Services We Offer
Free Birth Center Tour
Contact us today for a free tour of our birth center. When you call, we will ask you a few questions about your health and medical history. If you are eligible for Midwife care, you can then make an appointment to tour our facility and we can coordinate your care based on your individual needs. Pre-pregnancy counseling available on request. Home birth option available as well. Please call us at 813-685-8404 extension 7. For our Open House dates, please click here.
- Free Tour
- Early Detection Gender Testing
- Doula Services
- Prenatal Care
- Midwife Care
- Birth Center Birth
- Homebirth
- Waterbirth
- Childbirth Classes
- Postpartum Care
- Breastfeeding Support
- Lending Library
- Natural Supplements
Free Birth Center Tour
Contact us today for a free tour of our birth center. When you call, we will ask you a few questions about your health and medical history. If you are eligible for Midwife care, you can then make an appointment to tour our facility and we can coordinate your care based on your individual needs. Pre-pregnancy counseling available on request. Home birth option available as well. Please call us at 813-685-8404 extension 7. For our Open House dates, please click here.
Quality Prenatal Care
Your prenatal care at Sweet Child O’ Mine will include regular prenatal appointments, lab work and ultrasounds. The Midwives will work closely with you during your pregnancy to help ensure that you and your baby stay healthy. Good nutrition, regular exercise and other preventative measures are keys to maintaining good health for both mom and baby. While we do have a small portable ultrasound in house that we use for position checks, our regular ultrasounds are done off site at an imaging center or hospital. We provide you with the prescriptions for your ultrasounds as needed.
At each appointment, we will monitor your blood pressure and other vitals, measure your uterus to make sure your baby is growing well, determine your baby’s position by feeling your belly or by ultrasound, and listen to the baby’s heart beat. We encourage you to bring your family to your prenatal visits. At each appointment, you and your family will have plenty of time to discuss all your questions and concerns with your Midwife. We recommend a holistic natural approach as much as possible, but we can prescribe medications as needed.
We have required childbirth classes at Sweet Child O Mine to help prepare you for the birth of your child. At the same time, your prenatal visits are focused to prepare you and your family for your birth and welcoming your new baby.
During the course of your pregnancy, your Midwives will watch very carefully to make sure everything is going well. If an issue arises that is outside of normal, you will be referred to an obstetrician for consultation or appropriate care. Our goal is to make sure that you receive the highest quality maternity care. During your pregnancy, the on call Midwife will always be available to you by phone if you have any urgent concerns. For non-urgent questions, you can message the midwives through the online health record portal between your appointments.
We do all the standard testing in pregnancy including early pregnancy hormone testing when indicated, genetic screening, prenatal labs, pap smear and cultures, ultrasounds, glucose testing and GBS testing. Your health care is your responsibility so after understanding the purpose of each test, you may decide which tests you would like during your pregnancy.
We also offer a concierge home prenatal care service where the midwife comes to your home for all of your prenatal care. Please inquire when you call us.
The Midwife Model of Care
The Midwife Model of Care is based upon the belief that pregnancy and birth are normal life processes. Midwives monitor the physical, psychological and social well-being of the mother throughout the childbearing cycle.
The Midwife will provide the mother with individualized education, counseling and prenatal care, continuous hands on assistance during labor and delivery, and postpartum support. During the course of care, the patient works with the small group of staff midwives. As a result, there is a relationship that develops between the Midwife and her patient, and the Midwife knows how to give the best care specific to her patient’s needs and wishes.
The Midwife gives personalized care and minimizes technological interventions. The Midwife Model of Care has been proven to reduce the incidence of birth injury, trauma, and cesarean section. The Midwife identifies and refers women who require physician care.
Florida Licensed Midwives graduate from a state regulated and nationally accredited three year, nine semester midwifery program, have eight semesters of clinical internship, attend at least 80 deliveries, manage at least 50 deliveries and pass the national certification exam. Licensed Midwives are licensed and regulated by the Florida Department of Heath Division of Medical Quality Assurance. To read more about our midwives, go to the Team page.
Private Birth Suites
Our 3400 square foot facility offers three private birth suites. Our two primary birth suites each have a full or queen size bed, waterbirth tub, private bathroom with shower inside the suite, mini kitchen with frig and microwave, and baby cradle. Our third birth suite features a queen size bed, waterbirth tub, handheld shower faucet, sink, portable toilet, and an adjacent large kitchen. We have multiple instant hot water heaters in our facilty, so we have eternal hot water in our showers. We have many tools and appliances available for your use during your stay including bluetooth speaker systems for your music, aromatherapy diffusers, essential oils, heating pad, birth ball, birth stool, TV, DVD player, electric skillet, stove and oven, crockpot, coffee pot, and Keurig.
When you are in labor, you will call the midwife and then come into the center. You can pick which suite you would like and settle in with your things. You will bring your foods and drinks with you. Many families will bring food in a crockpot, sandwich making ingredients or cook breakfast on our griddle or in our kitchen. You may also order food to be delivered to the center. Our goal is to help make you and your family as comfortable and relaxed as possible during your stay.
We have an additional two kitchen areas and three comfy lounge areas to help make your family comfortable while they visit you during your stay.
Unmedicated Birth, Waterbirth
Unmedicated birth follows the natural physiological process of the body in labor. Labor generally is not induced and interventions are avoided unless warranted. Without unnecessary interventions in labor, you have a reduced risk of complications in labor and less chance of cesarean section (6% Sweet Child’s c-section rate versus 42% area hospitals c-section rate). When you are relaxed during labor, your labor can progress at a faster pace. With less tension and apprehension, you will experience less discomfort. During your pregnancy, your Midwives will work with you to prepare you for your labor and delivery. We will review strength and toning exercises, relaxation exercises, stretching, hypnobirthing, breathing, good nutrition and supplements to prepare you.
Because pain medicines and epidurals carry a risk of harm to you and your baby, it is not safe to use pharmaceutical pain relief at the birth center. However, we have many techniques to help. One includes laboring in water, also known as the “aquadural”. Studies show that water therapy during labor helps a laboring mom relax, eases the discomfort of labor, and aids in the progression of labor. We also offer Nitrous Oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, as a safe analgesic in labor. It is helpful to decrease pain and anxiety and help mom relax in labor. Click here for more information on Nitrous Oxide.
At the birth center, you have control of your birth process. You can create your own intimate family atmosphere, and you make the decisions concerning your medical care. You are able to move around freely, eat and drink as you wish, and have whomever you’d like to be with you. You can labor in the tub, have a waterbirth, or give birth in any position that you like. These things make a big difference in your childbirth experience and your perception of discomfort in labor. Your care is personalized to your wishes. Your Midwife will give support, make suggestions, and monitor you and your baby closely during labor, resulting in the best environment for your body to give birth naturally.
Financial Information
Midwife care offers a significant savings to you. The fees for Midwife care and Midwife are less than one-half the cost of obstetrical care and hospital birth. Your maternity care at Sweet Child O’ Mine includes all prenatal exams, childbirth classes, labor and delivery, initial postpartum care, the services of the birth assistant, complete newborn exam, two day postpartum visit, a two week postpartum visit, a six week postpartum exam, and filing of the birth certificate. Please call us for information regarding the fee for our services.
We do accept Private Insurance. We are in network with most commercial insurance carriers (except for United Health Care and Tricare). We no longer accept Medicaid, but do offer a reduced self-pay fee to those who qualify for Medicaid.
If you would like to know about your insurance coverage for midwife care, please call our office at 813-685-8404, extension 7 for a verification of your insurance benefits. We will ask you to email us a copy of the front and back of your insurance card. In about 3-4 days, we will let you know what your coverage is including your deductible and co-insurance. You are responsible for paying your insurance deductible and co-insurance according to a payment plan and to cover any incidentals that are not covered by your insurance plan.
If you are not covered by insurance, we will work with you by arranging a flexible payment plan. We accept cash, money order, VISA, MasterCard and Discover. Services and products that are not included in the fee are vitamins, lab fees, ultrasound, RhoGAM, medications, specialist services, Registration Fee, Doula services, nitrous oxide, and waterbirth package and homebirth travel package. We also offer a concierge home prenatal care service where the midwife comes to your home for your prenatal care. Please inquire when you call us.
