Frequently Asked Questions

Midwives are skilled healthcare professionals who provide support during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum to childbearing women and their infants. They are trained to international standards and provide compassionate, woman-centered care. They specialize in normal labour and are well equipped to provide time, attention, and care through the delivery.

Aastrika Midwifery Centre offers a midwifery model of care delivered by an interdisciplinary team with obstetricians, midwives, pediatricians, and nurses. Our obstetricians Dr. Jikmik and Dr. Anupama, our midwives Anjumol Joseph and Susan Boby, our pediatrician Dr. Aruna, and our highly qualified nurses work hard to provide compassionate, woman centered care and evidence-based obstetrics. Anju and Susan have been trained in the Fernandez Foundation Professional Midwife program. We routinely invest in training for our nurses on respectful maternity care and midwifery practices.

Sarah Coxon, a senior Consultant Midwife from the NHS in the UK who has relocated to Bangalore, acts as a Midwifery Advisor at Aastrika Midwifery Centre. She provides guidance on the overall strategy of the Centre, with special focus on incorporation of midwifery care in the protocols. She also provides support and training to the midwives at the Centre.

Aastrika Midwifery Centre’s obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Jikmik, senior obstetrician Dr. Anupama, and pediatrician Dr. Aruna, are well equipped to handle high-risk pregnancies and provide any necessary obstetric or newborn care.

We are physically located within multi-specialty Vasavi Hospital, which has all the necessary infrastructure for high-risk pregnancies including operation theatres, an ICU, an NICU, and so on. Aastrika is also partnered with Vasavi Hospital to provide neonatologists, anaesthesiologists, and any other specialist doctors that are needed.

In case of an emergency C-section, we will move you to the Operation Theatre (OT) of Vasavi Hospital. Your emergency C-section will be carried out by Aastrika’s obstetricians. Members of the Aastrika team will always be by your side. The Aastrika team is making sincere efforts to ensure C-sections are as gentle as possible, and that skin-to-skin care and breastfeeding happen as soon as you and your baby are safe.

Once you and your newborn are stable, you will move to your postpartum room at the Aastrika Midwifery Centre. The Aastrika team will give you all the support you need for breastfeeding and postpartum recovery.

At Aastrika Midwifery Centre (AMC), we practice extensive safety protocols to prevent and reduce spread of COVID-19. All of our clinical and support staff like our doctor, nurses, patient coordinators, billing executive, and others are fully vaccinated.

At AMC, all staff wear masks at all times and practice routine hand washing. Sanitizers are placed at different points in all common areas as well as in the rooms. Staff are screened for symptoms on a daily basis, and any staff exhibiting symptoms are asked to quarantine and take a COVID-19 test.

Every person entering AMC will be required to wear a mask, sanitize their hands at entry, and complete a temperature check. All surface areas at the Centre, especially high-touch surface areas, are frequently sanitized, through the day. Deep cleaning of the Centre is done every day.

We strongly encourage you and your partner to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. We would be happy to help you procure vaccines, if needed. All COVID-19 protocols mandated by Aastrika need to be followed by you and your partner. When you are in labour inside your Sensory Birthing Suite, you may remove your mask.

Since Aastrika is a part of Vasavi Hospital, we are aligned with them regarding their COVID-19 protocols for patients and companions. These protocols are subject to change depending on the COVID-19 situation in Bangalore. Please check with the Aastrika team regarding the latest protocols. As of January 2022, Vasavi Hospital requires expecting couples to have a negative RT-PCR test for admission.

We highly encourage birth companions during labour to provide the support and care you need. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some restrictions need to be in place. During antenatal visits as well as during birth, we will always allow one birth partner of your choice, usually the expecting father, to accompany you.

Additionally, we also allow and encourage professional doulas to accompany you and your birth partner during one antenatal visit and during childbirth.

Due to COVID-19, we discourage guests from visiting you and your newborn and do not have visiting hours.

Normal labour in healthy women usually lasts longer than most people expect, especially for first-time mothers. Early labour lasts for several hours and sometimes days. Active labour often lasts four to eight hours. It’s often shorter for subsequent deliveries but rarely so fast that you cannot travel to Aastrika Midwifery Centre. Attending a good childbirth class will help you be prepared for what to expect and understand when you need to head for the hospital.

Aastrika Midwifery Centre follows every step in the International Childbirth Initiative’s 12 Steps to Safe and Respectful MotherBaby-Family Maternity Care. These 12 Steps include respect, dignity, and informed choice; continuous support during childbirth; evidence-based practice; and promotion of breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact.

From the moment your child is born, we protect your newborn’s right to immediately have skin-to-skin contact, right to immediately nurse, and right to always remain with her or his parents.

We have tried our best to ensure all newborn procedures are done at your bedside and ideally in your arms.

In rare cases where your newborn may genuinely need the NICU, we will fully support you to breastfeed and to remain with your child as much as possible.

Yes!!

Our Sensory Birthing Suite is furnished with a birth pool that you can use during labor for pain relief, and to birth your baby in a safe and gentle way. Our in-house obstetrician and gynaecologists, Dr. Jikmik and Dr. Anupama, have both completed their Waterbirth Practitioner Certification from Waterbirth International by Barbara Harper.

At Aastrika Midwifery Centre, we offer four packages, currently priced at Rs. 1,10,000, Rs. 1,35,000, Rs. 1,75,000 and Rs. 2,10,000, after all discounts. Based on the package you select, you may avail of our Sensory Birthing Suite and water birth facilities. Details are available at the reception at Aastrika Midwifery Centre.

All packages include a 3 day stay, emergency C-sections; emergency instrumental deliveries; the obstetrician and pediatrician charges; breastfeeding support; basic newborn care including vaccinations and hearing tests; basic procedures, consumables, food, and medicines; and a MotherBaby gift kit.

The packages exclude epidurals; Entonox; admission fees for insurance processing and RT-PCR tests; stays beyond 72 hours; newborn genetic screening; cord blood banking; additional procedures and consumables arising out of complications; meals for the birth partner; NICU and ICU stays; and consultations with specialists from other departments.

The package is only for birthing. Prenatal and postnatal consults, childbirth education classes, lactation consults, support services, diagnostics, and so on are charged separately.

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