No Place Like Home Birth

02/25/2026

Wrapped up postpartum care for 3 lovely January moms and babies who had home births with my practice 🥰

These were the two first time moms (the other was an experienced mom) who are thoroughly enjoying their healthy, happy, breastfeeding, cosleeping babies! So great to see moms feeling so well supported by their partners and community ❤️ They are rocking it and it was such a joy to see lovely babies all day!

02/19/2026

This client and her husband were so equipped to rock their home birth! They were so intentional as they chose their team and welcomed their baby. What a joy to serve them!

Here are their words about their care -
"As first-time parents, we are incredibly grateful for the care we received from Ashley throughout pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. From the very beginning, she made us feel informed, supported, and truly safe. Every prenatal visit left us feeling educated and confident in the choices we were making for both mom and baby — nothing ever felt rushed or pressured.

From a husband’s perspective, trust had to be earned. Watching how calmly and attentively Ashley cared for my wife made that trust come naturally. Over time, I learned so much about birth, babies, and the strength of the female body, and felt genuinely involved in the process.

Choosing a home birth was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. There is something sacred about welcoming a baby in the quietness of your own home — allowing labor to unfold naturally, surrounded by steady care and encouragement. Ashley and our doula Leah created a level of support beyond anything we imagined, and the peaceful, uninterrupted bonding time with our son is something we will forever cherish.

We never felt alone at any point in this journey. This experience will stay with us as we step into parenthood, and we would choose this care a thousand times over. 🤍"

Shout out to the amazing Leah Fellers for the amazing care she provided this family as their doula!

Shout out to Missy Moore Family Photography and Films for this incredible video!

Shared with permission, as always!

02/05/2026

I’m a big fan of waiting until your baby is developmentally ready to try food! And a big fan of what’s called “baby led weaning”, which basically doesn’t have anything to do with weaning, it’s a practice of letting your baby feed themselves a variety of developmentally appropriate big people foods, not purées.

It’s not just about being interested in food and watching what you do or reaching for your food.
That does NOT mean their digestive system is ready for solids at all.

Those are EARLY signs but still means WAIT.

What can you do until all the readiness signs are there?

Keep them involved at the table. Give them something to play with that relates to food.
Utensils, measuring cups, spatulas etc

The American Academy of Pediatrics and The World Health Organization and The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine ALL agree. No foods before 6 months.

Babies need the simple digestion of only human milk to keep them safest for the first 6 months.

Then as they are more ready we see these 5 things developing!

• I can sit up myself. So it’s safe to feed me food.

• have mastered the pincer grasp so I can pick up my food and feed myself. Like all other mammals, the young do not eat food until they can manipulate it themselves.

• Often I have a tooth too!

• I can crawl!

Human milk is the primary source of nutrition for the ENTIRE first year of life.

Foods are fun! They can explore in a low pressure setting. They learn how to get food down without sucking. New textures!

No need to worry how much they eat or don’t.
Just offer nutritious foods and let them be in charge of what they take in. Eventually they’ll be massive food eaters and your grocery bill will go UP!

KEEP breastfeeding and pumping just as often too, don’t change that up!

Remember foods are not a replacement for human milk. They are complementary.

02/02/2026

This couple was so much fun to serve! Every appointment was bursting with joy ❤️ They were so laid back, but dug into the books from my lending library and felt so well prepared that they did not ask for the team to come until she was feeling pushy! Love their squishy miracle baby 😍

The following is in her own words ❤️

“I couldn’t express how grateful we are for Ashley and her team to help us through our birthing adventure! My husband and I never thought we could have a little miracle of our own and with that we didn’t find out until we were 15 weeks along a whole 3 months before we realized we were expecting. After being together for 16 years we sure didnt see such a blessing coming into our lives. I knew I wanted a natural experience and loved the idea of home birth and was lucky enough to find Ashley shortly after. After meeting her I felt comfortable and was excited to have her help us through this life changing adventure! Every check up was so informative and helped me feel even more ready to be a mom, which again, I never thought I would get to be. Ashley brought more to the table than we would have ever expected from the knowledge she shared every visit and even when I was asking silly questions along the way. Going into labor I felt like I knew what to expect and wasn’t as scared as I thought I would be because of her, for sure! When I started getting contractions I worked through them thanks to her advice. We were able to get the team here and after they arrived we got to meet our sweet baby girl within 2 hours. I had started to feel like I needed to push and that was when I knew my husband had to get them on the way. After a solid 24 hours of contractions they showed up very shortly and did an amazing job to help me through the pushy part and working through the minor complications that arose they were still able to safely deliver our baby to us in the comfort of our home. We can’t thank them enough for everything they did for us and our family.”

01/20/2026

Availability update!

I currently have one more due date left before maternity leave! I have had a lot of inquiries for due dates during my maternity leave, so I wanted to update! There will be (primarily in-office) prenatal visits occurring for clients during maternity leave, just no due dates as I focus on my little guy ❤️

By August I will be back to births!

01/19/2026

My 4.5 year old thinks waterbirth would be safer if babies came out wearing life jackets 😂 Here is a picture AI came up with!

Waterbirth can be a safe and gentle delivery option for most babies! Here are some circumstances that birthing in that water may not be the best option:

1. You don’t want to be in the water! Having a home birth doesn’t mean you have to labor and birth in water if you don’t want to!

2. You don’t feel grounded and effective in your pushing efforts and you want a more gravity-assisted situation. This is more common for first time moms or moms in extra big birth pools.

3. If there are reasons to believe your baby may come out compromised, like a concerning heart rate. An uncompromised baby should not take their first breath until their face comes out of the water, but a baby who is in distress has more potential to gasp and have complications that are better addressed outside the birth pool.

4. Shoulder dystocia. If there are extensive maneuvers required to help your baby out, getting out of the water can be a wise choice, plus, shoulder dystocia can cut off the baby’s oxygen supply, causing a compromised baby.

5. The water is too cloudy or bloody to see if the baby is needing help. Once the baby’s head is born then we should be able to see nice pink lips and reassuring signs your baby is doing well. If we can not assess your baby’s wellbeing, out of the water may be a wise choice.

6. The water is too hot or too cold. This is typically easily remedied, but if you are overheating in a birth pool and baby’s heart rate is going up, that’s a good reason to get out and cool down.

7. The water is too shallow. If the water is too shallow for your baby to stay under for the duration of delivery, it’s best to be out of the water. We don’t want the baby’s face to hit the air and then go back under.

8. Your midwife has not arrived. I request my clients do not get into the birth pool until I am present so I can assess the above considerations. Also, cord avulsion (cord snapping) is more common in waterbirth, it is a complication that must be addressed quickly so the baby does not lose a significant amount of their blood.

01/19/2026

❤️

01/01/2026

So grateful for such a beautiful first full year as No Place Like Home Birth ❤️

These are such small numbers since No Place Like Home Birth is a small practice, and some years will (I’m sure) have some more complications and transfers. But this has been a really good year! Well supported moms and healthy babies ❤️ No medical transfers necessary for moms or babies at term ❤️

I am proud of every one of these clients for their strength and making the choices they did to have an informed and supported birth!

I thought the active pushing times would be fun! I count active pushing from when a mom’s body starts actively (and obviously) pushing, not just “feeling pushy” or 10cm. This is typically when the fetal ejection reflex (FER) starts.

I love doula support at births and it has been so fun to work with so many different ones! Some I knew already and some I didn’t!

I can’t wait to serve more families in 2026!

12/25/2025

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you the sweetest times with your families ❤️
Enjoy those babies ❤️

With warm winter wishes, Midwife Ashley

12/23/2025

Another sweet, wiggly baby ❤️

This little girl was so active while I drew her 🥰

12/23/2025

I must confess that Christmastime births are my favorite 🤫🤩🎄

Actually, Christmastime is my favorite time to begin with, so it only makes sense that I find Christmas births extra magical ❤️

It’s been a busy time for No Place Like Home Birth this month! Two beautiful births already and expecting one or two more before the month ends, and I am here for it 🙌 Can’t wait to support these moms and welcome these babies 🥰

With joy, midwife Ashley ❤️