We provide annual exams, birth control, other gynecologic services, pre-natal and birth care, primary care, and immediate newborn care. Midwives view the seasons and changes of a woman's life as normal, rather than as disease processes. These include menstruation, menopause, pregnancy, and birth. We facilitate the normal, natural process of each of these changes, rather than try to interfere with,
or change the normal course. We like to see women prior to pregnancy, if possible, to discuss ways in which they can have the healthiest pregnancy possible. We focus on prevention of complications and treatment if needed. As far as childbirth choices, a midwife educates and supports choices a woman makes for her labor and birth experience, whether that involves an unmedicated or a medicated labor and birth experience. Midwives have lower C-section rates than physicians do, largely in part because of the midwifery philosophy of non-interference in what will occur naturally in labor and birth. National studies have shown that seeing a midwife decreases a woman's chance of having a C-section by 50%. Midwives are especially adept at caring for adolescent women, who need the extra time and attention that midwives provide. Helping women to begin at a young age to focus on prevention and live a healthy lifestyle encourages them to grow into healthy adults. Often a woman may need other health issues addressed, such as help with smoking cessation or weight loss, decision making about birth control, sexual function counseling, or addressing of many other sensitive subjects or medical conditions. A midwife will assist her in making health care decisions and suggest when specialist care is indicated.