Prenatal Care at Our Seacoast Community Health Centers
Your prenatal team at Families First or Goodwin Community Health, our community health centers in Portsmouth and Somersworth, will help you be a healthy parent, deliver a healthy baby and get your child off to the best possible start in life. It’s all right here for you, in a warm and supportive environment: obstetric care, breastfeeding education, help preparing for parenting, help getting resources for your family, and more.
Families First and Goodwin are the only practices on the Seacoast where you can see the same provider throughout your pregnancy.
Do I need Insurance?
You do not need insurance to begin prenatal care with us. We will never turn a pregnant person away. If you don’t have health insurance, we’ll help you apply for Medicaid coverage that is available during pregnancy. We strongly encourage and welcome you to come to us as early in your pregnancy as you can.
While You Are Pregnant
You will have a whole team of people supporting you and your baby. Your prenatal care team includes:
- Family physicians and nurse midwives. Meet our prenatal providers
- A registered nurse to coordinate all your prenatal care, answer questions and provide education
- A social worker to help you find resources to meet your needs, including helping with applications for enrollment in Medicaid insurance coverage.
- A counselor to help you stop or reduce use of tobacco, alcohol or drugs if needed.
- A Certified Lactation Consultant to help with breastfeeding
For your convenience, we also offer on-site:
- Primary, pediatric, behavioral health and dental care *Due to a staffing shortage our dental centers cannot accept any new patients right now. Also, we have reduced hours of operation to four days a week at each location
- NST (non-stress test)
- Free monthly classes covering breastfeeding, childbirth, and what to expect throughout pregnancy and as your child grows and develops.
- Laboratory services, provided by Labcorp
Delivering Your Baby
You have a choice about where to deliver your baby.
- Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover (for both Families First and Goodwin patients). You may choose to have your baby delivered by a midwife or a physician.
- Portsmouth Regional Hospital in Portsmouth (Families First patients only). Delivery is by a physician from Families First or from Harbour Women’s Health.
Support Your Growing Family
Your connection to your prenatal team at Families First or Goodwin Community Health doesn’t end when you give birth. We will support you in many ways on your parenting journey. You’re not alone!
We hope that both you and your baby will stay with us for primary care in Portsmouth or Somersworth. In our pediatric practice, you may be able to see the same provider whom you saw during your pregnancy. And a child-development specialist is part of many Well-Child visits.
After your baby is born, stay with us to keep receiving many of the services you had during pregnancy, plus:
- Support for breastfeeding from our certified lactation consultant
- Mother-to-Mother postpartum group and other parenting classes and groups.
- Babytime group where you and your baby can come to learn, play and socialize with other young families
- Other parenting classes, parent groups, family programs and playgroups
- A home visitor to provide education, support and links to resources
