In May of 2015, midwives Susan Mickley, CPM and Linsey Kornya, CPM, will open the doors on a small birth center in the heart of South St. Louis. Susan and Linsey are excited to expand birth options for families in the St. Louis area, including Illinois. Confluence Midwifery Center is located at 3271 Roger Pl, St. Louis, MO 63116. They encourage expectant parents and anyone else curious about the center or home birth to stop by “Meet The Midwife” night the first and third Tuesdays of every month at 7pm.
With a combined 7 years of experience in homebirth setting, Susan and Linsey are already working in partnership, striving to provide families with safe and empowering birth experiences. They will open with one birth suite upstairs from the current office.
The birth suite will be a home-like room with a comfortable bed, tiled shower and sofa.
Other amenities that people might not have at home will include various labor-support devices like a heated birth pool, yoga swing, birth ball and waterproof birth stool.
“Our birth center is small, and we will still have a focus on homebirth,” explains Susan, “but we hope that having this space will give women who can’t give birth at home but are still interested in a more intimate birthing experience, more options.”
Women choose to give birth at home or in a birth center for many reasons. Homebirth midwives work to minimize interventions that can interrupt the normal, physiological process of childbirth. Women giving birth out of the hospital are often more able to easily move around, nourish themselves, vocalize, and often feel less fearful, more comfortable, safe and empowered in a family-centered non-hospital environment. However, homebirth doesn’t just feel safer; for many low risk women it is safer. Recent studies confirm that women planning to give birth with experienced midwives at home are less likely to experience infection, c-section, episiotomy, instrumental delivery, or hemorrhage.
Additionally, breastfeeding rates for these moms and babies are much higher. Midwives are trained to identify problems that might necessitate hospital assistance, and to deal with many obstetric emergencies at home. With c-section rates over 30% and epidural rates over 80% at most hospitals, many women feel like their best chance for a normal, safe birth is at home or at a freestanding birth center. With hospital birth costs on the rise, homebirth is also an affordable option for many families, and is often covered by insurance.
Susan and Linsey are currently accepting clients for home birth and birth center births. Please attend “Meet the Midwife” night on the first or third Tuesday of the month at 7 pm. Contact us at confluencemidwifery@gmail.com, and “Like” us on facebook for news and updates about our practice www.facebook.com/confluencemidwifery.