Services

Prenatal visits are the heart and soul of homebirth midwifery care. Partners and children are welcomed as we take the time to build relationships of deep trust.  Care encompasses your whole self. If it’s on your mind and heart, we will talk about it. This includes:  nutrition, exercise, family dynamics, work, and the daily ups and downs of your life. We will take time to address the questions, fears and hopes around your birth experience.  Whatever is going on in your world is important as you create and bring a new being into our world.  We will chat, laugh a lot, and sometimes cry together. We will also take blood pressure, measure your growth, listen to the baby’s heartbeat and palpate for fetal position. Lab work is done in the office and referrals are given for ultrasounds as needed or desired.

Visits are scheduled for one hour each and take place at my home office in Teaneck, N.J.  We follow a typical obstetric schedule of visits. Monthly until 32 weeks, Biweekly until 36 weeks. A visit at your home takes place at 36 weeks and then there are weekly visits at the office until your baby arrives.

Homebirth is a wonderful option for essentially healthy, low risk, pregnant people who hold a strong belief in the normalcy of pregnancy and the innate ability to birth. Home is your comfort zone. You can wear whatever you want, eat whatever you want, invite whoever you want, move, make noise, rest, snuggle, dance, yell… it’s your space, your body, your birth. We support you in the early stages with contact by phone and come as a team when labor gets active.  We will make sure you are nourished and hydrated, alternating rest and activity, and assess the well being of you and your baby (And your partner/support people!) We bring all the equipment needed for safety. Most often, we simply and humbly witness and protect the sacred act of bringing new life.

The hard work of labor is deeply affected by the experience of pain, fear and adrenaline as opposed to relaxation, trust and oxytocin production. Birth pools can provide hydrotherapy to soothe the intensity of labor and sometimes help to speed the labor process due to an increase in oxytocin production. Movement and position changes are facilitated easily in the buoyancy of water. Birth in water can be gentle for the baby coming from the warm waters of the womb and for the mother as she stretches and opens against the gentle counter pressure water naturally offers. I am happy to offer a birth pool to rent or help you find one to purchase.

One of the most wonderful differences between home and  hospital birth is the ability to provide postpartum care at the baby’s pace. Things need to move slowly and peacefully for this brand new being who is transitioning to life earthside. There is no rush for procedures and nothing to be done in the first hour except allow the baby to unfold and bond with their mother, find the breast, and settle.  This allows the mother to begin to recover with her baby and her partner and integrate the birth experience.
We stay with you for several hours after the birth to be sure that everyone is well nourished and stable and the birth space is tidy. We complete a full baby exam, make sure the baby has latched, suture maternal tears if needed, and ensure that everyone is tucked in bed and ready for sleep.
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We are in daily contact for the first week including a follow up visit to your home to check on both mother and baby. Care includes weighing and measuring baby, assessing heart and lungs, taking O2 sats, completing a birth certificate, assisting with breastfeeding, assessing emotional wellbeing and processing the birth experience.