There's no place like home

Safe, calm, respectful quality midwifery care

When you learn you’re pregnant, the first step is choosing your desired birthing environment and provider which best fits both the needs of you and your baby. 
Dorothy said it best, “There’s no place like home!” It’s where we feel safest in our most vulnerable moments. Home Birth Midwifery care provides the safety of a trained birth team in just the right environment to allow the beauty and transformative power of birth to reach its full potential. Birthing where you feel most safe, calm and confident allows the natural birth process to unfold with the skillful and compassionate care of professional midwives.

Standard Prenatal Visit Schedule

<30 weeks

Once a month

30-36 weeks

Bi-monthly

>37 weeks

Weekly or more until birth

What to Expect in Pregnancy

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13, NLT)

Intake Visit

As your primary home birth midwife, I’ll review your medical and obstetrical history, with your consent will provide a full examination, including an eyes, ears, nose, throat, lungs, abdomen, back and pelvic assessment (you may decline), provide a standard prenatal appointment as listed in the section below, complete some paperwork with you, and answer any questions you may have.

Prenatal Appointment

Standard Prenatal visits may include maternal weight, rapid urinalysis, blood pressure, pulse, palpate your abdomen and fundus to feel baby’s position, measure your fundal height to ensure adequate growth, and listen to the baby’s heart rate.  Vaginal exams are performed only by request or consent if additional information is needed to make important decisions for your care. We will ask questions about your physical and emotional well-being, provide education and guidance, and answer any questions you may have. These visits may take place in the comfort of your home or in our office setting and are typically 60 minutes long. Anyone is welcomed to join you during these visits and we make special effort to include older siblings.

Kick off 36 week Home Visit

 At 36 weeks I will invite anyone you are planning to have attend the birth; partners, family, friends, birth photographers, etc.  We’ll discuss your vision for your birth, explain what to expect during your birth, take inventory of the supplies you’ve collected from a list we provide during a previous visit, and tour your home to assist in planning where to set up supply trays, birth pools or to simply acquaint ourselves with where to find items that may be needed during your birthing time such as towels or food. This is a great time for friends and family to meet your birth team and ask any questions about home birth..
begin your journey →

What to Expect at Your Birth

“Birth is an opportunity to transcend. To rise above what we are accustomed to, reach deeper inside ourselves than we are familiar with, and to see not only what we are truly made of, but the strength we can access in and through birth.” — Marcie Macari

Contacting Your Midwife

As primary midwife, I’ll be on call 24/7 during your due window. You may text updates any time you think things may be beginning, but are not in active labor. Once active labor begins all you have to do is call. Sometimes we may do a labor check and help you get more comfortable in early labor. Once you are in active labor, your primary midwife will join you and notify your birth team when the time is right.

Labor Day and Birth

Once I arrive, I’ll quietly enter your home with peace and reverence to be sure not to disrupt the birthing process.  I’ll provide an initial assessment of you and your baby and then prep supplies for the arrival of your baby. As things progress the other members of your team will join us. We’ll move about the home providing privacy and attention when and how you need it. Whether you birth in water or on land, we’ll be there to receive your baby with gentle, but skilled presence to assist in their transition into this world from womb to arms. 

Immediate Postpartum

We aim to keep your baby in arms for the first few hours following birth. I’ll assist with breastfeeding, prepare you something to eat, and even start the laundry. We’ll complete a full newborn examination, procedures, and provide a full summary for your pediatrician – allowing you to remain in the comfort of your home for 1 week. We remain in the home for approximately 3-4 hours, or longer if needed.​ I’ll provide instructions and a “what to expect” list on your newborn’s transition and your postpartum recovery. I will return the very next day, but will remain on-call for any questions or if you feel you need an earlier visit.

 

Become a Client →

What to Expect after Baby Arrives

“Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers — strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength.” — Barbara Katz Rothman

Postpartum Appointment

Your primary midwife will return soon after birth to evaluate your recovery and the health of your newborn. We provide full comprehensive care of you and your baby for the first 6 weeks following the birth of your baby. Standard care includes 5 postpartum appointments. The first 3 visits are always in the comfort of  your home. Subsequent visits may be in your home or in our office setting.

Birther’s Experience

At every visit we’ll assess standard vitals including blood pressure, pulse, and temperature, healing, abdomen for fundal firmness and height, breastfeeding and milk supply, and emotional well-being. We’ll process the birthing experience together and help your household transition to life with a newborn. On week 6 we’ll discuss family planning and may conduct an Edinburgh Questionnaire as part of the evaluation of your emotional well-being. I’ll provide any resources you may need outside of the midwifery practice. 

Baby’s Experience

​On day 1, we’ll check vitals, listening to their heart rate, lungs clarity and respiration, and temperature. We’ll evaluate their full body for any notable changes, voided diapers, feeding and more. We can answer any questions and help with breastfeeding. We’ll also complete that oh-so-cute footprint certificate.
On day 3, we’ll additionally weigh your little one and conduct the Newborn Metabolic Screening mandated by the state.

On day 7, we’ll help you schedule a future pediatrician visit, provide full documentation of our care for your newborn, and give you information for scheduling a Newborn Hearing Screen at a local clinic once you are ready to venture into the world with your sweet baby.  We’ll also complete the real  birth certificate paperwork for you to present to your local Town / City Hall.

​Week 3, we continue standard follow up of vitals, breastfeeding and weight gain.

On week 6,  I’ll do a complete set of vitals and weight check, answer any additional questions you or your partner may have and discuss ways our relationship can grow even though your midwifery care is coming to an end. 

Become a Client →

Resources for Home Birth

 

Be in The Know →

SUGGESTED READING

Husband Coached Childbirth – Dr. Bradley
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth – Ina May Gaskin
After the Baby is Born – Carl Jones
Hey Who’s Having This Baby Anyway? – Breck Hawk
Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn – Penny Simkin
The Birth Partner – Penny Simkin
Homebirth – Sheila Kitzinger
Special Delivery – Rahima Baldwin
A Good Birth, A Safe Birth – Diana Korte & Rebecca Scaer
Video: The Business of Being Born by Rikki Lake & Abby Epstein

 

RECOMMENDED WEBSITES

MidwiferyToday.com
EvidenceBasedBirth.com

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