We Believe That
Every miscarriage and stillbirth should be genetically tested, receive placental pathology and an autopsy if far enough along.
Patients should not be made to endure multiple miscarriages before thorough investigation is done.
Each and every perinatal loss is experienced as the death of a child to most families and that perinatal loss causes irreversible pain.
The emotional effects of perinatal loss are life long and that they should be considered when deciding how to manage pregnancy with an eye towards loss prevention.
Proactive primary care management of birthing persons prior to conception is critical to optimizing the best outcomes for birthing person and baby. This includes stabilizing any pre-existing conditions, conducting routine screenings, offering adjunctive cancer, cardiovascular, and reproductive screenings to ensure our patients are in their optimal health prior to conception.
It is essential to provide care with full transparency. Specifically, giving patients all the information available on loss investigation and prevention without limiting information due to insurance coverage or fear of scaring them. Where insurance limits coverage of testing, we provide guidance on how to navigate this.
Those attempting pregnancy after loss are the bravest among us.
Deep listening, to pregnant persons, and their partners is the greatest management tool we have in pregnancy. We invite patients to meditate and journal weekly inside our templates and share these targeted questionnaires and observations with their providers.
The greatest tools we have against stillbirth are movement counting, uniform provider response to movement changes and delivery at 39 weeks or earlier.
It is important to work towards optimization of bereavement outcomes in medical decision making around loss. Long-term outcomes are improved when not making medical decisions in isolation without consideration of bereavement outcomes.