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About Santa Barbara Midwifery
We are excited to announce that through the support of The Victoria Project we are able to offer financial assistance to a limited number of families with due dates from July 1-November 31, 2024. Reach out soon!
Santa Barbara Midwifery is an independent midwifery practice that is the exclusive contracted provider of services for the non-profit Santa Barbara Birth Center.
Since 1978 SB Midwifery has had the privilege of working with people during one of the most transformational times in their life- the birth of their children. We see pregnancy and birth as a sacred event, and a time when someone can gain strength and confidence. We believe having a baby is a healthy normal event, and the process itself can contribute greatly to the personal growth of each person as well as their family and the entire community. It is our commitment to support and guide each person along this path.
Over the years, we have learned so much more than midwifery skills. This journey has guided us to a better understanding of ourselves, with all our strengths and weaknesses. Being midwives has helped us to soften and open our hearts, learning more about true compassion, love and understanding. It has also been a mirror for our own judgments and biases which we strive to acknowledge, examine and overcome. We can reflect back on the years and know that we have been truly blessed to be midwives; to be a part of so many lives, to help guide new beings into this world and to be present to the joys and sorrows that come to all of us in this life.
The midwifery model of care focuses on client education, informed consent, evidence-based practices, and time-intensive, individualized prenatal care. Midwives have very low rates of medical intervention and cesarean sections.
According to the California State Legislature:
Senate Bill 1479 states in part:
SEC. 4. The Legislature finds and declares that:
(a) Childbirth is a normal process of the human body and not a disease.
(b) Every woman has a right to choose her birth setting from the full range of safe options available in her community.
(c) The midwifery model of care emphasizes a commitment to informed choice, continuity of individualized care, and sensitivity to the emotional and spiritual aspects of childbearing, and includes monitoring the physical, psychological, and social well-being of the mother throughout the childbearing cycle; providing the mother with individualized education, counseling, prenatal care, continuous hands-on assistance during labor and delivery, and postpartum support; minimizing technological interventions; and identifying and referring women who require obstetrical attention.
(d) Numerous studies have associated professional midwifery care with safety, good outcomes, and cost-effectiveness in the United States and in other countries. California studies suggest that low-risk women who choose a natural childbirth approach in an out-of-hospital setting will experience as low a perinatal mortality as low-risk women who choose a hospital birth under management of an obstetrician, including unfavorable results for transfer from the home to the hospital.
(e) The midwifery model of care is an important option within comprehensive health care for women and their families and should be a choice made available to all women who are appropriate for and interested in home birth.
