours per day, 7 days per week for urgent/emergency phone consultation.

            We take every reasonable precaution to insure your safety, comfort, and satisfaction. Midwifery  credentials follow:

·        Board Certified by the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) Certification Council as CNM or The North American Registry of Midwives.

·        CNM's are also licensed by Kansas State Board of Nursing as an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner and hold a Master’s degree with graduate level education in nursing. (MSN)

·        All Birth Center staff including our midwives and RN's are certified in adult and neonatal resuscitation.

·        Our Registered nurse are all licensed in the state of Kansas.

·        Our physicians are licensed in Kansas and board certified in their area of specialty being either Family Practice or OB/GYN.

Our philosophy of birth is that it is normal and safe. As a Christian organization, we believe that God designed women’s bodies to give birth with minimal intervention. It is our desire to help women have positive birth experiences that will help them to realize their strength and give them confidence in their ability to make responsible choices for their children’s health. It is our desire to help your family welcome your newborn child into the family by providing an atmosphere of peaceful, loving care as we celebrate the new life of your baby with you.

Midwives are attentive to pregnancy and labor processes and strive to keep them progressing in a normal, healthy fashion. We are aware that problems can occur during pregnancy, birth or the postpartum period. Therefore, we anticipate and prepare for the rare complications that can occur. By being aware of what can happen and working to ensure that everything occurs as smoothly as possible, we strive to create a wonderful, loving experience for you. This is a wellness model. If a problem does occur, the midwives will consult with a physician, who may provide concurrent care with the midwives, or who may assume your care.

In order to provide the best of all worlds, we work with a collaborating physician as needed.  Attendants at every birth are a minimum of two registered nurses and/or your delivering midwife, according to Kansas law. At any time it may be our judgment, based on accepted management criteria that your care is better provided in another setting. To the fullest extent possible at the time, this will be done in consultation with you. A copy of our management guidelines is available for your review, if desired. Should transfer to physician or hospital care become necessary, your records will be made available to the receiving provider/facility upon written request.

  Our collaborating physicians are Saraswathi Sathyanaravana, M.D., and Dr. Dennis Miller MD.  They have admitting privileges at Shawnee Mission Medical Center, Overland Park Regional Hospital and Providence Medical Center.  If we agree that a physician consultation is needed during your pregnancy or birth, Saraswathi Sathyanaravana, M.D (or covering physician) will be contacted. If it becomes evident that you are not an ideal candidate for out of hospital birth, we will refer you to Saraswathi Sathyanaravana, M.D for a hospital birth. In the unlikely event that an emergency transfer to a hospital is indicated, we will call 911 for ambulance transport to the nearest appropriate facility. Medical decisions and care will be turned over to the attending physician. Pediatric or family physician consultants will be contacted if problems with the newborn arise which necessitate newborn transfer to the hospital.

Home, birth center birth and hospital birth share similarities. Birth can occur naturally in any of these places. Problems can also occur in a home, birth center, or a hospital. Research supports that all locations are safe for women having normal pregnancies and safe delivery of their newborns.

At the birth center, there are no restrictions on your activities during labor. There are no routine IV’s or medications. You will be encouraged to eat and drink to maintain energy for the work of labor. The baby is with you the entire time (assuming health). You choose who you want to be there with you- family, friends, etc. There is minimal technology to interfere with the labor and birth process. There are fewer drugs used that can cause side effects to both mother and baby.

We do have all supplies and equipment necessary for a safe, normal birth. There is not the highly specialized equipment found in an operating room or intensive care unit for mother or baby. We do not administer blood or general anesthesia or epidurals at the birth center. We do not perform cesarean sections. Episiotomies are done only when medically necessary (fewer than 2% of births).

We will also provide all routine postpartum and newborn care. In addition to the immediate postpartum/recovery period, this will also include a day 2 home visit from an RN, a day 3 or 4 clinic visit for mother and baby (newborn weight check, breastfeeding assessment, jaundice evaluation, state mandated metabolic laboratory testing) and a 6 week postpartum/family planning visit for mom. Newborn care is transferred to your chosen pediatric provider after the 3 day clinic visit, although the midwives are available to help with breastfeeding questions.

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