Utah mom-to-be finds support through group prenatal care

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Elizabeth Snow, a first-time mom, finds support through CenteringPregnancy, a group prenatal care model.
The program offers health assessments, education and community support for expectant mothers.
Snow appreciates the shared experiences and discussions, easing her anxiety about pregnancy challenges.

SALT LAKE CITY — For first-time mom Elizabeth Snow, pregnancy has come with plenty of questions.

Instead of navigating them alone, Snow, an educator and boxing coach, said she's doing it alongside other expectant moms.

"We're all about due around the same time," she said. "We can kind of all talk about where we're at in the general same phases and, you know, feel mutually supported."

Snow is participating in CenteringPregnancy, a national group prenatal care model that brings together women with similar due dates for routine health assessments, education and support.

The Centering model is used at hundreds of sites across more than 40 U.S. states and territories, according to the Centering Healthcare Institute.

"There are three components to the centering model: health assessment, interactive learning and community support," said Jennifer Rolley, a nurse midwife with Intermountain Health.

The two-hour sessions take the place of many traditional prenatal appointments, while still including individual care. Women take their own weight and blood pressure and meet with a nurse midwife. The group then comes together for a discussion about topics ranging from changes during pregnancy to preparing for labor, delivery and life with a new baby.

Partners or other support people may also attend some sessions, depending on what the group decides works best for its members.

Elizabeth Snow and her husband prepare for the arrival of their baby girl. Snow has been participating in CenteringPregnancy throughout her pregnancy. (Photo: Elizabeth Snow)

"The provider facilitates a discussion and learning with all of the participants, drawing on the knowledge and experience of everyone in the group," Rolley said.

For Snow, that meant having somewhere to bring up one of her own worries: breastfeeding.

"It was something that I admittedly felt a lot of anxiety over," she said.

She said being able to talk openly about those concerns and hear from both the midwives and other women in the group helped relieve some of that stress.

"I was able to kind of bring that up, be vulnerable, and then the more information I got and the more validation I got from the group and the midwives, it made me feel okay about whatever choice I need to make," she said.

And the support goes beyond medical questions.

Snow's family and support network are spread out, making the relationships she's formed in the group especially meaningful during her first pregnancy.

"There's parts of pregnancy that can feel very isolating," she said. "You can try to explain to your partner what you're experiencing and what you need, but it's not exactly the same."

The women in each CenteringPregnancy group move through their pregnancies together, with sessions scheduled more frequently as they get closer to their due dates.

"Pregnancy should not be a thing where you feel alone," Snow said.

CenteringPregnancy is offered at several Intermountain Health locations in Utah, including:

Intermountain Health LDS Hospital Nurse Midwives Clinic in Salt Lake City
Intermountain Health Orem OB-GYN and Nurse Midwives
Intermountain Health Layton Parkway Clinic
Intermountain Health Southridge Clinic in Riverton

Moms who are interested in the program can call one of the participating clinics for more information.

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The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.