Consider a family medicine provider for your pregnancy care
With convenient, personalized care options, the family medicine team at UI Health Care may be right for you and your baby
With convenient, personalized care options, the family medicine team at UI Health Care may be right for you and your baby
You have a lot of decisions to make when it comes to your pregnancy—including who to choose for pregnancy care and the birth of your baby.
When seeking pregnancy care, you can choose a Family Medicine doctor, an OBGYN doctor, or a Certified Nurse-Midwife to provide experienced pregnancy care for you.
All University of Iowa Health Care pregnancy care providers offer continuous care at every step of your pregnancy. From family planning to postpartum and newborn care, they offer expertise and personalized care for you and your baby.
Alka Walter, MBBS, MS, and Rachel Lewis, RN, MSN, answer your question about the pregnancy care you can expect and explain why it might be the right choice for you.
Your family medicine provider already knows your medical history and is experienced in treating health issues that may impact pregnancy—making the transition from family planning to pregnancy to parenthood smooth.
They also offer family-centered care for you and your baby with the same standards that OBGYNs practice. Family medicine providers can perform circumcisions, and like OBGYNs and midwives, they can treat post-delivery complications and provide lactation support.
Family medicine providers also have experience with creating care plans for patients from diverse backgrounds who may have their own personal and cultural preferences for their pregnancy and labor.
During residency, all family physicians are expected to train in obstetrics—learning how to perform deliveries, manage pregnancy complications, and care for newborns. Some family medicine providers are also trained to perform operative deliveries such as C-sections and vacuum deliveries.
This will depend on your family medicine provider. While many family medicine providers offer pregnancy care, not all of them perform deliveries. If yours does not, they will work with another family medicine provider who does or an OBGYN provider.
After the initial examination, your family medicine provider will be able to tell you if you’re likely to have a high-risk pregnancy or need specialized care. Depending on your needs, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist may be brought on for a consultation, or you may be transferred to the OBGYN provider for the remainder of your pregnancy and delivery. However, regardless of who care is transferred to, your family medicine provider can still provide newborn care after delivery.
Our family medicine providers work closely with our OBGYN team. If complications arise during pregnancy, labor, or delivery, our trained OBGYN providers will be there to provide additional support and care.
We give scheduling priority to patients making appointments for pregnancy care—you’ll always have access to the safe and consistent care you need.
Yes. If you have a doula or other support service (such as translation services or other cultural support people), our family medicine providers invite you to include them.
Not all family medicine providers provide pregnancy care, but many providers do—and at several of our convenient locations. Visit uihc.org/pregnancy-care to view a full list of providers and locations.
The contents of this website are for information purposes only and not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not rely on the information provided for medical decision making and should direct all questions regarding medical matters to their physician or other health care provider. Use of this information does not create an express or implied physician-patient relationship.