Lebanon Valley Midwifery - Lebanon Valley Birth Center

05/05/2026

02/16/2026

When midwives provide ongoing care, lives change.

✅Survival rates increase
✅Unnecessary medical interventions decline
✅ Women feel happier, safer, and empowered

Midwives are essential to respectful, high-quality maternal care; before, during, and after childbirth. Investing in midwifery means healthier mothers, healthier babies, and stronger health systems.

01/05/2026

We are excited to introduce our new owner and director, Lucinda Manges, CNM! She has provided midwifery care for many years in the Lancaster County region, including some stints here.
While much remains the same, our business name has changed to Midwives of Lebanon Valley. Susan and Jaime Lynn are still working as midwives, and you'll still see Jeanne and Rachel in the office.
We are accepting new pregnancies with due dates of April 8, 2026 or later. Please call us to register your pregnancy or to transfer your care. We are ecstatic to be able to remain open and provide this crucial care again!

12/22/2025

GREAT NEWS!

We are able to accept new pregnancies again. If you are pregnant with a due date of April 8, 2026 or later and would like to use our services, please call to register your pregnancy. We expect to get many calls as the news spreads, so contact us as soon as you can if you want to use our midwives for your pregnancy care!

Our phone number is 717-933-9743. Our office is open weekdays from 9 AM to noon, and 1 to 5 PM.

11/24/2025

Big news! The New York Times just published an article on innovative approaches helping lower C-section rates, and Spinning Babies® is featured as part of this critical shift in birth care. 🙌

We’re honored to see our physiology-first approach highlighted for its impact on birth professionals and families.

Read the full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/health/c-section-rate-decline-solutions.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share.

11/20/2025

This is terrible, terrible news. Please keep them and their clients in your thoughts and prayers. Also stay tuned for ways to support PA birth centers, including ours.

After 47 years of serving our community and welcoming more than 16,000 babies, it is with very heavy hearts that we share that Lifecycle Wellness and Birth Center will be closing its doors in 2026.

From the beginning, Lifecycle Wellness has been dedicated to providing evidence-based, family-centered care that empowers clients to make informed choices and experience birth in a supportive, home-like environment. For decades, our team of Certified Nurse Midwives, Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses and staff have worked to create a model of care that honors the natural process of birth while ensuring safety, compassion, and respect for every family we serve. It has been our privilege to support so many of your families through some of life’s most meaningful moments.

Growing challenges have made it increasingly difficult for small, independent, and non-profit maternal health providers to exist. Birth centers are uniquely designed to serve healthy, low-risk pregnancies, yet shifts in public health and rising rates of medical complications have reduced the number of families eligible for this model of care. At the same time, the cost of maintaining high-quality, personalized services has continued to climb, from staffing and training to facility upkeep and liability coverage, while insurance reimbursement rates have not kept pace.

In addition, Pennsylvania, like much of the U.S., has seen a steady increase in malpractice insurance premiums and legal pressures on maternal health providers. These financial and regulatory challenges have been difficult for even large health systems to manage, and have forced many independent and community-based centers to close or merge. Despite our best efforts to adapt our model through partnerships, operational efficiencies, and advocacy, these pressures have grown too great to sustain. In today’s healthcare environment, it has become increasingly difficult for small, independent providers to continue offering the kind of individualized care that has always defined Lifecycle Wellness. (Continued in comments.)

11/18/2025

11/17/2025

NYTimes Letter to the Editor ✒️

Many of you may have already seen the NY Times article "The ‘Worst Test in Medicine’ is Driving America’s High C-Section Rate" (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/health/electronic-fetal-monitoring-c-sections.html?unlocked_article_code=1.108.XT6J.Y2YuWc0Xc01e&smid=url-share ).
AABC sent a Letter to the Editor in response! Since our letter did not get published, we wanted to share it with you all here.
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Dear Editor,

Thank you for highlighting the overreliance on continuous electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) and its role in rising Cesarean rates.

There is a solution to this epidemic. Midwifery-led birth centers use intermittent fetal monitoring instead of continuous EFM. They are an evidence-based model that delivers outcomes comparable to those of the top nations globally by offering holistic, family-centered care that protects and empowers patients, thereby enhancing both physical and mental well-being in our community.

Birth centers are fully integrated into the healthcare system and guided by principles of prevention, safety, appropriate medical intervention, and cost-effectiveness. While midwifery care can occur elsewhere, birth centers are unique in offering this dedicated, physiologic model.
Outcomes speak for themselves:
-Cesarean rates under 6%
-NICU admissions less than half the national average
-Low rates of interventions with superior overall outcomes

These results demonstrate the clinical excellence and fiscal prudence of the birth center model, reducing complications and costs while maintaining world-standard safety, lowering maternal mortality risk, and prioritizing maternal autonomy and satisfaction.

Respectfully,
Kate Bauer
Executive Director
American Association of Birth Centers
Perkiomenville, PA

11/06/2025

Decades of research have shown that round-the-clock fetal monitoring does not reliably predict fetal distress, and experts say it leads to many unnecessary surgeries. But it’s still used in nearly every birth in the U.S. because of business and legal concerns, a New York Times investigation found. https://nyti.ms/3WF7yLx