EvergreenHealth Midwifery Care, which opened 18 months ago, recently celebrated a major milestone: the delivery of its 500th baby – a healthy baby girl named Riley. The hospital-based service, which debuted in September 2012, offers personalized birthing experiences within the comfort of EvergreenHealth’s award-winning Family Maternity Center.

“We’ve partnered with so many wonderful families over our collective history and experience as midwives,” said Heather Bradford, the EvergreenHealth certified nurse-midwife who delivered Riley in mid-February. “It’s hard to believe this new practice has already welcomed our 500th baby into the world – a beautiful, healthy girl weighing in at eight pounds, 14 ounces.”

Since launching, EvergreenHealth Midwifery Care has met an important need in the community, complementing EvergreenHealth’s existing range of maternity services with a team of certified nurse-midwives that provides expecting mothers with another option for a high quality, low-intervention birthing experience on the Eastside.

“Each woman has different needs, and it’s an entirely personal decision whether she feels most comfortable partnering with an obstetrician or a nurse-midwife,” said Shana Burton, one of five certified nurse-midwives at EvergreenHealth. “Many of the women who come to EvergreenHealth Midwifery Care are seeking a strong bond with their provider—the type of relationship that’s promoted by longer appointments, and by knowing that our goal as midwives is to empower women during pregnancy, to honor their birth plans and to personally support them through their entire labor.”

During the first year of EvergreenHealth Midwifery Care’s operations, the midwifery team had 12,000 patient interactions, including 308 vaginal deliveries and 42 C-sections. In addition, a review in the third quarter of 2013 reports that patient satisfaction is in the 99th percentile, with patients 100 percent likely to recommend the practice.

One of the practice’s many supporters is Redmond resident Cynthia Sarinyamas, who gave birth to her youngest daughter, Amelia, at EvergreenHealth in October 2013. It was her second delivery with a midwife, following the birth of Sarinyamas’ oldest daughter—two-year-old Genevieve—in Chicago.

“When I moved to Washington with my family, I knew I wanted to find a midwife on the Eastside who would deliver in a hospital and not a birthing center,” said Sarinyamas, who ultimately delivered baby Amelia with Burton. “EvergreenHealth Midwifery Care has been remarkable. You can sometimes be treated clinically while pregnant, but the EvergreenHealth team is really knowledgeable as well as compassionate.”

It was important for Sarinyamas to have her daughter delivered in a hospital, which is why the certified nurse-midwives at EvergreenHealth Midwifery Care were an ideal option.

Patients under the care of a certified nurse-midwife undergo the same lab tests and ultrasounds as those who have chosen an obstetrician as their provider—and they also deliver at EvergreenHealth’s Family Maternity Center. Additionally, certified nurse-midwives can prescribe medications and have access to EvergreenHealth obstetricians for collaboration and consultation.

To learn more about EvergreenHealth Midwifery Care, visit www.evergreenhealth.com/midwife.