GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It's a trend that rose during the pandemic more women choosing to give birth at home, versus the hospital. Now, some midwives in West Michigan who deliver babies say their schedules are still packed.
Anne Doornbos chose Birth Song GR midwife Yolanda Visser to deliver both her children at home.
"One of the best days of my life because it was something that I think I was somehow nurtured or told in society that I should fear. And instead, I came away like, man, that was amazing, like hard work, but totally amazing," said Doornbos.
"Pregnancy and delivery are very physical things. But it's also so mental too. And so, I wanted to be in my best space," said Anne Doornbos.
Doornbos, like many of these mothers who worked with Visser, knew what she wanted. "I wasn't really looking for like pain relief, or medication or whatnot, I was aware that things happen. You have to believe in yourself because there's not really other backup options," said Doornbos.
Visser has been a part of 3,500 at-home births in her career. She said, "you develop friendships, you develop relationships, and they don't go away once you have your baby."
After 40 years of midwifery, she's getting more calls than ever. "I have many coming up. This is the first year I'm actually turning people away. Because thankfully, we have more choices in the community. And I can," said Yolanda Visser, certified professional midwife.
The national numbers reflect the same trend Michigan is seeing. In 2020, the CDC said more than 45,000 babies were born at home. That's a 20% jump from 2019, more than 38,000 babies were born at home.
"All of us would be getting calls like, oh, you know, I have to wear a mask. At the beginning. My husband can't be there. I'm going to be all alone. I don't want that. So I'm going to come home." Visser continued, "If anything, COVID made the homebirth community's job harder, because we had to screen more because it is a different approach to care."
Visser screens out any high-risk moms and babies, and issues during pregnancy are handled before delivery as much as they can be.
"We both have the trust in Yolanda and our midwife to make the call if that call needed to be made. And we still were kind of felt like we were in a safe distance from emergency medical care if we needed it," said Doornbos.
Spectrum Health is seeing more women looking for a natural option inside the hospital setting as well. Inside a high-touch, low-tech room, a mother can deliver medication-free with a midwife and one family member.
"The baby warmer, all set up that's hidden in a cubby, even like, the oxygen is hidden, like in the cabinet. So, women do get that feel of, okay, I'm not going right into a medical environment," said Kelly Levitt, certified nurse-midwife, Spectrum Health.
In 2021, more than 7,000 babies were born at Butterworth. More than 1,400 of them were delivered by midwives.
The hospital says a midwife delivery is always an option, two more were just added onto the staff. Even in a regular labor and delivery room, there is flexibility.
"Our labor rooms, we can still do low risk there. But we can continuously monitor with things like wireless monitoring. So, we can still encourage that mobility, we can still use bathtubs," said Levitt.
Whatever a woman chooses, for Doornbos, it was most important to feel empowered.
