Nest Birth and Wellness

06/21/2026

All birth carries risk. The problem lies in the lack of informed consent.

"My baby would have died if I had given birth at home."

I hear this often. And sometimes, it's true. But what about the opposite?

There are real emergencies. Situations where rapid surgical or medical intervention saved a baby's life. I am deeply grateful for skilled providers and the hospitals equipped to handle those moments.

But here's a question worth asking: what caused the emergency?

Because the opposite of that statement is also true.

Pitocin leads to an epidural. The epidural leads to fetal distress. Fetal distress leads to an emergency C-section that saves the baby.

Or membranes are ruptured before baby has descended, leading to a cord prolapse and an emergent cesarean that saves a baby who may never have been in danger if the membranes had been left intact until a later stage of labor when baby was low and rupture occurred on its own.

Both of these are real, common stories. And both get told the same way: "You’re so lucky you were in the hospital."

Rarely do we hear the fuller version: that the emergency was set in motion by an earlier intervention, one that may not have been medically necessary in the first place.

No birth, in any setting, is without risk.

At home, we work to minimize that risk by staying low intervention and trusting physiologic birth. By only stepping in when something is truly needed, not because it's routine or convenient. This doesn't eliminate risk. Nothing can. But it does mean we aren't creating emergencies through unnecessary intervention and then resolving them.

This is not a hospital problem or a homebirth problem. It's an informed consent problem.

When a baby is harmed or lost in a hospital, we rarely ask what led there. The system absorbs it quietly. Blame isn’t placed.

When a baby is harmed or lost at home, the mother often carries that story and judgement publicly, for years. Headlines and sensationalism. Blame.

The truth is that both settings carry risk. Both settings save lives.

Sometimes complications are simply complications, unrelated to any prior intervention or choice.

But the narrative usually only goes one direction. We hear about the dangers of homebirth constantly. We rarely hear about what interventions, if any, led to the emergency.

Both stories deserve to be told. You deserve the full picture, not just the version that gets repeated the loudest.

06/08/2026

Check this out!! Get ready for birth with Dr April! ❤️

06/07/2026

Nest has welcomed another beautiful baby girl this morning! 7 pounds 6 ounces. Fourth baby but mom and dad’s first experience with home birth and they say they’re sold!! Congratulations to this sweet family!❤️

06/05/2026

The Nest welcomed a sweet little girl this morning who has already earned her first speeding ticket, making her arrival in under three hours start to finish! She has three very excited siblings and the sweetest family that I’ve had the privilege of working with three times now! Congratulations to all!!❤️❤️as an added bonus I got to work with my midwifery mentor Deb!

06/04/2026

Shared from another midwife page- but this really sums it up. We are trained for emergencies and have the skills needed to manage them, but rarely need them. Home birth isn’t right for everyone, but the option should be there for those who are interested and a safe candidate.

This is my IV setup at a birth last week.

Not because something went wrong. Because this mama needed fluid support and we had exactly what she needed, right there.

This is what licensed midwifery actually looks like.

We are trained medical professionals. We carry and administer medications, start IVs, manage hemorrhages and emergencies. Every person on our team is NRP certified. We have the skills and the equipment. We simply use them when they are truly needed, not routinely.

We are comfortable with birth on land and in water, in any position, including the ones that aren't convenient for us.

The Cochrane Review concludes that for low-risk women, planned homebirth attended by a licensed midwife results in comparable outcomes to planned hospital birth, with fewer interventions and fewer complications.

But here's what I want every family to know:

Birth carries risk in every setting. What matters is having a skilled provider who will tell you the truth, give you real options, and respect your right to make decisions about your own body and birth. What matters is genuine informed consent. What matters is a provider who trusts your body's ability to birth and knows the difference between supporting that process and interfering with it unnecessarily.

You should birth where you feel safest. With the team you trust. In the environment where you can do the work of labor without fear.

For many families, that's home.

If you're curious whether homebirth is right for you, we'd love to have that conversation. No pressure. Just real information and genuine care.

05/30/2026

05/24/2026

Let’s talk about home birth and transfers. We NEED hospitals. I am NOT opposed to hospitals because I’m a home birth midwife. We had a beautiful delivery last night, and then it became apparent very soon after birth that we needed a higher level of care. We called our friends at Rural Med and hitched a ride to the hospital where we received amazing care. I’m so grateful for fellow midwives that I can call in a pinch for suggestions and support, greatful for quick, responsive and well trained EMS, and so thankful for hospitals that welcome us.

I am thankful for a healthy baby and mom, and a family that trusted me with their care for the second time❤️congratulations to them!!

05/20/2026

The most dangerous thing a woman can do in pregnancy is blindly trust that everyone knows what’s best for her.

That sentence makes people uncomfortable.

Good. It should.

Because somewhere along the way, women were taught that asking questions in pregnancy means they’re “difficult.”
That researching is “going down rabbit holes.”
That advocating for themselves is being “noncompliant.”

Meanwhile, informed consent is supposed to be the foundation of maternity care.

Women deserve to know:
• WHY something is being recommended
• the risks and benefits
• alternatives
• what happens if they wait
• what happens if they decline
That’s not being rebellious.
That’s being informed.
And no, this doesn’t mean all doctors or hospitals are bad.

There are incredible providers who deeply respect women and practice evidence-based care.

But providers are human.
Hospitals have policies.
Fear of liability exists.
Convenience sometimes influences decisions.
And not every recommendation is automatically the only safe option.

Women deserve education, not intimidation.

Because a woman who understands her options is not harder to care for.
She’s empowered.

And birth outcomes are often better when women feel safe, respected, informed, and involved in decisions surrounding their own bodies.

The goal should never be blind obedience.
The goal should be collaborative care.
That conversation alone could change birth culture.