Midwifery Care

Similar to standard obstetric care, midwives meet with their clients once every 4 weeks until 28 weeks gestation, once every two weeks until 36 weeks gestation, and once per week until the baby is born. Of course there is flexibility if a client needs more support, especially in the last few weeks of pregancy. Clients will have communication access with the midwife via a private patient portal messaging system and phone call support for more urgent needs.

Ideally, a midwife will be chosen and hired in early pregnancy so that care can commence around 10-12 weeks gestation. However, this is not required to have a home birth. Midwifery care can commence at any time in pregnancy, even in the third trimester. You are free to switch providers at any point in pregnancy, knowing that previous provider medical records will be requested from any/all providers you have seen thus far in a pregnancy.

Yes! With shared decision-making and informed consent, clients and their midwives decide what testing is most appropriate for each client during pregnancy and postpartum. The standard schedule for labwork is a set of tests done at the initial prenatal appointment, near 28 weeks gestation, and near 36 weeks gestation. Some of the tests include blood typing for birthing parent, hemoglobin/hematocrit/ferritin (iron-related values), vitamin D, antibody screening, blood glucose/gestational diabetes screening, and group beta strep (GBS) testing. Ultrasounds are available at an imaging center and routinely scheduled near 20 weeks gestation. Most labwork specimens can be collected by your midwife and sent to the lab for testing and results. Clients are able to view all lab results in their private patient portal.

Midwives and doulas are not the same, but can both be a valuable assest to your pregnancy and birth experiences.

A midwife is a licensed care provider, trained to provide medical care during pregnancy, birth, and immediate postpartum.

A doula is trained to provide emotional, informational, and physical support during the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.

As a certified professional midwife and registered midwife in Colorado, Taylor Biddle provides home birth midwifery services. If a client desires to have doula support as well, the client will need to hire a doula. Taylor can provide some of this type support, but her main focus is the medical aspect and health/wellbeing of the birthing person and baby.

If a client is planning a hospital delivery, Taylor can be hired as a doula to provide this support.

Absolutely! Homebirths can happen almost anywhere one calls home. If the space is small, we will have to get creative if you desire a water birth, but it is usually possible. The only things that are absolutely necessary are a clean/potable water source, light source, and heat source.

Pain management at home births does look different than in a hospital birth setting. Epidurals are not an option for pain management at home.

Home birth settings are many things, but what I see most is calmness, gentleness, and intimacy. All of these things lead to an increase in hormones like oxytocin and endorphins, both of which help with labor progression and your body’s own pain management.

Physical labor support and hydrotherapy are the two most common techniques used for pain management at home. This includes counter pressure, massage, and the use of a shower/birth pool.

Waterbirth is definitely possible at home. You will be provided with a birth pool and all items necessary to have a water birth. During your prenatal period, a specific visit is dedicated to birth planning. At this appointment, your midwife will instruct you (and anyone else on your birth team) on how to and when to set up the birth pool.

The pool is filled with water from either your shower or a sink faucet, and easily drained down the toilet by your midwife/midwife assistants after use of the pool is complete. During your birthing time, you are able to use the pool as you please. The warmth and buoyancy of a birth pool can help you to relax and allow the birth process to continue physiologically. The birth pool is also large enough to allow ease in transitioning positions to help you find what is most comfortable, and even large enough that you can have a support person in the pool with you! When babies are born into water, they are not stimulated to take their first breath until they are exposed to air, so it is safe for babies too!

100% yes and highly encouraged! Do you want your partner to be your main labor support person? Do you want your other children around for the labor and birth of their new sibling? Do you want your partner to help catch the baby as they are being born? All of these things can be facilitated and modified to match your home birth desires. Birth can be as family-centered as you would like it to be!

Emergencies can happen in any birth setting, not just home births. With out-of-hospital focused training, midwives learn to recognize when something out of the realm of normal is happening and respond appropriately. Sometimes that response involves the midwife using certain medications and equipment to manage the situation. If the emergency cannot be managed at home, a transfer to the hospital may be appropriate. This can happen via ambulance or private care depending on the situation. Every situation is different, and therefore handled accordingly.

You and your family do not have to worry about cleaning anything up after birth. Midwives thoughtfully contain as much of the mess as possible due to awareness and experience. A load of laundry will be started, the birth pool will be disassembled if used, and any blood spots will be cleaned. The ultimate cleanliness goal is to leave your house with no trace that a birth happened there, except that there is a new baby!

This is totally up to the birthing person. A few of the most common things done with a placenta are to have it encapsulated for ingestion, save it to plant under a special tree or flower bed outside or dispose of it. This is something that will be discussed before the birth occurs so you will have time to research options and decide what is best for you.

The immediate postpartum period is generally defined as the first 2-4 hours after birth occurs. In most cases, the golden hour is honored to allow for bonding, initiation of breastfeeding if desired, and rest/nourishment. In the immediate postpartum, your midwife will remain in your home to monitor both the birthing person and the baby, provide breastfeeding support, complete the newborn exam, perform suturing if appropriate, and do the cleaning tasks. Before leaving your home, the midwife will provide postpartum instructions and tuck you into bed with your new baby.

Postpartum care commences with a 2-day homevisit, and appointments around 1 week, 3 weeks, and 6 weeks. The midwife will care for both the birthing person and the baby in the postpartum period. Screenings including the newborn hearing screening, CCHD screening, and newborn metabolic screening are also generally performed by the midwife or coordinated to be completed.