St. Francis OBGYN Associates is proud to announce the addition of Certified Nurse Midwife Melissa Hatter, RN, MSN, CNM. Hatter joins the most comprehensive midwife practice in the region, affiliating with CNM Melissa Terry Fish and CNM Nicole Taylor at OBGYN Associates.
 
Hatter completed her master’s degree in nursing as well as her nurse midwifery training at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, after earning her BSN from Capstone College of Nursing at the University of Alabama. Prior to becoming a midwife, she worked in maternal care or labor and delivery positions at several hospitals.
 
She has more than 10 years of experience, working first as a nurse, serving at DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa, AL, as well as at Chesterfield General Hospital in Cheraw, SC. She began her practice as a Certified Nurse Midwife in 2012 with OB-GYN Associates of Montgomery in Alabama.
 
Certified Nurse Midwives are licensed health care providers educated in nursing and midwifery. CNMs have graduated from college, passed a national examination, and are licensed to practice midwifery in the states where they serve. Trained in both nursing and midwifery, midwives (sometimes also called “nurse midwives”) are certified by the American Midwifery Certification Board.   
 
A number of their patients choose and are assisted in having un-medicated births, but midwives also see patients who desire IV analgesia. Anesthesia professionals are available at St. Francis 24 hours a day to place epidurals for labor comfort. While midwives specialize in providing support and education throughout pregnancy, in addition to providing prenatal care and delivering babies, midwives provide other health care services as well, including PAP screening and annual exams, birth control planning, preconception counseling, STD screenings, health counseling and gynecologic services.
 
“Our goal is for each woman to be able to have the birth experience she wants, with the focus first on quality and safety,” Hatter said. “I’m excited to be affiliated with St. Francis which has demonstrated its commitment to providing the highest quality of care for mothers and babies by becoming Georgia’s first hospital to earn Perinatal Care Certification from The Joint Commission.”