Hospital-Based Midwives

Midwives greatest asset and skill is in facilitating normal, natural, unmedicated births. Currently in California almost all hospital-based midwives are Certified Nurse-Midwives.   Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs) working in hospitals have access to all of the pain medications that physicians do, including narcotics and epidurals.  However, nurse midwives use a variety of non- pharmacological techniques for laboring women including position changes, hydrotherapy, and other techniques. Evidence has shown that many of these techniques offer equal and in some cases, improved pain relief and are well received by laboring women.

According to mothers who extol the praises of midwives, it's in the delivery room that CNMs work their particular brand of magic. During the many fits and starts of a typical labor, midwives work to keep a woman motivated and on the move.  Compassionate attention and moral support is one reason women who deliver with midwives tend to need less medical intervention, and report more satisfying birth experiences. 

Kaiser Permanente
619-641-4153

Naval Medical Center San Diego
858-577-6740

North County Health Services
760-736-6767
NCHS is able to care for women throughout the entire pregnancy offering comprehensive care. NCHS is proud to be the only family of health centers in North County to offer a unique M.D./certified nurse midwife collaboration model, giving expecting mothers the highest level of care and dedication they deserve.  Mothers having their babies with NCHS deliver at Tri City Medical Center in Vista.

Scripps Certified Nurse Midwife Program   858-882-8350
Delivery with a midwife is available through Scripps Clinic with delivery at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla.  Prenatal care and delivery is available through Scripps Coastal Medical Center with delivery at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas.

UC San Diego Nurse-Midwifery Service 619-543-3863
If you choose to receive prenatal care from a midwife at UCSD, you can deliver your baby in the traditional Labor & Delivery rooms or in the in-hospital Birth Center, which offers a natural childbirth experience with minimal medical intervention.   UCSD Hospital is in Hillcrest.