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Midwifery care is a good fit for you if you want to be at the forefront of your care, are willing to educate and prepare yourself, look forward to making your own decisions and have the capacity to take responsibility for those decisions.

In essence a low risk pregnancy is a pregnancy with normal physiology (normal blood pressure, normal blood sugar levels, reassuring labwork and ultrasounds) with a head down baby who is born between 37-42 weeks of pregnancy. Prenatal care gives us plenty of information as to whether or not folks are in a low risk category and in many cases, the preventative and holistic nature of midwifery care keeps folks in the low risk category.

Yes!

People have been birthing babies in small spaces long before there were rooms with four walls and a ceiling. I have attended many, many births in small homes and in bathrooms! Don’t be fooled by the ‘trappings.’ You don’t need a whole lotta anything to birth your baby. Some basic gathered supplies and the Midwife’s birth bags are enough.

Almost everyone in our dense urban settings worries about the neighbors hearing them. In the vast majority of cases, neighbors don’t hear anything (even neighbors who live quite close). In some cases, neighbors do hear labor sounds. I invite clients to let neighbors know ahead of time that they may hear some noise. We can also talk through additional ways to muffle sounds depending on the setting.

It is wonderful to have a tub for the labor. Tubs come in different sizes and a smaller tub can easily fit in a small space. We rent tubs at a discounted rate to our clients, or you can easily rent a tub for the month around your due date.

Prior to birth, clients order a ‘birth kit’ that includes all of the disposable materials we will use during the labor, birth and postpartum. Families also receive a list of household items to gather before the birth. Having these materials on hand makes the clean up easy. The midwifery team makes sure your space feels comfy and calm for snuggling.

I am a big fan of Doula support. If this is your first labor and birth, I highly recommend hiring a Doula.

No! Please don’t! One of your baby’s greatest jobs at birth is to be inoculated with good bacteria. Mainly this happens in the form of passing through the birth canal and also spending lots of time skin to skin. However, the microbiome of the home also offers beneficial bacteria.

I am committed to making midwifery care accessible to all families who desire this care. For families who truly need the assistance, I offer sliding scale and flexible payment plans.

We are out of network providers, which means that your insurance will likely pick up a portion of your home birth midwifery fees. I work with a billing company (Cohosh Billing) that offers a verification of benefits process to give you a better understanding of what your insurance will likely cover: https://cohoshbilling.com/services-and-fees. It is important to know that midwifery billing is not submitted until we close care (at 6 weeks postpartum). Families are responsible to pay the full cost of care by 37 weeks of pregnancy and insurance claims are submitted after 6 weeks postpartum.

I am able to draw labs during our appointments together. I refer clients for ultrasound services.

If you have health insurance, these fees will be covered at the same rate that they would be covered in hospital based care. Most families do not pay any additional out of pocket fees for routine lab work and ultrasounds.

Most often, we are able to support and intervene as needed at home with our hands, time, patience, rest, herbal and homeopathic remedies, position changes and spinning babies techniques. If additional intervention is needed, we can transfer to a hospital. All families have a hospital transfer plan in place just in case additional support is needed.

True emergencies at home birth are very rare, and at the same time, during prenatal care we ensure that we have a plan in place should an emergency arise.

In most cases, the equipment we bring to the birth (which, among other items, includes resuscitation equipment for baby, antihemorrhagic medication for bleeding, and the ability to place IVs) allows the team to efficiently and effectively manage most complications and stay home.

I dedicate one prenatal visit to walk us through many of the most common complications we encounter at home birth. I bring some of my birth bag materials and demonstrate position changes and talk through the roles of the different members of the birth team.

Although it may feel daunting to talk about this material, I have found over the years that this basic information allows families to stay centered and grounded if complications arise.