Future Birth Center
Bridging the GAP in the Rio Grande Valley to allow all women access to Midwifery care.
UPDATED 10/28/2021
We have been working hard on the birth center and sadly we were supposed to close on another house September 10th that fell through the day before closing because the house had no legal access. Thank GOD we found out before purchasing it. We have had 2 other houses fall through for crazy reasons since last December. The last month we have been looking at commercial rentals within the Hidalgo area instead of houses because the market has gone way too crazy. We should have a place within the next 3-5 weeks. Please pray for us to find a wonderful place to put the Birthing Center.
I receive multiple calls, emails and Facebook messages from women on Medicaid in McAllen/Edinburg/Mission/Pharr/Alton areas seeking Midwifery care, sadly Medicaid does not cover homebirth but it does cover birthing center births. These women do not have the resources to drive to the birth center in Weslaco that does accept Medicaid. We will break down the Socio-Economic barriers that are inhibiting women access to high quality Midwifery care by building a local birth center in McAllen/Edinburg/Mission/Pharr/Alton areas.
Please visit our GoFundMe to help the WOMEN here in the RGV!!!
OUR VISION
Blessed Womb will provide exceptional, personalized, client-centered care to a large, diverse clientele. It will focus its outreach efforts on communities who experience poor health outcomes in order to have a more significant impact on improving the health of people in our region. Recognized for providing the highest quality care, Blessed Womb will participate in research, provide midwifery education to future providers, and advocate for improved midwifery regulations and reimbursements. These activities will further the field of midwifery and meet the growing demand for midwifery services.
MY JOURNEY BECOMING A MIDWIFE
I’m blessed to have had five children, four sons and a daughter. My last two were born at home, one on land and one in water. My third birth was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life and I swore that I would never give birth in the hospital again. Little did I know then that God had other plans for my life altogether. Over the next several months I found myself researching birth options. It opened my eyes to the fact that pregnancy and birth are a normal, natural process, and not an illness that needs to be managed in a hospital. I realized that all women should have the option of a Midwife and there wasn’t many of them in 1999. I knew in that moment that I was being called to serve women as a midwife and so began my journey. I became a Midwife in 2003 bridging the much needed gap for Midwives at that time.
The RGV has some of the highest C-section rates in Texas
In the McAllen/Edinburg area the C-section rates range from 45-67%.
Most of the OBGYN's in the Rio Grande Valley do not offer VBAC services
Women are being forced to get a repeat C-section even though ACOG reaffirms their 2010 recommendations about VBAC candidacy word-for-word: “The preponderance of evidence suggests that most women with one previous cesarean delivery with a low-transverse incision are candidates for and should be counseled about and offered TOLAC.”
On VBA2C
ACOG reaffirms their 2010 stance on VBA2C when they say it is “reasonable to consider women with two previous low-transverse cesarean deliveries to be candidates for TOLAC and to counsel them based on the combination of other factors that affect their probability of achieving a successful VBAC.”
No mention of a prior vaginal delivery required to be a VBA2C candidate… even thought that is what some OBs tell women. And this is why it’s important to read the latest guidelines. While ACOG did say in 2004 that only those with a prior vaginal delivery were candidates for VBA2C, that recommendation was nixed from the 2010 guidelines.
Awesome VBAC Links
With Midwives women have fewer cesareans and more VBACs
https://www.vbac.com/with-midwives-women-have-fewer-cesareans-and-more-vbacs/
Low Primary Cesarean Rate and High VBAC Rate With Good Outcomes in an Amish Birthing Center
http://www.annfammed.org/content/10/6/530.long
Frequently asked Questions about caesareans and VBAC
VBAC Birth: Success Rates, Risks & How To Prepare
The International Cesarean Awareness Network
Join these Facebook groups for support
https://www.facebook.com/groups/612006668948652/
Birth Center Facts
New England Journal of Medicine
“Few innovations in health service promote lower cost, greater availability, and a high degree of satisfaction with a comparable degree of safety. The results of this study suggest that the modern birth centers can identify women who are at low risk for obstetrical complications and care for them in a way that provides these benefits.”
- Birth centers have had a major impact on humanizing the acute care maternity services provided by hospitals. Note the rise in hospital birthing rooms, in privileges for nurse-midwives, in childbirth education programs, and in more liberal attitudes about family participation.
- Birth centers are showing that the majority of women can safely proceed through pregnancy and birth using acute care services only as needed. In wellness orientation to pregnancy and birth, birth centers would be the managed care gatekeepers for the acute care obstetric newborn services.
- Birth centers eventually will help to reduce the number of costly hospital beds and expand primary care services.
- Birth centers will help to reduce dependency fostered by institutional confinement and strengthen the family's ability to share responsibility for maternity care and family health.
- Birth centers will help to develop a system of care based first on the needs of the family and second on the needs of medical education or product promotion.
“The National Birth Center Study II”
- “The National Birth Center Study II” (NBCS II), published in 2013, reported on 15,574 women who planned and were eligible for birth center birth at the onset of labor. Four percent were transferred to a hospital before admission to the birth center, 12% were transferred in labor after admission and 84% gave birth at the birth center. Regardless of birth setting, 93% of women enrolled for birth center care had a spontaneous vaginal birth. There were no maternal deaths. Less than 2% of birth center transfers were emergent. The intrapartum fetal mortality rate for women admitted to the birth center in labor was 0.47/1000. The neonatal mortality rate was 0.40/1000 excluding anomalies. It is noteworthy that two decades lapsed between these two large studies yet the outcomes are remarkably similar.(2)
- The cesarean section rate for women receiving care in birth centers averages 6.1%, approximately one half that in studies of low risk, in-hospital births.(2)
Make sure to visit our Facebook !
There's much to see here. So, take your time, look around, and learn all there is to know about us and when your done click on link below to see more pictures and birth stories.
Help Us Bridge The Gap In The Rio Grande Valley !
Your support and contributions will enable us to meet our goals and improve access to high quality Midwifery care. Your generous donation will fund our Birth Center.
WE Are Currently Under Construction
VBA1C
Beautiful water Birth
10.3 baby
AN AMAZING VBAC MOMMA!!!!!!
10.3 baby
Beautiful water Birth
10.3 baby
AWESOME HOME BIRTH!!!!!
Beautiful water Birth
Beautiful water Birth
Beautiful water Birth
Dad caught BABY!!!!!!!