Ronnie Falcao, LM MS - Licensed Midwife
Supplemental Midwifery Care

My goal is to help you have the best pregnancy and birth possible. Many pregnancy discomforts can be prevented or eased. My c-section rate for my last 100 clients was 1%. I can help you to avoid c-section, too.

I am available to provide supplemental midwifery care during pregnancy and postpartum mother/baby care and lactation consulting to families who are planning a hospital birth. My goal is to help you reach a higher level of health after your postpartum recovery than when you became pregnant.

Prenatal Care Options - Our local hospitals have c-section rates averaging around 40%.  Supplemental midwifery care can lower your chances to 5%.

The supplemental midwifery care I offer can help to fill the gap between the care you receive from your OB and the care you receive from your doula.

Most OB appointments are only 10-15 minutes long.  This isn't enough time to address most pregnancy discomforts or to set you up for success at the time of the birth.  Additional appointments with me provide the supplemental midwifery care that can make your pregnancy a joy and set you up for success in your labor and birth.  In my midwifery practice, the cesarean rate for the last 100 births has been 1%.  My years of experience have taught me how to identify the potential pitfalls for an individual woman and to help her take action to avoid these pitfalls.  This preparation will help you to have an easier labor, birth and postpartum recovery.  There are many factors which can be changed during the pregnancy to make labor and birth much easier for both mother and baby.

Addressing clinical concerns during pregnancy is outside the scope of practice of a doula.  Although a doula can do a lot at the time of labor and birth to help you through labor, she cannot go back and correct things that happened during the pregnancy that affect the labor. 

The supplemental midwifery care I offer can:

v  Prevent morning sickness and tongue tie, treat hypertension and gestational diabetes

v  Relieve many pregnancy discomforts and prevent others

v  Help you prepare your body for the birth to avoid induction and c-section

v  Help your baby get into the optimal position for an easier birth

v  Review birth options and birth plans

v  Provide remedies for discomforts not addressed at your OB office

I suggest a first meeting early in the pregnancy to create a plan of action for your pregnancy.  Then some additional crucial times in the pregnancy are 24, 32, 36, and 38 weeks, so I also recommend appointments at those time.  Some women prefer to see me every week for pregnancy support and to address various pregnancy discomforts; this is especially helpful for older women.

My services are covered by most insurance plans.  Google and Apple insurance covers my services at 100%

Ronnie Falcao, LM MS CPM
Licensed Midwife, Mountain View

Twenty years’ experience helping mothers and babies
A midwife’s heart and hands combined with an engineer’s problem solving skills

E-mail ronnie@gentlebirth.org for more information; the word "Midwife" gets through my spam filters.
Or call me at 650-961-9728

Availability

If you'd like to learn more about my  midwifery services, please phone me at 650-961-9728 with your e-mail address or send me e-mail.
My e-mail address is "ronnie" at "gentlebirth.org".  Please put the word "midwife" in the subject to get through my spam filters.  Please let me know your due date and where you live; if you also let me know what kind of insurance you have, I can share my experience about the insurance reimbursement you can expect to receive for my services. Thanks.

I provide care in homes within about 15 miles of Mountain View, California and will drive further by special arrangement.

Some pages I've written:

Perspectives on Normal Childbirth - An article I wrote for the ICAN journal about my internship in an El Paso, Texas, birth center. I was astounded that they had a cesarean rate of less than 1% without compromising the well-being of the mother or baby.

Homebirth Safety and Benefits - Homebirth is as safe or safer than hospital birth in most cases; homebirth also offers intangible benefits beyond superior safety.

Information about VRE - Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus - It was recently reported that the antibiotic-resistant bacteria, enterococcus, has infected 100% of the surveyed hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area.
 

Some pages I've edited:

The Midwife Archives - As a way of organizing my notes about information and wisdom shared on the various birth-related distribution lists, I created the Midwife Archives. Please visit those pages for answers to many practical questions and for an interesting perspective on the mystical side of birth.
 

Some pages I've formatted in co-operation with the authors:

Benefits and risks of episiotomy: A review of the English-language literature since 1980
A journal article by Robert J. Woolley, MD.

Is Homebirth for You?  6 Myths About Childbirth Exposed
An online version of the booklet originally published by Friends of Homebirth (Editor: Janet Tipton, 1990)