Holistic and expert midwifery care for every body.
Homebirth Care
- Hour-long prenatal visits including opportunities for client questions, counseling and education by midwife and clinical assessment
- 24-Hour On-Call access to midwife (Text/Call, After-Hr appointments)
- Detailed client handbook
- Nutrition and supplement counseling
- Exercise guidance + recommendations
- Lab work done in office
- Monitoring of your vitals
- Monitoring of baby’s heart rate, growth pattern and position
- Emotional support
- Options, advise and resources
- Childbirth classes included
- Home visit at about 35 weeks for planned homebirthing clients
- Perineal preparation guidance
- Gentle, understanding, confidential care at all times
Prenatal
- Gentle presence, care and support
- Supporting partner as coach
- Massage
- Position suggestions
- Water birth pool
- Birth stool
- Emotional and physical support
- Monitoring contraction pattern
- Monitoring baby’s heart rate and position
- Skilled handling of the birth to prevent tears and unnecessary trauma or pain
- Either parent catching baby as desired
- Newborn exam, weight and measure
- Breast/Bodyfeeding assistance
- Quiet and unobtrusive monitoring in the hours immediately following birth
- Promoting family bonding
- Emergency medical equipment and care present and available if needed including newborn suction, resuscitation equipment for you and baby, medications for hemorrhage, and IV fluids
Labour & Birth
- Home visit at 2 days postpartum
- Regular office postpartum visits up to 6 wks postpartum
- Paperwork for filing birth certificate + SSN
- Physical and emotional support
- Breast/body feeding support and counseling
- Return to fertility awareness
- Exercise counseling
- PAP and Well-Person care options
Postpartum
Your midwife and assistants are trained in CPR and Neonatal Resuscitation and are prepared for emergency situations.
At any point during care – whether prenatally, during labor and birth, or postpartum, if circumstances arise requiring medical attention, you will be given options and support to facilitate medical consultation or transfer of care, depending on which is needed.
In the event that care must be transferred, your midwife will facilitate transfer of care, and be available for counsel, support and a comforting presence. Full postpartum follow up care is still completed with midwife.
Emergency Care
Homebirth Care
BORN TO BE LOVED
Birthing in the comfort of your own home is an experience like non other. Standard homebirth care includes all your prenatal and postpartum visits at the birth center, with one prenatal and one postpartum at your home.
There is also the option to have all your prenatal and postpartum visits provided in your home as well. See our Investments page for more details.
Waterbirth
If you are birthing at the Birth Center, our large bath is perfect for water labor and water birth.
If you choose homebirth, our portable waterbirth pool is included.
Our birth tubs and pools are deep, allowing clients to assume many positions for labor or birth, including hands and knees, semi-reclining, forward leaning, and more. They are also spacious enough to allow partners to join if so desired.
VBAC
Studies show that over 95% of those who TOLAC will labor without scar problems, and will VBAC safely and successfully despite having factors that diminish their odds, including those with:
- more than one prior cesarean
- prior cesarean for labor dystocia
- macrosomic baby (weighing 4000g or more)
- advance maternal age
- high body mass index (BMI)
- longer pregnancy duration
- single-layer uterine closure at the prior cesarean
- thin scar
- prior preterm cesarean
- short interpregnancy/interdelivery interval
Rates of scar rupture depend heavily on labor management. Studies point towards scar ruptures often being caused by:
- induction with an unripe cervix
- induction using prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)
- induction with misoprostol (now contraindicated)
- high oxytocin dose
- duration at high oxytocin dose
- any other artificial augmentation of labor
- Studies show that in the absence of labor-altering drugs, a uterine scar that has remained intact during pregnancy is very likely to remain intact through the birth
Did you know?
Uterine rupture rate is shown to be between 0.0%-3.8%, depending on the study cited, with the majority of studies showing rupture rates of 0.06%-0.7%, even with:
- multiple cesareans
- all forms of previous incisions
- artificial induction
- artificial augmentation of labor
VBAC decreases maternal mortality by 9 per 100,000 births over ERCD
With full informed consent, a healthy, responsible person can be given the choice to VBAC at home after multiple cesareans.
Reference:
**Mind Body Birth has a $300 TOLAC/VBAC fee
10% Discount for BIPOC and Queer Clients
What is VBAC?
Vaginal Birth After Cesarean
Home Birth After Cesarean
VBAC
HBAC
Trial Of Labor After Cesarean
TOLAC
Our midwife team have a heart for providing VBAC births to those who have delivered by cesarean.
We work with multiple VBACs yearly, and are available to discuss options with people that have complicated cesarean histories to see if they qualify for VBAC.
Vaginal Birth After Cesarean
Collaborative Care
Prenatal care
Labor + Delivery Support
Postpartum care
Regular hour-long prenatal sessions:
~ client questions
~ birth options + counseling
~ birth preparation education
~ nutrition and supplement support
~ options, advice, resources
~ lab + ultrasound testing and review
~ ideal baby positioning
~ body health + movement
Detailed client handbook
24-Hour On-Call access (Text/Call)
Emotional support
Childbirth classes included
Gentle, understanding, confidential care at all times
Virtual support and input as desired and needed throughout your birthing experience with your hospital provider. At times there is the option to have the midwife also accompany you at the hospital in a supportive role. Discuss your preferences and options with your midwife to find what is the best fit for your birth and goals.
3-4 visits over 6 weeks postpartum, including:
~ breastfeeding support
~ emotional processing + mental health support
~ healing your body + regaining mobility
~ herbal support
~ family planning options + education
~ parenting support + community
Collaborative Care
Collaborative Care is designed for clients who know they want or need to give birth in the hospital with an OB, while also wanting the additional time, education, and personalized support that comes with the midwifery model of care.
Working alongside your obstetrical care, our midwives provide detailed prenatal and postpartum support with a focus on nutrition, herbal and supplemental support, lab values, informed consent, and understanding your options throughout pregnancy and birth.
Our goal is to help you feel informed, supported, and fully prepared for your pregnancy, hospital birth, and postpartum experience—while continuing to receive the medical care you need from your OB.
Find the service that is best for you
Holistic and expert fertility care for every body.
Midwives specialize in more than pregnancy and birth — we also provide care around fertility, cycles, and conception. We can help you understand your ovulation, prepare for a healthy pregnancy, and, for those seeking IUI, provide cycle timing, sperm preparation, and insemination support.
Pre-Conception Preparation Care
Our initial visit is a detailed medical and personal history and check, lab work and initial guidance and recommendations, including below:
Menstrual history review
Supplement and Nutrition initial review and recommendations
Lab tests drawn
Full/partial physical as desired/recommended
Approximately 2-4 weeks after our initial visit, you come for your follow up visit to review your lab work and cover our individualized care plan that we have prepared for you, including below:
Detailed supplement and nutrition recommendations
Possible additional holistic support services recommendations
Education, support and informed choice
01. Initial Visit
02. Care Plan Review Visit
03. Follow Up Visit
04. Contact as Needed
05. Additional Visits
Our follow up visit is approximately 2-3 months later and includes a follow up physical and symptom evaluation, follow up lab work and review. This informs how the initial care plan is working for you and if any updates or additions should be made.
Clients receive a portal login and are able to reach out to midwife as needed with updates and questions in the times between visits.
To be scheduled as recommended by midwife or desired by client.
Pre-Conception & Fertility Preparation Care + Services
Have you ever wondered how to make sure you're as healthy as you can be be before you even get pregnant?
Whether this is your first baby, or you've had previous pregnancies - especially if a previous pregnancy was more complicated. Taking time and implementing health and wellness support BEFORE you become pregnant can make all the difference in the world.
This care is also ideal for clients who have a history of pregnancy loss/miscarriage.
IUI & Fertility
Planning session(s) to discuss:
~ options
~ preparation
~ timing
~ preferences
Supplement support
Lab tests
Emotional support
Gentle, understanding, confidential care at all times
Before the Procedure
Procedure Care
After Procedure
Available for follow-up questions as needed
Lab testing for possible needed blood work
Supplement and nutrition suggestions
On call for client for whenever LH surge is detected
Options for In-home placement for frozen sperm ONLY
Washing and preparing of fresh sperm sample for known donor sperm
Gentle presence, care and support
Supporting partner involvement/placement as desired
Involving you in procedure (placing your own speculum if desired)
Respecting body autonomy and preferences at all times
Frozen or Fresh Sperm Options
Intrauterine Insemination - IUI Services
We offer caring, informative, and personalized fertility and IUI services, including guidance around cycle timing and ovulation, sperm preparation, insemination, and support throughout the process.
FROZEN DONOR SPERM
For families using frozen donor sperm from a sperm bank, we provide guidance on timing for delivery, and in-office IUI timed with your ovulation.
FRESH SPERM/KNOWN DONORS + PARTNERS
For clients and couples using fresh sperm from a known donor or partner, we offer in-house sperm washing and preparation, followed by IUI timed with your ovulation.
Midwifery care is for every body (not just birth)
Our midwives are passionate about providing personalized wellness and gynecological care that gives you time to ask questions, understand your body, and get the support you need.
From routine screenings to sexual health, hormones, fertility, and everything in between, our care is built around you, your needs, and your choices.
Our midwives are dedicated to providing trauma-informed, queer and trans-affirming care rooted in consent, body autonomy, and respect. We take our time, explain what we’re doing, and make sure you remain in control of what happens with your body throughout your visit.
Clients are encouraged to guide their own care in whatever way feels most comfortable — including choosing positioning, participating in exams, placing their own speculum, self-guiding Pap collection, or stopping or changing an exam at any time. Our goal is to make healthcare feel collaborative, respectful, and truly centered around you.
Well Person Care
options for care
Well Person & Gyn Care
Well-person care should be more than a quick exam and a checklist. We offer personalized, whole-person care with time to ask questions, understand your body, and explore what you need at every stage of life.
From routine physical exams, Pap and STI screening, and breast/chest health to hormone and cycle concerns, fertility and birth control, sexual and reproductive health, lab testing, and specific concerns when something just doesn’t feel right — there’s space for all of it here. We tailor each appointment to your desires and needs.
Pap Smears for Queers Community Health Clinic at
Dyke Day LA
We take our time, request consent at every step, talk through the process, and offer options such as self-guided speculum insertion and Pap collection when desired—creating a space where preventative care can feel safer, more accessible, and more respectful.
Our approach is trauma-informed, trans- and queer-affirming, gentle, and centered around each person's comfort and autonomy.
Testing and provider costs are covered through community donations, allowing care to remain completely free.
Annually at Dyke Day LA pride festival
Pap Smears for Queers is a free community health clinic held annually at Dyke Day LA since 2021. Our team of queer and allied midwives, doulas, and sex educators comes together each year to provide free cervical cancer screenings in a cozy, private tent right in the middle of the festival.
No cold exam tables or stirrups are ever used. Instead, we give you a cozy blanket and we use a comfy bed.
If you'd like to help keep Pap Smears for Queers free and accessible, please consider making a donation. Your support helps cover Pap testing and provider costs for future community clinics.
Donate Here
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