Searching for a midwife and personalized care for your pregnancy? Look no further!

It was such an honor to walk with this family as they planned their VBAC. Brooke is a fitness coach who has made amazing positive health changes with her family and for her pregnancy, and helps others do the same. Always inspired and so faithful, I never doubted their commitment to giving this birth a chance to be everything they wanted it to be. Brooke's labor came on fast and furious, but her sweet sunny-side-up positioned girl decided to keep us on our toes as labor slowed and sped throughout that day. Reading this again reminds me of how much strength and calm was present, and how all things are possible when we give families the support and space to believe in themselves.

We are so excited to share - this is the first in a new blog series we are working on called Our (extended) Family!  We have decided to rid our website of our lackluster "referral" and "resource" lists for something much more thoughtful, interactive, and useful! We will be featuring our favorite local businesses, services, organizations, and people. Our (extended) family that we are constantly referring our families to. We want you to know who they are, what they stand for, and how they can actually help you!

If you know anyone who is featured here- please feel free to leave a comment telling everyone what your experience has been in working with them! We love building this big beautiful community with y'all! 

This first organization to kick off this series is one near and dear to our hearts. The Tampa Bay Birth Network is a local non-profit that aims to connect birth professionals with the families that need them!

There's a saying that birth is as safe as life gets. Sometimes birth can become dangerous for the baby or, very rarely, for the mother. This is when hospital-based maternity care really shines, and we're able to save mothers and babies who might have died a hundred years ago. Thank goodness that there are skilled surgeons who can come to the rescue when truly necessary.

There's also a saying that when you've got a hammer in your hand, everything looks like a nail. So it is that for hospital-based birth attendants, it is easy to become accustomed to treating every birth as a disaster waiting to happen. Many obstetricians have lost touch with the possibility of normal birth, so much so that even a pitocin induction with an epidural, fetal scalp electrode and vacuum extraction is called a "natural birth". Some hospital staff seem offended by the idea of minimizing interventions, as if preferring not to have a needle the size of a house nail inserted near your spine is the same as declining to have a second piece of Aunt Sally's Fruit Cake. Sadly, some of today’s younger doctors may never even have seen a truly physiological labor and birth—a birth completely without medical intervention.