Larisa Savage, DNP, CNM, knows a thing or two about delivering babies as she is both a midwife and mother. So does her practice OB/GYN colleague, Dr. Jason Lowe, who has performed more than 5,000 career deliveries.
The two of them currently work together at the Carle Health OB/GYN clinic in Peoria and when Savage was
planning to have another unmedicated delivery (without an epidural anesthesia injection), it seemed natural to choose Dr. Lowe, an OB/GYN clinician and hospitalist with Carle Health, who started delivering babies in 1999. His first delivery experience came in the summer of 1992 as a pre-med student shadowing his early mentor and OB/GYN uncle, Dr. Larry Overcash. “I knew from an early age that obstetrics was my calling,” Dr. Lowe said.
Dr. Lowe is now the OB medical director and lead to 10 OB hospitalists at Carle Health Methodist, providing seamless care to their own inpatient Carle practice patients as well as 24/7 emergency care to all OB/GYN patients in the hospital.
He worked alongside Savage when she was a labor and delivery nurse, before she focused on midwifery. “All along my colleagues have seen me working, sometimes under pressure, and hopefully that gave her reassurance. There is no greater compliment than when a labor nurse or colleague who knows your work seeks out your support. They are very aware of the risks involved,” Dr. Lowe said.
Savage said her midwife training instilled additional knowledge of delivery risks that she did not have as a
nurse. “I have seen Dr. Lowe in both emergency and low-risk delivery situations and he was an obvious choice for me and my husband, Austin.”
Though she had chosen an unmedicated delivery before, it was considered a bit complicated as a sonogram revealed her amniotic fluid volume was low at 38 weeks gestation. Dr. Lowe told her she would need to have her labor induced. Born at 7 pounds, 7 ounces, Covyn Savage entered the world last fall safe and sound. He was welcomed home by siblings Addy, Gary and Willa.
“We are blessed to work in the field of obstetrics where the happy to sad ratio is 9:1. There are some absolutely beautiful deliveries that happen and Larissa’s was one of them,” Dr. Lowe said.
Learn more about the Carle Health Methodist Birthing Center in Peoria, which is just 12 miles from Pekin. The center offers comprehensive services and a comfortable setting to support a variety of birth choices. Take a virtual tour here.
Categories: Culture of Quality, Community
Tags: Carle Health Methodist Hospital, Carle Health Pekin Hospital, labor and delivery, Peoria, Women's Health