BirthCare's History

Alice Bailes and Marsha Jackson have been working together so long that they can finish each other's sentences. This shouldn't come as a great surprise. They were already of one mind when, on May 11, 1987, they shook hands on Alice's deck and agreed to become partners. Their goal was to establish a practice of midwives that would specialize in attending home births and providing personalized GYN care. Fifteen years later, not only have they met and continue to meet their initial goal of providing home birth services, but have grown their practice into one that provides an accredited freestanding birth center and educates students.

Alice and Marsha initially established BirthCare in the comfort of their own homes. Alice fondly remembers prenatal visits that started out on her back deck over glasses of iced tea before being moved indoors to listen to fetal heart tones and measure growing uteri. Marsha enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of appointments in her home and the fun her own children had with her clients and their children. Visits that were scheduled to last 30 minutes always lasted much longer.

On July 14, 1987, the very same day that BirthCare & Women's Health was incorporated by the state of Virginia, Marsha attended the practice's first birth. In August, 1987, BirthCare was moved out of the midwives homes and into an office on Prince Street in Alexandria. Marsha and Alice hired a third midwife, Martha Weaver, CNM, and an office manager, Suzanne Dorick, to help. Jackie Meadows, CNM, and Karen Holz, CNM, filled in as needed during Martha's maternity leave periods. Martha decided to stay at home as a full time mom. By 1990, the team was attending 8-10 births per month and the growing practice was moved to a larger office at the present King Street location.

As the number of clients steadily increased, the BirthCare team grew to meet the growing demand. Cyndi Johnson, CNM, (formerly Cyndi Thrall) joined BirthCare in 1990. Formerly having attended Alice's childbirth classes in 1975 to prepare for the birth of her third child, Cyndi became so enamored with the concept of natural childbirth that she became a birth assistant and got certified to teach childbirth classes. She then attended nursing school, graduating in 1981. She began her midwifery training in England, where her family had relocated. She completed her training at the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing in Kentucky when she returned to the states.

Prompted by a brief period of non-availability of home birth professional liability insurance in 1992, Alice and Marsha decided to open a freestanding birth center to keep out-of-hospital birth available to families. BirthCare soon began seeking accreditation from the National Association of Childbearing Centers. This extremely rigorous process required lengthy preparation and hours of hard labor to prepare the birth center for the intense inspection. Cyndi was, and continues to be, paramount in these preparations. In 1993 BirthCare was successfully accredited for the first time.

As more families in the metro area learned of the home and birth center birth services offered by BirthCare, the number of births attended each month continued to rise. By 1994 the team of midwives was assisting in the birth of 12-15 babies each month. This necessitated the addition of another midwife, bringing the number of midwives in the practice up to four. Gail Neal, CNM, soon came on board and remained with the group until 1997, when her family moved to Colorado.

Alice and Marsha had already been seeking another midwife to add to their number even before Gail announced her departure. In 1995, Kate Curtis, a midwifery student with several years of experience working as a labor and delivery nurse at Holy Cross Hospital and as a birth assistant at the Maternity Center in Bethesda, was invited to do her student preceptorship with BirthCare. Upon her completion of her midwifery program, Kate Curtis, CNM, was a natural addition to the team in 1996.

Besides the addition of Kate to the staff as a student of midwifery, 1995 was an exceptionally busy year due to the massive renovations the birth center underwent. All while continuing with client appointments, home births and birth center births, two new bathrooms and a new, large two person Jacuzzi® were added to the birth center. A roof was installed over the parking area, making room for three new offices, and the entire facility received a face lift with the help of a little paint and new décor. Kate says that some of her favorite visits were conducted in the birth center kitchen. Clients reported that having a pap smear with their "feet in the microwave" was a unique experience.

By 1997, BirthCare midwives were attending 15-20 births per month, making for a lot of long hours and sleepless nights for the team. Over the years several midwives joined the group and then left to spend more time with their own families or because their families relocated. Eileen Greenham, CNM, joined the BirthCare practice in June of 2002. Eileen completed her training as a nurse-midwife in England in 1990. A series of moves brought her family to the United States. After working as a labor and delivery nurse, Eileen's desire to attend births outside of hospital settings inspired her to become a birth assistant at the Maternity Center in Bethesda, where she met and worked with Kate Curtis, who was also a Maternity Center birth assistant at the time.

Eileen discovered her European credentials were not transferable and that she would have to completely repeat her training to become a certified nurse-midwife in the United States. She attended the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing, the same program that Kate and Cyndi completed. After becoming certified in the U.S., Eileen worked as a CNM at Maternity Center-Greenbelt until it closed and then moved to a hospital-based physician/midwife practice. However, she preferred doing home births and jumped when the opportunity to join BirthCare presented itself.

BirthCare's activities in the midwifery world continue to expand. Many student midwives have been precepted at BirthCare. The professional staff has contributed articles to midwifery publications, compiled the ACNM Handbook on Home Birth Practice, and has written a chapter for a seminal midwifery textbook as well. The professional staff also continues to educate the community, insurance companies and the midwifery profession about home and birth center birth options and running an independent midwifery practice. Alice and Marsha have spoken at community and professional conferences and BirthCare has added the BirthCare Website at www.birthcare.org. They now are participating providers with many major insurance companies. The cost of a home or birth center birth is considerably less than that of a hospital birth allowing BirthCare to remain accessible to those who are uninsured. Furthermore, with the cooperation of BirthCare clients, the midwives have been able to use the statistics from their births in several research studies to contribute to knowledge and understanding of home birth. The data from the thousands of BirthCare births has been submitted to two national studies of home birth with nurse-midwives. Many BirthCare clients have voluntarily participated in studies on the Lactation Amenorrhea Method of Family Planning, VBACs and beta carotene in breast milk.

Looking back, the past 20 years seem a whirlwind. Cooperatively the BirthCare team has attended the birth of over 3500 happy, healthy babies. Clients have been exceptionally pleased with the quality of care, many returning to have their next babies with the help of the BirthCare midwives. A few families have had seven babies with BirthCare midwives in attendance. BirthCare midwives currently attend 18-25 births each month. This number continues to grow each year with 70% being born at home and 30% born at the birth center. To accommodate the ever growing demand, the group welcomed Susan Dodge, CNM, aboard in July of 2002. Susan, a long time BirthCare birth assistant, did her preceptorship at BirthCare. In addition to midwives, the office staff has grown over the years from one part-time to three full-time personnel. When the practice began in 1987, there were only three OB consultants who signed on to assist the BirthCare team, now there are over 10 consultants with 11 different hospital affiliations to assist the team in the very rare event of a transfer. The midwife attended births are also assisted by more than 20 birth assistants, many of whom are also registered nurses. Furthermore, many of the families who have had their children's births assisted by BirthCare midwives volunteer at the birth center in many different capacities. Though space limitations prevent recognition of all the midwives, physicians, birth assistants, front office staff members and volunteers who have played a role in BirthCare's growth over the past fifteen years, Alice and Marsha are grateful and wish to thank each of you.

The success of the last 20 years began with a simple goal: to bring new life into the world while giving families a safe alternative to hospital births. Each and every birth is a celebration. Marsha and Alice have thoroughly enjoyed their work over the past 20 years and hope that the next 20 will bring lots of joy to families giving birth at home and in BirthCare's birth center.