CentraCare Health  Monticello and Stellis Health - Monticello Clinic are now offering midwife deliveries by welcoming Diane Larson, APRN, CNM, CNP to the Monticello medical campus. 

 

Larson specializes in women’s reproductive health at Stellis Health -Monticello Clinic.  She cares for healthy women before, during and after pregnancy by offering preconception, prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum care. She also assists women with birth control, routine screening physicals, vaginal infections, menstrual problems, urinary tract infections and sexually transmitted diseases. 

 

“Women in our community want that option, and we have been very excited to able to work with Stellis Health to provide that option,” says Joni Pawelk, director of marketing with CentraCare Health Monticello.

 

Larson has been a certified nurse midwife for the past 10 years.

 

“I knew I wanted to be a midwife when I was pregnant and I chose a midwife to be my provider,” she says. “She took her time with me made me feel like an individual and generally cared about me.”

 

After her child was born, Larson says she went back to school and got her nursing degree, then worked in labor and delivery for several years.

 

“But I wanted to have that longer term relationship with my patients, so I went back to midwifery school,” she says.

 

She worked as a midwife  in New Zealand for a year and was a midwife in St. Cloud for the past nine years before coming to Stellis Health in July.

 

She says although midwives are more common in other counties like Great Britain, New Zealand and the Netherlands, it is becoming more and more popular in the U.S. About one in nine vaginal births are done by midwives.

 

“Midwives focus on pregnancy and birth as normal life events,” says Larson. “Midwives are experts in normal healthy birth, but they’re trained to detect abnormalities in these settings sand collaborate with obstetricians as needed. Midwife care is based in respect for women as individuals and with unique values.”

 

Larson says some women wonder whether they can have pain medicine with a midwife.

 

“Certified nurse midwives are credentialled to order mediations and administer medications,” she says. “We encourage natural child birth, but what we encourage above and beyond a certain style of delivery is that the woman feels strong and empowered to have a satisfying and safe birth.”

 

She says midwives don’t take the place of other healthcare professions, but instead, work as a team to provide the best, safest birthing experience.

 

“Midwives combine traditional skills with judicious use of medical technology to safeguard normal child birth. They empower patients with knowledge and we draw on our own patience and understanding to provide care during pregnancy and birth,” she says. 

 

“I believe women have the right to a fulfilling, as well as, safe childbirth experience. Midwives often recognize spiritual and emotional aspects of birth and allow women to birth with strength and dignity.”

 

Larson is accepting new patients.

 

To learn more about midwife care or to schedule an appointment with Larson, call Stellis Health - Monticello Clinic at 763-295-2921.