Pregnancy Care and Delivery

If you’ve never been pregnant before, or you’re new to the area, the number of provider titles can be confusing. Here’s what each one means:

• Family Medicine with Obstetrics (FMOB) Physician — A family medicine doctor with additional training in obstetrics, caring for your entire family from your first planning or prenatal visit through delivery and into your child’s pediatric care. Some FMOB physicians deliver babies, including by cesarean section; others provide prenatal care and transition patients to a delivering provider around 36 weeks. Many of those who are credential to provide cesarean sections have completed fellowship training to become qualified. This model exists because Missouri, like much of rural America, faces a shortage of dedicated OB/GYN physicians willing to practice outside larger cities. In many ways, it’s a return to how family medicine worked for generations, when one doctor delivered your baby and cared for your family for years afterward. 
• Family Medicine Resident Physicians — Physicians in training as part of the Bothwell-University of Missouri Rural Family Medicine Residency, a program based at Bothwell. Residents complete rotations in obstetrics and regularly care for pregnant patients from their first prenatal visit through delivery, working closely with Bothwell’s experienced physicians. 
• Certified Nurse Midwife (DNP / CNM) — An advanced practice provider trained specifically in pregnancy, labor and delivery for low-risk pregnancies, with a focus on natural and low-intervention birth.
• Nurse Practitioner (WHNP) — Provides prenatal care and can manage many routine pregnancy visits, typically through the earlier and middle parts of pregnancy.

No matter who you choose to see, our team works together and communicates with each other, so you’re never starting over with someone new.

• Every provider on our team communicates and works together, so no matter who you start with, you receive coordinated care from your first appointment through delivery and beyond. 
• Meet the physicians, resident physicians and advanced practice providers who provide pregnancy care at Bothwell:
  • Misty Todd, MD
    • Family Medicine Physician with Obstetrics, Board certified in Family Medicine Obstetrics
    • Bothwell Women’s Health
    • Bothwell Cole Camp Clinic
    • Cares for patients through preconception counseling, prenatal visits and delivery, including cesarean sections, along with ongoing family care.
  • Alexandra Cooke, DO
    • Family Medicine Physician with Obstetrics, Fellowship Trained
    • Bothwell Women’s Health
    • Bothwell Family Medicine Associates
    • Provides prenatal, obstetric and pediatric care for the whole family, with fellowship training in operative deliveries and cesarean sections.
  • Brittany Lefevers, MD
    • Family Medicine Physician with Obstetrics, Fellowship Trained
    • Bothwell Cole Camp Clinic
    • Completed her residency at Bothwell and returned after a one-year fellowship in obstetrics. Provides prenatal and obstetric care, delivery, including cesarean sections, and pediatric care for the whole family.
  • Bridgid Hast Wilson, MD, PhD
    • Family Medicine Physician with Obstetrics, Fellowship Trained
    • Bothwell Women’s Health
    • Provides prenatal and obstetrics, with fellowship training in operative deliveries and cesarean sections.
  • Megan Ray, WHNP
    • Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner
    • Bothwell Women’s Health
    • Provides prenatal care through approximately 28 weeks, then transitions patients to a delivering provider.
  • Cassie Caedo, DNP, CNM
    • Certified Nurse Midwife
    • Bothwell Women’s Health
    • Provides pregnancy and delivery care focused on natural, low-intervention birth for low-risk pregnancies.
  • Abrea Cridlebaugh, MD
    • Family Medicine Physician with Obstetrics
    • Bothwell Family Medicine Associates
    • Cares for patients through preconception counseling, prenatal visits and pediatric follow-up. Does not deliver babies and will transfer care to a delivering provider around 36 weeks of pregnancy.
  • Alyssa Emery, MD
    • Family Medicine Physician with Obstetrics
    • Bothwell Family Medicine Associates
    • Cares for patients through preconception counseling, prenatal visits and delivery, along with ongoing family care.
  • ShiAnne Farris, DO
    • Family Medicine Physician with Obstetrics
    • Bothwell Health Center – Truman Lake
    • Completed her residency at Bothwell. Cares for patients through preconception counseling, prenatal visits and pediatric follow-up. Does not deliver babies and will transfer care to a delivering provider around 36 weeks of pregnancy.
  • Gabriel Dudley, DO
    • Family Medicine Resident Physician
    • Bothwell Family Medicine Associates
    • Provides prenatal, delivery and full-scope family care as part of the Bothwell-University of Missouri Rural Family Medicine Residency.
  • Jamie Spears, MD
    • Family Medicine Resident Physician
    • Bothwell Family Medicine Associates
    • Provides prenatal, delivery and full-scope family care as part of the Bothwell-University of Missouri Rural Family Medicine Residency.
  • Hayden Hackman, DO
    • Family Medicine Resident Physician
    • Bothwell Family Medicine Associates
    • Provides prenatal, delivery and full-scope family care as part of the Bothwell-University of Missouri Rural Family Medicine Residency.
  • Joseph Stegman, MD
    • Family Medicine Resident Physician
    • Bothwell Family Medicine Associates
    • Provides prenatal, delivery and full-scope family care as part of the Bothwell-University of Missouri Rural Family Medicine Residency.
  • Kusum Choudhary, MD
    • Family Medicine Resident Physician
    • Bothwell Family Medicine Associates
    • Provides prenatal, delivery and full-scope family care as part of the Bothwell-University of Missouri Rural Family Medicine Residency.
  • Conrad Walley, DO
    • Family Medicine Resident Physician
    • Bothwell Family Medicine Associates
    • Provides prenatal, delivery and full-scope family care as part of the Bothwell-University of Missouri Rural Family Medicine Residency.

If you live in a surrounding community that doesn’t have labor and delivery services, you don’t have to choose between your current provider and delivering somewhere safe. We’ll work with your primary care physician or prenatal provider to coordinate your delivery at Bothwell, then transition your care back to your hometown provider afterward. You get the safety and experience of delivering close to specialized care, without losing the relationship you already have at home.

• Planning to be pregnant. Schedule a preconception visit to review your health history and medications and address any conditions that could affect a future pregnancy, so you’re starting from the healthiest possible place.
• You find out you’re pregnant. Call us right away, even if you’re not sure who you want to see. We can help.
• Early pregnancy. You’ll begin regular visits with your provider.
• Mid-pregnancy. If you started with a nurse practitioner, you’ll typically transition to a physician or midwife for delivery around 28 weeks.
• Later pregnancy. If your FMOB physician doesn’t perform deliveries, your care may transition around 36 weeks to a provider who does. Your original provider stays part of your care team.
• Delivery. You deliver at Bothwell’s Women’s Health and Newborn Care unit at the hospital, supported by a team who already knows your history.
• After baby. Postpartum checkups, and for many families, ongoing pediatric care with the same physician who cared for you during pregnancy.

Explore our childbirth education resources: a tour of our Women’s Health and Newborn Care unit, and our childbirth education guide.