Have questions? We have answers. If you do not see your question or answer below, please feel free to reach out. The more you know, the more you are empowered.
The midwives at our practice are CPM’s. Certified Professional Midwives. We are registered under NARM (North American Registry of Midwives). CPM’s are specially trained for low risk out of hospital births, aka home-births. We specialize in preventative and non-intervention care.
As of Oct. 2022 Gloria (Glory Birth owner) has attended over 340 births and is a preceptor with NARM. She has been trained in breech by Dr. Stu with Birthing Instincts, Dr. Hayes and Dr. Rixa Freeze with Breech without Borders, and Augustine Colebrooke with Midwifery Wisdom Collective. She started and graduated with GoMidwife in 2018/2019 and did the apprenticeship PEP route to become a CPM, training under Amy Kirbow, Amber Walla, and Debbie Perry among others. She passed her board exam in March of 2021. Her continuing education includes peer review, NRP, CPR, spinning babies, online courses, conferences and workshops and is currently enrolled and working on becoming an herbalist through a very extensive course. She believes in taking every opportunity to elevate her education and believes there is always something to learn from each birth experience. She continues to consult with the midwives around her to ensure nothing is missed.
Rebekah’s experience in the birth world started in 2016 when she trained through CAPPA and became a professional doula. She continued learning by taking courses for essential oils, rebozo work, and spinning babies. She started her journey in midwifery in 2020 and trained for 2 years under the main guidance of Amber Walla, CPM but also had the privilege of assisting several other local midwives and gleaning from their knowledge and experience. On top of the NARM requirements of extensive skills, knowledge, and experience, she has also continued taking advanced workshops for birth emergencies, breech, and holistic prevention and management of common pregnancy aliments from amazing mentors like Dr. Stuart Fischbein, Augustine Colebrook, Dr. Hayes, and many more. And of course, she also participates in peer review and keeps her NRP and CPR up to date.
We are working to build a sustainable practice and creating an on-call and off-call schedule. The midwives will rotate with each other, and the student midwives will as well. Unless of extenuating circumstances, you will have gotten to know the team at your birth very well from all of your prenatal visits. We believe in a qualified team of 2-3 at every birth. A midwife or 2 with a student or 2 depending on the situation. If there are forces outside our control like multiple moms giving birth at the same time, we will call in a backup midwife team to serve you at no extra charge.
The same number we use for the office has a different extension for reaching your midwife 24/7 in an emergency. 816.944.0777. Follow the instructions on the voicemail. For non-emergent needs you have access to messaging us through your personal client portal and we will usually respond within 24 hours.
This all depends on how emergent the situation is. We believe in working with you to get back to normal and rarely have to risk mom’s out of our care. However if you’re not quickly returning to normal low risk, or the risk is imminent we will transfer your care to another provider and walk you through the process. If you’re past 36 weeks at the time you risk out of homebirth one of us will come to the hospital with you in labor to act as a doula support and we will proceed to do “co-care” with you to have continued support. We usually are able to pick up and resume postpartum care as soon as you and your baby leave the hospital.
Not very often. Most people that will need hospital assistance risk out during pregnancy. We have only had a few labor transfers as the primary midwife. Between us, we have a 2.1% intrapartum transfer rate. However, if there is a danger we will not hesitate to transfer quickly. We have transferred many more in our practices with other midwives.
Most likely not in full. Health-sharing programs cover in full, but insurance companies tend to find a way out of that even if they tell you they will on the front end. I have a biller I’m working with that will run a verification of benefits and can tell you at the consult or initial appointment what your insurance will cover. This costs $25 to run and takes 3 business days to verify. This biller is getting a lot of success at getting partial coverage for homebirth fees. We are considered an out of network cost, so looking at your deductible for that may give you an idea if anything will be covered. The biller will answer all of your questions and work with you during the process but 10% of what insurance pays goes towards her fee, so you should also take that into consideration.
You can fill out our questionnaire and someone will reach out to you, or you can call us at 816-944-0777 ext 2. You will be asked a series of questions to make sure we aren’t wasting your time, then meet you in person at Gloria’s home office. We will have an hour consult, and come with lots of questions and your partner to ensure you both are on the same page! We look forward to seeing if we are a good fit for each other.
While it might not be classic for every practice, this is OUR classic. We will see you in the office for your 1st prenatal appointment around 12 weeks, then we come to you and do the 2nd prenatal in your home. After that, the rest will be office visits until you’re 37 weeks and we do another home visit to plan for the baby’s arrival. Then you’re back in the office until you have the baby. After that we don’t have you come to us until 6 weeks, we will come to see you so you can stay, rest, heal, and snuggle that sweet baby. We also include two lactation visits with one of our lactation consultants, one in person and one via zoom, to make sure you feel totally secure and covered in your feeding journey. This package includes all routine labs, your birth kit, and tub rental. You will just need to pay for your ultrasound and gather some supplies from around your home. Ask about our discounts!
With our deluxe package, we are giving you the chance to relax as much as humanly possible. Our midwives will travel to you so you will never even have to leave your home for your appointments. Besides the consult and ultrasound, we will do all appointments in the comfort and safety of your home unless you have a non-routine need that we cannot quickly get to you, you can stay home. This also includes all routine labs, birth kits, and tub rental. We will also perform a milk bath photoshoot at your 6-week postpartum if desired…you will have to pump the milk, that’s one thing we can’t do for you 🙂
*Limited availability