House of Birth | Natural Birth Services

04/26/2025

Clients, birth workers, friends.
If midwifery in Texas matters to you please read the following and take action as you feel led.

We urgently need your voice. This is a critical moment for our profession.

House Bill 4553 has officially been set for a hearing in the House Public Health Committee on Monday, April 28 at 8:00 A.M. in Room E2.030 at the Capitol.

House Bill 4553 threatens the autonomy of our profession under the guise of data collection. While framed as a neutral reporting bill, HB 4553 lays the groundwork for invasive oversight, misrepresentation of outcomes, and the further medicalization of midwifery care without the context or nuance necessary to accurately represent our clients or our work.

We need every midwife, student, client, and supporter to contact the public health committee and urge them to oppose HB 4553.

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What You Can Do Today:

1. Call the Public Health Committee – urge them to oppose HB 4553.

Phone: 512-463-0806

2. Contact Chairman VanDeaver directly – tell him to withdraw his support for this bill.

Email: gary.vandeaver@house.texas.gov
Phone: 512-463-0692

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Call Script or Email Template:

Subject: Oppose HB 4553 – Protect Midwifery from over regulation and medicalization. Protect Family Choice

Dear [Chairman VanDeaver / Public Health Committee Member],

I am a [licensed midwife/client/family member/supporter] writing to strongly oppose House Bill 4553, scheduled for hearing on Monday, April 28. This bill, though presented as a neutral data reporting proposal, contains harmful and confusing language that would result in over regulation, redundant statistics collection, the medicalization of and the erosion of midwifery care in Texas.

Texas midwives are already held to high standards of safety and accountability. This bill duplicates existing reporting, imposes burdensome new rules, threatens privacy, and undermines informed choice in birth.

I respectfully urge you to oppose HB 4553 and support true solutions that protect safe birthing options across our state.

Sincerely,
[Your Full Name]
[Your Address]

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We must act now. Please make your call today, and help us mobilize clients and supporters in your community.

Please share this with your clients, supporters, and colleagues. We must move swiftly and with solidarity.

Midwives are not the problem—we are part of the solution. Let’s ensure that our voices, and the voices of the families we serve, are heard loud and clear at the Capitol.

Thank you for standing for midwifery, for birthing families, and for the preservation of midwifery care in Texas.

07/17/2023

Beautifully said! The life of a midwife

What does it mean to walk as a Midwife?
Well first my love, you better grow thick skin. The purposeful propaganda that started centuries ago is still strong today. Walk in a room and say you are a home birth midwife and watch what happens. Projections, reflections, traumas, and ignorance. You will become a mirror. Remember to reflect back love and grace for you represent the thin veil between life and death. You will grow to know it well.
Being a midwife means gentle hands and whispered tones even when your heart is beating loudly in your ears and you haven't turned off your vigilance for hours/days. It's a full bladder, dehydrated mouth, and growling stomach that gets pushed aside because your presence means something.
Midwifery is stopping a hemorrhage that people don't even know is happening because youre smiling and cooing at the baby to keep up the oxytocin.It is sitting on a living room floor helping a baby cry while telling everyone, "Oh my goodness look how cute she is! Her color is getting so pink! Her heart is so strong." It is sometimes being the voice in the room that says, "I think you would benefit from an epidural." Then at the next birth you are nodding along as a woman cries she can't do it as you guide her to the tub because you know her baby is arriving soon. It is jumping for joy at that first latch and each ounce of baby weight gained.
It is knowing that these truths will be seen as sacrilegious to some and not "true" Midwifery. Then on the other side, you will have people shocked that you know how to take a blood pressure and amazed that you understand how to manage emergencies. You will not win over them all. You have to accept this.
It is knowing you are not God and you humbly submit to the understanding that you will never predict or control it all.
It is missing date nights and apologizing that you have to keep getting up to answer the phone. Saying no to activities you so desperately want to do but there is no cell service and a baby is arriving soon.
But mostly, its hearing the voice in your head saying after each moment with a mother, "If that is all I ever did, it is more than enough. This is what it means to work for the Divine"

02/06/2023

When your mom births you and your chunky 10 pound self out in the presence of a beautiful sunrise and some Texas Country Music you can't help but consider that a pretty stellar start to life. At least we do.

01/30/2023

As Midwives we stand as a cornerstone of large emotions, extreme highs and profound lows on occasion as we walk the path to motherhood with our clients. We are in it with you all the way through. We share your joy and strife and it is an honor. Today was one such day. Today we witnessed strength to a remarkable level. We saw a mother fearlessly and powerfully birth not one but two babies naturally, and in the safety and comfort of the birth center. The first one literally four minutes after arriving. Every day we stand in awe of your power as mothers and as women and today was no exception. Congratulations to this beautiful family.

01/15/2023

01/06/2023

THIS 👏🏻

💦

01/06/2023

A love that never goes away❤️

Within me grows the greatest and truest of all loves.
💕👶💖

01/05/2023

I’m so grateful to have grandbabies, and now a great grandbaby on the way, so I can enjoy those one year old slobbery kisses again!

via Scary Mommy

☀️🌷 Our stunning Issue 48 is out now, full of inspiration, tips, advice and real-life experiences to guide you on your journey through pregnancy, birth and motherhood. You can pick up a copy from your local Countdown or selected stockists in NZ, from your local newsagent in Australia, or from WH Smith High Street stores, selected Waitrose & Partners and independent bookstores across the UK!! Plus, it’s available to purchase locally and internationally online: https://thenaturalparentmagazine.com/product-category/shop/magazine/

01/05/2023

01/03/2023

As a baby makes his or her transition to the world they feel safe when they are in contact with you. Especially skin to skin.

The newborn need to be held constantly, near 100% of the time- Awake and asleep -Is shocking for most parents.

When babies continue to need this for the first 3-4 months, parents continue to be surprised.

And when infants continue to need closeness, often less than the beginning, up to age 3 (and beyond) it is also unexpected.

Parents will say - “our newborn is doing great BUT there is a problem that we can’t put her / him down”

I always say “This is not surprising to me at all because nearly every baby has this need.”

We need to support parents to expect this from their newborns and teach them how to enjoy this season of their babies life.

When parents don’t expect this, and expect that their baby can be put down it is very stressful. They constantly fight against this biological need, buying endless products, and trying endless strategies to make it happen. This sends babies and parents into stress states - exactly what we don’t want. This does not benefit the developing baby brain or parent brain.

When parents do expect babies to need constant holding they can prepare to use baby carriers, set up safe sleeping environments, ask family or hire people to take part in holding the baby. Set up their day to bathe in the safety states they create when they hold their baby with presence. This is how the developing baby brain and parent brain grow long lasting wellness.