Birth Roots Community Midwifery

Home
United States
Oak Park, IL
Birth Roots Community Midwifery

Corinne Westing, CNM (they/them), providing inclusive, affirming, and empowering home birth, family building, and reproductive wellness care in Chicagoland.

Schedule a consultation here: https://birthrootscommunitymidwifery.as.me/?appointmentType=78530493

01/13/2026

Birth Roots honors the life of our fellow CNM Dr. Janell Green Smith, who died from postpartum surgical complications on Jan. 1 in South Carolina, several days after delivering her first baby.

Dr. Green Smith had attended over 300 other births as midwife, and should not have had to fear for her life to have her own baby. She should be home recovering from birth with her baby and husband.

Yet for Black women and birthing folks of all statuses—even professionals—maternal mortality is all too real a threat, something Dr. Green Smith was herself a fierce advocate to change.

Fighting anti-Black racism, white supremacy, and misogyny; and listening to pregnant and birthing folks, especially BIPOC and marginalized folks, is the duty of all birth workers and perinatal/maternal health advocates. Deaths like that of Dr. Green Smith are a stark reminder of how much work is to be done.

Over 80% of maternal deaths are preventable. Providers, systems, and social factors must shift to center the safety of our most vulnerable and marginalized.

We renew our commitment to centering our clients’ voices, especially the most marginalized. We continue to dedicate ourselves to holistic safety, preventing and addressing birth complications, and closely monitoring and supporting our clients and their babies in the postpartum time. And we vow to continue to show up as allies and comrades against racism in all its forms.

12/31/2025

Happy New Year, beloveds 💗

Looking back on this second full year of Birth Roots supporting incredible individuals and families has me in my feels.

While the world has felt so heavy, being in community with beautiful humans and having the privilege of supporting folks bringing new life into the world and meeting their health goals has been such a gift.

I’ll be putting together 2025 birth stats in the coming weeks, but for now I’ll be over here basking in the glow of the last handful of births for the year. (No Christmas babes this year, but one babe did decide to be born on the longest night of the year, so that was sweet.)

As ever, I’m so grateful to all the folks that have entrusted me with the most intimate and impactful moments. I learn so much from each of you, and you keep on being my heroes as I witness you on your journeys.

Big love for 2026 💗

Photo credit:

12/10/2025

I’m so curious which Birth Roots babe and fam I will get to spend Christmas 🎄with this year! There’s almost always a Christmas birth, and as I wait on my December births, I’m just wondering who it will be…

A cornerstone of physiologic birth is waiting for spontaneous labor. So you won’t find us messing with nature to add to the disproportionate numbers of birthdays that occur just before Christmas because of non-medical inductions of labor!!

So grateful to my family for supporting me doing what I love, and accepting that they get to share me with my beloved clients, and always saving me leftovers.

12/03/2025

My heart burst this week getting this message from a beloved former client. 😍 (If you’re wondering…I said yes!)
When your people find you, it’s just the absolute best!!
And yes! I will 💯 drive the distance for the families I’m meant to serve. It’s a huge honor and privilege to be on the path with the most incredible birthing people and their sweet babes.
Plus I love an adventure and seeing the Chicago area along the way. It’s so cool to be in a town or neighborhood and be like—hey! That’s where I caught that babe!

11/24/2025

Love this!
(And of course would word it gender-neutral myself, but the message is still solid.)

11/23/2025

So much sweetness today at the workshop hosted with today!
Two babes in arms and two on the way—wonderful to see parents-to-be prepping for parenthood as much as for birth 🥹
Chats about the history of infant massage, newborn attachment, and parent and baby emotion regulation. Big stuff!
Many thanks to for providing the lovely space.

11/21/2025

My heart is so full today!!!!!

Overnight I had the privilege of supporting an incredible woman welcome new life and receive her baby into her hands in a beautiful birth, then I took an amazing sleep, and woke up, caffeinated and refueled—

Then I got to present to a fabulous group of Oak Park River Forest High School students for a career class about being a . Teaching young folks a brief history of the colonization of birth work and birth; the paths to midwifery in the US; and what being supported by a midwife across major life events is so fun!!!!

Forgot to ask the teacher to capture the moment, but hopefully you can see here the joy of bringing this info to super engaged young people (boy were their questions great, especially about placentas 😂), and the special bit of ***rjoy when a young q***r and trans person wanted to chat about being q***r in the health provider world. 💗🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Have I said it enough lately?? I have the best job. And is the best drug.

11/18/2025

How does it work?
It’s a question I hear pretty frequently on consultations, and it’s a great one! Because homebirth midwives like myself are practicing outside of systems that most folks are familiar with, it can be hard to conceptualize what home birth care looks like.

In many ways, we follow the standard of care—visits monthly for the first two trimesters, then more frequent visits in the third trimester.

Prenatal care includes many of the same things that would be done in a hospital-based practice (though more high-touch than high-tech)—monitoring baby’s growth and heart tones as well as the birthing parent’s wellbeing—including labs and ultrasounds when indicated.

The biggest difference is in how comprehensive and holistic our approach is, and how much time we take to get to know and establish mutual trust with our clients. “Routine” prenatal visits with Birth Roots are scheduled for an hour, so we can address your physical, emotional, social, and knowledge needs.

So when you choose care with a home birth midwife such as myself, you’re getting all the standard care, plus an abundance of care for your whole person as you prepare for your transformational birth and postpartum.

Sound like the kind of care you’re dreaming of? Click the link in the bio for a consultation! We can’t wait to connect. 💗

11/14/2025

While we focus on low-risk, physiologic birth, the reality is that home birth midwives always need to be prepared for birth emergencies. So every couple of years, we immerse ourselves in over 20 hours of continuing education with for out of hospital providers and renew our Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) certificates.

Brushing up on hand skills, getting updates on the evidence, and doing drills is essential to keep up our competencies to serve birthing families with holistic safety.

Many thanks to our wonderful instructors and to our fellow birth workers that shared stories, wisdom, and humility as we learned and practiced together.

11/10/2025

Monday afternoon sunset feels over here 💗
Feeling so grateful for the opportunity to serve the very best people that I am meant to walk with. This work is a calling. It’s sacred to be asked to hold space for someone during the life-making and birth-giving process. So rewarding to hear from folks I know from previous work, and to hear from recently postpartum folks how safe and held they felt, even when things were hard.
And yo, oxytocin is the best drug! And these bbs and their badass parents are just the best!
(Also yes, that’s the sound of my frolicking dogs in the background—they’re feeling the joy too! 😂)

11/06/2025

Honored to receive these wonderful words from a dear client recently. We are the absolute luckiest to have the opportunity to serve and help amazing folks develop the confidence to have empowered births 🥰
If this sounds like the kind of care you’d like to receive, please hit us up for a consultation to see if we might be the right fit for you! Link in bio!

Address

115 N Marion Street, Suite 13
Oak Park, IL
60555

Telephone

+17086694013

Website

http://www.birthrootscommunitymidwifery.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Birth Roots Community Midwifery posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Birth Roots Community Midwifery:

Shortcuts

Want your practice to be the top-listed Clinic in Oak Park?