Area woman will bring midwife services to Floyd County Medical Center

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com 

Judi Halbach loves babies. She also loves providing health care to women — through all the stages of their lives, before, during and after they are having children.

Halbach is a certified nurse midwife, and she will join the Floyd County Medical Center staff beginning April 1.

“But you can call now” to make appointments, she said, smiling.

Halbach will provide women’s health care at the medical center clinic, and help expectant moms through labor and delivery at the hospital.

“I provide full-scope care to women of all ages, meaning I see girls once they start menstruating, and then women through even menopause,” Halbach said.

“It’s not just babies — it’s gynecological care as well as obstetrical care. I’m an advanced practice registered nurse, just like a nurse practitioner. It’s just that midwifery is my specialty.”

Certified nurse midwives can prescribe drugs; order tests such as labs, X-rays, mammograms and ultrasounds; and do physical exams.

“I don’t do surgery and I don’t do high-risk pregnancies,” Halbach said. “Midwifery specializes in low-risk pregnancy. We can monitor for the same high-risk complications that can arise, but at that point we would transfer to a doctor or co-manage with a doctor.”

Halbach, who is 42,  grew up in Osage and graduated from Osage High School. She went to Allen College of Nursing in Waterloo to get her bachelor’s degree in nursing, and then worked as a registered nurse at the Mitchell County Regional Health Center in Osage.

She moved into a nursing home setting for awhile, then for eight years worked as a registered nurse at the Floyd County Medical Center in Charles City.

Halbach said that very early in her nursing career she began training and working in the labor-delivery department, and also taught childbirth education classes in Osage and Charles City.

“I fell in love with caring for women and families, and babies,” she said.

A couple of times as a nurse working in the obstetrics department she was on duty to help deliver a baby that was born very quickly, before a doctor arrived.

“I just thought it was pushing me to proceed to do it all,” Halbach said.

While still working in Charles City she began taking courses online from the University of Cincinnati, and earned her master’s degree in midwifery.

“I loved my job here as a nurse,” she said. “The only reason I left Charles City was because I became a midwife and at that time the opportunity wasn’t there, and I needed to spread my wings and get some experience.”

She began her career as a midwife in 2012, working at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester for three years, then going across town to work at the Olmsted Medical Center, where she was working most recently.

“I like catching the babies — feeling new life in your hands is pretty amazing,” she said. “Now I have over 400 births under my belt,” as well as experience in big hospital settings where she saw a wide variety of medical situations.

“I just really like empowering women, teaching them about themselves and empowering them to take control over their health and advocate for themselves,” Halbach said.

Halbach still lives in Osage, with her husband, Chad, who also grew up there, and their four children — two girls and two boys ranging in ages from 9 to 18.

She said they would probably continue to live in Osage and she’ll commute to Charles City.

“I drive 70 miles now (to Rochester), so driving 20 miles will be a piece of cake,” she said.

Viva Boerschel, the director of nursing at Floyd County Medical Center, said she has wanted to add a midwife service for a long time.

“We do really appreciate the concept of midwives and we feel that it is something that is needed in the area, to be able to provide that service and that specialized care for females,” she said.

When the idea was finally approved by the hospital medical staff and the hospital board, Halbach was the first person Boerschel thought of, and she called her the next day.

“We encouraged Judi to go back to school to do that,” Boerschel said about midwifery. “She’s been on our radar since she’s been an employee here in the OB department. I’m very familiar with her.

“We didn’t want just a midwife, we wanted a midwife with the right fit, and knowing Judi and the employee that she was before, we wanted to have her back.”

Halbach said there are advantages to using a midwife for labor and delivery.

“It’s very individualized, personalized care,” she said. “Most commonly with doctors, they might greet the patient when they are admitted and check in on them occasionally and come for the delivery.

“With a nurse midwife you’re with the woman from the time they’re admitted until they deliver, and sometimes beyond. You are bedside support, which might just mean verbal encouragement, all the way to massaging backs, massaging feet, suggesting position changes or other non-medicated relief measures.

“And then if the woman chooses medication, I can order any medication the doctor would be able to. So it’s really about the woman’s choice,” she said.

“One of the myths about midwives is, ‘Oh, you have to go unmedicated, you can’t have an epidural,’ and that’s not true.

“We want to support the woman in what birth she wants. But I will spend the extra time educating on what an epidural might do or not do for you during your labor, and when’s the best time to get an epidural,” Halbach said.

I think there’s a lot of misconceptions, like witchcraft-type things” about midwifery, she said. “We really practice evidence-based care — staying up to date on the latest research. We’re more reasonable, less expensive. And we often have better outcomes, so it’s more cost-effective, not only to the institutions but to the patients.”

Halbach said that although it would be legal for her to help with home births, she will only practice in the hospital for deliveries.

“I feel like it’s a benefit both ways,” she said. “You can have a low-risk, low-intervention birth, but have emergency capability right here if you need it, because sometimes things do go south in a big hurry.”

Boerschel said adding Halbach to the staff will add other services that have not been available in the community, including new birth control options.

Halbach said can provide intrauterine devices and subdermal arm implants for birth control. She’ll also do STD (sexually transmitted disease) testing and treatment, and she has a special interest in mood disorders as well, often related to pregnancy and delivery, but sometimes continuing with mental health care after that.

Halbach said she’s happy to be returning to the Floyd County Medical Center.

“I delivered my last two babies here,” she said. “It’s top notch — the facilities, the care. We delivered our first in Osage, our second in Mason (City), our last two here,” she said during an interview at the hospital. “My husband still says, ‘Charles City, any day.’”

Halbach said she’s also excited to be working in Charles City again.

“It’s a small town. I grew up in a small town. I’m small town — you can’t take the small town out of a person,” she said.

For more information or to make an appointment to see Halbach, call the Floyd County Medical Center Clinic at 228-5151.