Birth outside of the hospital is safe for healthy women with uncomplicated pregnancies.  We are able to offer the family privacy, and a place where labor and birth are treated as normal life events to be shared with whomever the mother wishes. Laboring women will be carefully and continually assessed by the Midwife and an experienced birthing assistant to assure that mother and baby are doing well.  Women are encouraged to walk, eat, drink and get into positions that are comfortable for them during labor and birth. At birth, the baby is immediately placed into the hands of the mother. Each new mother receives careful guidance in the first hours after birth so when the new family is tucked into bed and midwife Emma heads home, the new mother feels confident in her ability to breastfeed and care for her baby. Emma closely follows up with the family via phone and postpartum visits in the first few weeks of the baby’s life.