Holistic Support Alongside Your Hospital Birth Team
You do not have to choose a home birth to receive care from Trillium Midwifery. Our co-care services are available to families planning to give birth in a hospital who want additional time, individualized guidance, and integrative support throughout pregnancy and postpartum.
We work alongside—not in place of—your hospital-based obstetric provider. By considering your symptoms, medical history, laboratory findings, daily life, and personal goals, we can offer another layer of care while helping you understand how each recommendation fits into the larger picture of your pregnancy.
A Broader Approach to Common Pregnancy Concerns
Pregnancy concerns are rarely one-dimensional. Our approach combines clinical experience, evidence-informed medicine, and naturopathic options to create a plan tailored to your individual needs.
Depending on your concerns, co-care may include:
- Nutrition and lifestyle guidance
- Review and interpretation of laboratory results
- Nutritional or botanical therapies when appropriate
- Prescription medication when indicated and within our scope
- Support for common pregnancy discomforts
- Strategies to support healthy blood-glucose regulation
- Additional assessment and support for blood-pressure concerns
- Preparation for birth and postpartum recovery
- Coordination with your obstetric, maternal-fetal medicine, or primary care providers
Our goal is not to pursue “natural” treatment at the expense of appropriate medical care. We consider both naturopathic and conventional options, discuss their benefits and limitations, and help you choose an approach that reflects the needs of both you and your baby.
Support for Blood Sugar and Blood Pressure
Glucose and blood-pressure concerns during pregnancy deserve careful monitoring because they can affect both parent and baby. We look beyond a single measurement to consider nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, underlying physiology, laboratory findings, and the overall course of the pregnancy.
When appropriate, we may recommend individualized nutrition and lifestyle strategies, nutritional support, and other naturopathic therapies. As licensed providers, we can also prescribe or help manage pharmaceutical treatment within our scope when medication is needed.
Co-care does not replace the monitoring, fetal assessment, or hospital-based treatment recommended by your primary maternity team. We communicate and collaborate with your other providers so that each part of your care supports a safe, coordinated plan.
Care That Continues After Birth
The postpartum period brings physical recovery, hormonal changes, feeding concerns, sleep disruption, and an enormous emotional transition. Co-care can continue after birth with individualized support for:
- Postpartum healing and recovery
- Lactation and infant-feeding concerns
- Milk-production concerns and appropriate laboratory evaluation
- Nutrition and replenishment
- Mood and emotional well-being
- Blood-pressure and blood-glucose follow-up
- Gentle bodywork and pelvic-care options when appropriate
- Coordination with your primary care, obstetric, pediatric, or lactation providers
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is co-care for?
Co-care is for people who plan to give birth in a hospital but would like additional holistic, naturopathic, or relationship-centered support during pregnancy or postpartum. For those under the care of other home-birth midwives in the community, we can provide additional care for conditions outside their scope. It may even help keep you low risk, as has been the case for some patients with gestational diabetes for example. It may also be appropriate for someone who began planning a home birth but later transitioned to hospital-based care.
Does co-care replace my obstetrician, hospital midwife, or community midwife?
No. You will continue routine prenatal care, hospital planning, and delivery care with your primary maternity provider. Trillium’s role is to provide complementary evaluation, education, and treatment while coordinating with that team when appropriate.
Can you help with gestational diabetes?
We can provide individualized support for glucose regulation, including review of glucose readings and laboratory findings, nutrition and movement guidance, and appropriate naturopathic or pharmaceutical options within our scope.
Gestational diabetes requires ongoing monitoring and coordination with your primary maternity provider. If medication, additional fetal surveillance, or specialty care is recommended, we help you understand those recommendations and incorporate them into your overall care plan.
Can you help with high blood pressure during pregnancy?
We can evaluate factors that may be contributing to blood-pressure concerns and discuss appropriate nutrition, lifestyle, nutritional, and medical options. Because elevated blood pressure can sometimes signal a time-sensitive pregnancy complication, we also coordinate with your obstetric provider and recommend prompt hospital evaluation when symptoms or findings require it to help keep you and your baby safe.
Can I see Trillium for one concern, or do I need ongoing co-care?
Co-care can be tailored to your needs. Some families see us for a specific concern, while others choose ongoing visits throughout pregnancy and postpartum. We’ll discuss what you’re looking for and recommend a plan that complements the care you are already receiving.
Will you communicate with my other providers?
With your permission, we can share relevant records, laboratory findings, treatment recommendations, and clinical concerns with the providers involved in your care. The degree of coordination will depend on your needs and whether your other providers are available to collaborate.
Can I receive postpartum care if I was not a prenatal patient at Trillium?
Yes. You may request postpartum, lactation, or newborn support even if you received your prenatal and birth care elsewhere. For patients of community midwives, our adjunctive care may be especially helpful to facilitate support around mental health concerns for patients who may require or desire pharmaceutical management.