Our Care
Prenatal Care
Relationship building is an essential aspect of midwifery care. We schedule hour-long appointments so that there is plenty of time for all of the clinical components of prenatal care - taking your vitals, measuring your belly, feeling the position of your baby, urinalysis, drawing labs, discussing any complaints and discomforts, talking about nutrition, etc. - and to allow for time to build a trusting relationship with our team. We love listening to your hopes, fears, concerns, and excitement about this transformative time in your life.
We believe in individualized care and informed choice. All tests, screens and procedures are offered to you with full informed choice; nothing is performed just as a routine. Ultrasound referrals can be made with other practitioners as needed and if you choose.
We see you once a month until your third trimester when we start seeing you every 2 weeks. We come to your home about 36 weeks of pregnancy for a home visit where we deliver the birth tub, assure all your supplies are gathered, and know that we can find your home in the dark! Then we see you every week thereafter back at the office until you have your baby.
We are knowledgeable about natural remedies for the normal discomforts of pregnancy. We can offer suggestions for herbal support, bodywork, homeopathy, vitamin supplementation, nutrition changes and specific exercises that can go a long way in easing common pregnancy complaints. We can also make referrals to other resources in our community including naturopathic physicians, MDs, yoga teachers, acupuncturists, massage therapists, and chiropractors.
Home Birth
Labor and Birth at Home
Our primary role during labor and birth is to monitor the well-being of the birthing person and the baby. We do this by monitoring your vitals, listening to the baby’s heart tones, and keeping you fed and hydrated. We are there to give information, answer questions, suggest different positions, fill the birth tub, rub backs and shoulders, offer food and water, remind you to pee, listen to baby’s heartbeat, take walks with you, hold you while you squat, put a cool cloth on your forehead, and offer kind supportive words. We also read and knit inconspicuously in the corner as you and your baby navigate the throes of labor.
When your baby arrives, we continue to monitor the well-being of both you and your baby, all while your little one is in your arms. This is a time for you and your family to bond and snuggle. In addition to keeping a close eye on you and your baby during the immediate postpartum, we also clean up, start a load of laundry and make sure you are fed. We conduct a thorough head-to-toe newborn exam including weight, length and head circumference. We also fill out the birth certificate, offer newborn procedures with full informed choice, and give you a keepsake birth certificate with footprints. We help you get started with breastfeeding and when everyone is stable, we tuck you all into bed.
Rosehip midwives place the safety and well being of the birthing person and baby above all. Sometimes, this means that we need to transfer care. We work hard to cultivate relationships with hospital based providers so that hospital transports are as smooth as possible. We take time during prenatal care to discuss why a transfer of care might be necessary and what that transfer might look like so that everyone feels prepared. In the event of a transport, we provide continuity of care as your advocate and support person and continue all of your postpartum care.
Why have a home birth?
- Labor and birth take place in YOUR space, environment, and personal microbiome
- Fewer interventions
- Freedom to move around and choose positions during labor and birth
- No routine IVs or external fetal monitors that restrict movement
- Freedom to eat and drink to maintain energy for the hard work of labor
- Choice of who is with you – your family, friends, caregivers, children
- Continuity of care – the midwives you have built a relationship with prenatally are also your birth team!
- Labor is allowed to progress at its own unique pace
- Choice of laboring and/or birthing in water
- Baby stays with you
- The umbilical cord is not clamped until after the birth of the placenta.
- Family togetherness – siblings are welcome
- Breastfeeding is supported
Additional Services
Sibling Support
You are welcome to bring your other child(ren) to prenatal visits. Our office has a play area with a play kitchen, tools, toys, and art materials. Big siblings enjoy seeing how big the baby in the belly is with our fetal development charts. They also love helping feel the baby and listening with the doppler or fetoscope to the baby’s heartbeat each visit. Tea, water, and snacks are provided and kids can get a sticker and feed the chickens in Heather’s backyard on the way out. Siblings are also welcome to attend the birth of their new brother or sister. We have a “sibling kit” with books, coloring pages, and small midwife tools for kids to borrow as they prepare for the big day whether or not they plan on attending the birth. Our office is located across the street from a lovely park with a playground, so attending prenatals can be an outing for the whole family!
Lactation
Emilia Smith LDM, CPM, IBCLC is one of the midwives on our team and is also a certified lactation consultant. While our team provides basic support we recommend utilizing her services which include a prenatal lactation consult as well as specific follow-up appointments in the postpartum period. For more information check out our Lactation Services page. For Rosehip Midwifery clients, Emilia offers a discounted Lactation support package that includes a Prenatal Consultation and 2 Postpartum Follow-up Appointments.
Herbal Support
Katrina Bubas-Stevens of The Village Apothecary is a certified herbalist who works with our practice to provide specific herbal teas, medicines, tinctures, salves, and sitz baths for our clients and families. Katrina organically grows or ethically wildcrafts most of the herbs used in her preparations. See more at www.thevillageapothecary.com. Her midwifery herbal package and pricing is as follows:
- $55.00 Women’s Support tea
- Rest and Relax tincture
- MilkEaze Tea
- Savvy Sitz Postpartum Herbal Sitz Bath
- Savvy Salve Super Skin Healer
- Udder Oil Sore Nipple Soother
Katrina will also mix up custom made orders to relieve cold and flu symptoms or other specific ailments or pregnancy discomforts.
Massage
Kyra Marsico provides one complimentary prenatal or postpartum massage to each of our clients. She also has additional massage services for discounted prices for Rosehip clients.
Placenta Encapsulation/Keepsake Cords/Prints
We can prepare your placenta into easily ingestable capsules to provide benefits to you during your postpartum period. Preparing the placenta is done according to the Traditional Chinese Medicine tradition with the thought of returning heat back to the mother after childbirth. The placenta has protein, hormones, and nutrients thought to nourish you and support milk supply and hormonal shifts at this time. For more information go to http://placentabenefits.info/research.asp The umbilical cord can also be dried into a heart or spiral shape as a keepsake and a print of the placenta can be made on paper if you desire.
Childbirth Classes
Heather Hack-Sullivan LDM, CPM is one of the midwives on our team and has been teaching childbirth education for over 20 years. Her approach is practical and informative, relying on her experience of attending hundreds of births and telling birth stories. She also has a class in the series about postpartum care of the newborn, birthing parent and parent and information about breastfeeding.