Born at Home

Born at Home is a two-​midwife practice that comes to your home for all your care. I was blown away by Claudia and Jen, who spent hours with me at appointments helping me prepare for my home birth. All my prenatal and post partum care was done at home — even urine and blood tests were done on the spot.
I was lucky enough to call Claudia right after she’d had a cancellation for a July slot. Who knew how quickly the midwives in this town get booked up – my advice to anyone wanting to work with a midwife is to call one the minute you know you are pregnant.
The care agreement is impressive — both midwives attended many of my appointments, and their student midwife also came along and was there for part of my labor. They provided six weeks of post partum care to me and my daughter, and really helped me get the hang of breastfeeding. They also provided a birthing tub. I just had to buy a birthing kit from a company in Texas (it was about $ 50) that had all the disposable gloves, protective sheets, etc., and had a checklist of household items ready. My insurance covered quite a bit of their fee as well.
One of the most important things that Claudia and Jen did for me was make it clear that they were supporting MY choice to have a home birth, and MY labor experience. They were so incredibly respectful of my feelings and needs, and of my partner.
It’s rare that a home birth has complications that require transfer to a hospital, but I was one of those in the end. Turns out I had developed some kind of infection, and my body slowed down the labor as a result.
Once Claudia and Jen saw that things were slowing and that I was really exhausted, they gave me some options, including going to the hospital. I ended up choosing that, and they came with us and stayed until after my daughter was born and safely nursing away at my breast. While the hospital didn’t allow them to provide care for me once I was admitted, having them there made it so much easier, because they could tell the medical staff exactly what my history was and how my labor had gone.
They were so knowledgeable and calm, and we couldn’t have asked for better midwives. I felt secure and supported throughout every moment of labor.