The Village Midwife Birth Center

The Village Midwife Birth Center Our Village helps families grow by 2 feet! We are a midwifery practice serving the families of SE Virginia. We offer many different discounts, just ask!
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We specialize in Birth Center, Homebirth, Hospital Birth, VBAC, waterbirth, placenta encapsulation and delayed cord clamping. We have experience and offer support to pregnant people in many different situations including adoptions, alternative lifestyle, WOC, LGBT families, PostPartum Depression, PTSD, single moms, young moms and people with a history of sexual abuse. We serve families regardless

of race, religion, orientation, gender identity, or financial status. We include your family and friends in any capacity that YOU choose because midwifery care is about YOU and YOUR choices. We provide you with all of the information that we have available and YOU get to make the decisions.

We needed dinner at the Birth Center…so we cooked some.We can cook a whole meal or warm up some broth…whatever you are f...
04/23/2026

We needed dinner at the Birth Center…so we cooked some.
We can cook a whole meal or warm up some broth…whatever you are feeling…because it is up to you!

04/18/2026

Let’s talk about what “The Pitt” got wrong about unassisted pregnancy.

The HBO show’s finale featured a woman without prenatal care who came in with eclampsia and nearly died. The show villainized her choice, painting “wild pregnancy” (freebirth) as reckless and dangerous.
And yes, eclampsia without medical intervention can be deadly. That part is true.

But here’s what the show didn’t explore: WHY women choose freebirth in the first place.

I don’t advocate for unassisted birth. But I understand why women are so traumatized, so dismissed, so violated by the medical system that they’d rather birth alone than submit to it again.

The system has stolen birth from women. It’s turned a normal physiologic process into a medical event requiring management and control. It’s normalized routine inductions, unnecessary interventions that cascade into C-sections, dismissal of women’s concerns, and coercion disguised as “recommendations.”

Women are traumatized. They’re terrified of returning to hospitals. So some choose to birth alone, because it feels safer than the alternative.

This is a failure of the system, not the women. Here’s what the show missed:

Licensed midwifery is the solution.

We ARE the middle ground between a broken medical system and the fear that drives women to freebirth.
Licensed midwives provide comprehensive prenatal care with the same labs, ultrasounds, and testing as OBs. We screen for serious complications like preeclampsia, HELLP syndrome, and gestational diabetes. But we do it through relationship-based care that builds trust instead of fear, with informed consent instead of coercion. We support physiologic birth for low-risk pregnancies and provide appropriate referral and transfer when complications arise.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

This is what midwifery care does. We monitor closely. We catch problems early. We know when hospital care is needed. And we refer appropriately.

We bridge the gap between fear of medicine and fear of birth.

Women shouldn’t have to choose between a traumatic, over-medicalized hospital experience or birthing alone without any medical oversight.

We need MORE midwifery care, not less.
If every woman had access to licensed midwifery care, if prenatal appointments weren’t rushed 10-minute checkups, if women felt heard and respected instead of managed and dismissed, freebirth wouldn’t be so appealing.

The solution isn’t to shame women who are so afraid of the medical system that they’d rather go it alone.
The solution is to fix the system that broke their trust in the first place.

Midwifery is part of that solution. We provide the medical oversight women need with the respect and autonomy they deserve.

We ARE the middle ground. And we desperately need more of us.

04/13/2026

Address

2110 Hartford Road, Suite B
Hampton, VA
23666

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Our Story

Jeni Rector, LM, CPM is a traditional, community midwife that serves the families of SE Virginia. She offers Individualized, Non-Interventive, Evidence-Based care for Healthy, Low-Risk Pregnant People. Jeni has been working in the birth community for 20 years and, as a midwife, for 16.

Jeni believes that ALL families deserve to have a wonderful birth experience no matter their economic status, their race, their family situation, their sexual orientation, or their spiritual convictions.

She offers prenatal care, labor support, and postpartum care in the Birth Center, your Home or even if you are planning a Hospital birth. She also specializes in Waterbirth, VBAC, Placenta Encapsulation, Delayed Cord Clamping, Breastfeeding, Doula training, Lotus birth, Midwifery training and more.

The Village Birth Center opened in 2016, to fill a HUGE void in the birthing community. It is the ONLY Freestanding Birth Center in ALL of SE Virginia. Because of it, more pregnant people are receiving care... which leads to safer outcomes. The Birth Center is a terrific option for families who desire natural, traditional midwifery care or families that are coming from out of the area.