UP Health System – Portage Offers Midwifery Services

The birth of your child is a special moment in your life—you may be excited, anxious or nervous about your path ahead. At UP Health System – Portage, we partner with you to provide a compassionate and positive birthing experience for you, your family and your new bundle of joy. UP Health System – Portage offers midwifery services to women in the Upper Peninsula. Ashley Chamberlain, Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM), talks about what it means to have this service available to our community, what she specializes in and her reasoning for becoming a CNM. 

Q: What is a CNM and the services offered?

A: A CNM is an advanced practice registered nurse specializing in the care of women across their lifespan. As a CNM I work in the obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) clinic, as well as the hospital setting. In the clinic, I provide prenatal care, postpartum care and well-women exams. My role in the hospital is labor support, attending births and postpartum care, including breastfeeding support.

Q: How long have you been a midwife and what kind of training did you receive to become a midwife?

A: I have been a midwife for two and a half years. Before going back to school, I worked as a labor and delivery nurse for five years and received my Master of Science in Nursing from Frontier Nursing University.

Q: What was your reasoning for becoming a midwife in the Upper Peninsula?

A: I’ve always wanted to become a midwife and when we moved up here in 2018 it felt like the right time for me to go back to school. I worked with midwives before moving to the area and enjoyed that approach to managing labor and birth and I wanted to be able to provide that kind of care to women in the Upper Peninsula.

Q: What do you enjoy most about being a CNM?

A: Catching babies! I love attending births—it is such a beautiful thing to watch a woman become a mother, whether it’s her first baby or not.  

Q: What does having midwifery services available at UPHS – Portage mean for our community?

A: Pregnancy is a normal physiologic process. My job as a midwife is to make sure mom and baby are healthy and to intervene if any complications arise. As a midwife, I spend a lot of time during prenatal visits forming relationships with my patients. I also do a lot of education about pregnancy and routine prenatal care.

I am a huge fan of shared decision-making so that my patients are partners in their care. I feel my job is to provide women with recommendations, reasoning for the recommendations, and risks and benefits. Patients are the ultimate decision-makers when it comes to their care. The OB/GYN clinic at UPHS – Portage is a collaborative practice between me and the physicians. That means I can care for low-risk women independently, but I can also work closely with our providers to care for women with risk factors.

Meet our OB/GYN team:

Our Family Birthing Center (FBC) is designed to meet the needs of mom, baby and family. Located on the second floor of the UP Health System – Portage in Hancock, the FBC offers accommodations designed to pamper mothers-to-be throughout each stage of the birthing process. Our birthing center offers:

• Five private delivery rooms
• C-section operating suite
• Vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) services
• Newborn nursery
• Lactation support
• Epidural administration

Whether you're a first-time mom or ready to grow your family, we are here to help welcome our tiniest patients. For more information on midwifery services, the FBC or women's health services at UP Health System – Portage, visit UPHealthSystem.com. To watch a virtual tour of FBC, click here. 

To book an appointment with one of the providers above, call Upper Great Lakes Family Health at 906.483.1050.