Homebirth
We provide full service midwifery care for families during pregnancy, birth and postpartum.
Our team of loving professionals offer homebirths, waterbirths, well woman care, monitrice doula services and newborn support for parents in Long Beach and the surrounding areas.
Midwives have always known how to support families through normal, healthy pregnancies and births. They are trained to specialize in normal and have ways to help when things deviate from that. They have experience managing many complications of childbirth and know when to refer moms and babies for competent medical care. Prenatal care is offered where safe maternity care is provided to low-risk women who are wanting to have their babies in their home.
If women are allowed to trust and listen to their bodies, they will naturally seek out dark, safe, quiet places to give birth. A space comfortable and unique to themselves. Unlike a hospital setting that is medical and not very welcoming
Surrounded by the people you love and trust, your body can release the hormones that allow your body to open up and let your baby out easier.
Although Home birth may seem like a new, trendy idea, it’s been happening longer then hospitals and is actually a very old idea.
The Gold Soul Midwifery Approach
Prenatal Care
In pregnancy, most people experience great physical, emotional, social and spiritual changes, and it is my intention to support pregnant individuals and families during this time of transformation. As a midwife I offer my skills, experience, and loving attention as well as my deep trust in and respect for birth to help make this transition as seamless as possible.
The prenatal period is a time for us to get to know one another and family. Individualized and personal prenatal care is one of the hallmarks of midwifery care. It is the development of a relationship of trust between the midwife and her client.
I want you to be informed and empowered.
Over the course of our appointments, we work to build a relationship based on mutual respect, love and trust. We spend time at each visit to educate you on the changes your body and baby are going through during pregnancy. We evaluate your health to ensure baby is growing and thriving. I encourage clients to share with me their experiences since we last visited, answer all questions, and discuss your wishes leading up to birth.
I combine a deep trust in the body’s innate ability to grow, birth, and nourish babies with evidence-based clinical care. Your family’s safety and well being are my priority.
Birth is a normal physiologic event that tends to unfold as it should when in the comfort and safety of your home with familiar faces and surroundings.
Midwives are experts in low risk normal pregnancy and birth. I will work with you and your family throughout your pregnancy to provide education and shared decision making about your care. Prenatal visits are usually 45-60 mins long, which allows us plenty of unrushed time to discuss your questions and concerns as well as getting to know each other. This is one of the most special traits of midwifery care. We are able to build trust and confidence with each other during your pregnancy and it helps so much for labor and birth.
I am trained to watch for red flags in your health and focus on keeping you and baby healthy to prevent problems from arising. A big focus of prenatal care is nutrition to ensure you both are nourished while growing. We will discuss relevant labs and testing together and weigh their risks and benefits. I believe in Informed Choice, and trust that if I provide my families with the information needed to make decisions, they will choose what is right for them.
Your Prenatal Care
* Comprehensive medical/prenatal history
* Risk assessment
* Nutritional counseling
* Routine lab work and genetic testing
* Gestational diabetes screening
* Group B Strep testing
* In-house specimen and blood collection
* Ultrasound and perinatology referrals
* Nutrition and lifestyle counseling
* Urinalysis at each prenatal visit
* Comprehensive assessment of mother’s well-being
* Comprehensive assessment of fetal heart tones and position of baby
* Educational resources provided throughout your pregnancy
* Extensive professional referrals and resources for your pregnancy and postpartum needs
Prenatal Visits
* once a month from your first visit until 28 weeks of pregnancy
* every two weeks from 28 weeks to 36 weeks of pregnancy
* weekly from 36 weeks until the birth of your baby
* Additional appointments can be made as necessary.
Partners, siblings, other family members, and friends are always welcome at a prenatal appointment as the mother desires them to be there.
The foundation for a healthy pregnancy is nutrition, drinking plenty of water, exercise, and a healthy mental and emotional state. I seek to look at the whole woman and treat the root causes of health concerns, not mask the symptoms.
Birth in the comfort of your Home
The labor and birthing of a child is one of the most amazing, vulnerable, and life-altering things a person can do. As a midwife, I monitor you and your baby throughout labor to detect and address any complications that may arise and guide you through a natural, safe birth in your home.
I will enter your birthing space calmly and quietly when I join you in labor. I will take care to personalize your birth based on the desires you shared with me during our prenatal visits.
As you labor, I will offer support, guidance, and comfort to help you birth your little one into the special birth environment you have created for them.
I honor the normalcy of women's births. I believe in:
* Watchful waiting and non-intervention in normal processes
* Appropriate use of interventions and technology for current or potential health problems
* Consultation, collaboration, and referral with other members of the health care team as needed to provide optimal health care
I believe every person has a right to:
* Equitable, ethical, accessible quality health care that promotes healing and health
* Health care that respects human dignity, individuality and diversity among groups
* Complete and accurate information to make informed health care decisions
* Self-determination and active participation in health care decisions
* Involvement of a woman's designated family members, to the extent desired, in all health care experiences
I believe the best model of health care for a woman and her family:
* Promotes a continuous and compassionate partnership
* Acknowledges a person's life experiences and knowledge
* Includes individualized methods of care and healing guided by the best evidence available
* Involves therapeutic use of human presence and skillful communication
* Midwives on call 24/7 for your birth
* No-to-low-intervention clinical management
* Non-invasive maternal and fetal monitoring
* Safe and peaceful environment
* Water birth option
* Complete newborn & postpartum assessment
* Timely breastfeeding support
Baby is on the way
As we enter into your home birthing window (37-42 weeks), I will remain in close contact. We will discuss what signs to look for as labor begins and my birth team and I will arrive to care for and monitor you and baby. We take vital signs, listen to your baby’s heartbeat, and encourage you to stay rested and nourished throughout your labor. We will encourage you to move around and have as much support as you’d like. Many choose to labor and/or birth in the water for relaxation. If you desire, you may borrow one of my waterbirth tubs free of charge to use for your homebirth. Many parents enjoy in the experience of welcoming, or “catching”, their own babies. Delayed cord clamping is routinely done. Once baby is born, we protect your space to encourage skin to skin time together and generally wait 2 hours to do a head to toe examination on baby. Every person on the birth team is certified in neonatal resuscitation and has experience with other complications. Should you or your baby need additional attention, we are ready and prepared to care for you.
We will bring with us all the emergency equipment that may be needed. Oxygen, medications to stop bleeding, and any other tools that are commonly helpful. Such as a birthing stool, birthing pool, or herbs.
If needed after the birth, I can provide suturing for mom with local anesthetic.
Standards in my practice are intermittent fetal heart rate monitoring, encouraging the mother to eat and drink in labor, performing IVs only if needed, delayed cord clamping, facilitation of natural delivery of the placenta, and constant skin-to-skin contact of mother and baby.
After you and your baby have had time to bond and begin breastfeeding, I will weigh and measure your baby and complete a head-to-toe newborn exam ensuring that baby is healthy and thriving.
Most births planned for home happen at home and after the baby and placenta are born I stay for 3-4 hours to make sure everyone is stable, fed, examined and ready to take a well-deserved nap.
What can I expect in labor?
*The encouragement of family members to be involved in the labor and birth process
* Assessment of maternal and fetal health throughout labor and birth
* Perineal evaluation following the birth and, if necessary, the use of numbing agents and advanced suturing skills
* Immediate and continuous skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby to promote bonding and encourage the initiation of breastfeeding
* Delayed cord clamping to assist with transition of baby and he/she begins to breathe on their own
* Comprehensive newborn assessment
* Breastfeeding support
* Labor support by a secondary midwife or birth assistant who has current CPR and neonatal resuscitation certifications
* Immediate access to resuscitation equipment, including oxygen
* IV fluids and IV antibiotics, if indicated
* Access to anti-hemorrhage medications
* Erythromycin and preservative-free Vitamin K available for the newborn, if indicated or requested
* Newborn Screening – Critical Congenital Heart Defects (CCHD)
Postpartum is both wonderful and challenging
The postpartum care a midwife provides is just as important as prenatal care. It is ensuring that mother and baby are thriving, breastfeeding is going well, and that no complications develop after the birth. It is the personal continuation of midwifery care, even after your baby is born.
After your your baby is born, nourishing your body and bonding with your baby are the most important things to do! Postpartum visits are an essential part of your care. I will come to your home several times during the first two weeks to check on you and your family, weigh baby, assist with breastfeeding challenges, discuss any issues that have come up, and provide resources.
What do you offer Postpartum?
* Follow-up appointments in the comfort of your home
* Multiple visits within the first week
* 2 weeks postpartum
* 6 weeks postpartum
* Newborn metabolic screens performed at initial postpartum visit
* Postnatal recovery care
* Well newborn care
* Continued comprehensive clinical assessments of the physical and emotional well-being of the mother
* Breastfeeding support
* Full annual exam including a PAP smear at the final postpartum visit, if needed
* Family planning counseling
* Community resources and referrals
* Birth certificate verification
Let’s Do This!
We would love to speak with you about your family’s unique needs and answer all of your questions about our in-home midwifery care. Complete our inquiry form to set up your complimentary 30 minute consultation with Jessie.
“Hiring Jessie was the BEST decision we made for our pregnancy and birth. She is so sweet, most kind, and a truly caring person.”
— Molly, Orange County