Katie was an incredible part of my healing journey. With the late loss of my daughter and a…read moretraumatic birth with my son I felt as if I needed someone that understood trauma, but also had a empathetic aura and would protect me from unwanted interventions in a hospital birth setting. This birth was intense and full of very strong emotions, Katie was perfect in supporting me and keeping the space safe. She has very a peaceful energy about her. She made me feel really confident and was fully present when I needed her to be. She is incredibly intelligent and very informative. Words cannot even describe how grateful I am for her genuine support. She also guided my husband by teaching him the various ways that he could support me during the pregnancy and during birth. We truly needed that connection to be restored after multiple heartbreaking experiences. Katie is such a treasure to us and we will always remember her as being a huge part of our very empowering birth experience. I couldn't recommend her enough.

From the owner: Birth is a tremendous and transformative labor of love, ripe with both challenges and rewards. I…read morebelieve in the immense power of a positive birth experience that empowers women and men to begin parenthood with joy and confidence. My goal is to help parents create positive memories of birth, regardless of the challenges that arise. I approach being a doula with a dedication to working openly with the unique perspective, abilities, challenges, and needs of laboring mothers and their support team.

I did my doula training with genesis birth company. Dee is very knowledgeable and has some…read morewonderful support with all the Doula's who have been through the training. Hiring a midwife or doula through genesis birth company will get you quite a bit of support too.

Dee was my midwife for my second pregnancy and childbirth. My first baby I delivered in hospital…read morewith a CNM, and that's the path I was headed down with pregnancy #2. However, the CNMs I worked with for the first several months were impersonal, not particularly supportive of what I wanted out of the experience, and difficult to get a hold of with concerns! I was about 5 months along when I met Dee, and I knew from the first visit that I wanted to work with her instead. She was compassionate, caring, and immediately I felt that she was invested in me, personally. Because of some circumstances that worked out in my favor, I got to have all of my prenatal appointments with Dee in my home. I loved that, and I wish I could have that particular bonus every time! She was always informative about my condition; she helped me maintain good nutrition and do everything we could to help prepare my body for childbirth and lactation. She also went out of her way to prepare me emotionally, for childbirth and postpartum. I had a couple of false starts to my labor, and Dee was patient with me as I texted her back and forth. I loved that she was so responsive and easy to reach. Once things actually got moving, Dee was amazing. She promptly came to my home with her assistants, and through every stage of my labor she was calm, encouraging, and professional. I had an absolutely amazing water birth with my son. I tore, and after we got moved out of the pool, she stitched me together SO much better than I had endured with my first childbirth. She and her assistants got my little family settled, made sure baby and I had started well with breastfeeding, got the house cleaned up, made us a meal, and started the laundry before they left, at about 3:00am. They were amazing. Dee returned the next day for follow up, as well as checking in with me over the next few weeks. I sincerely have no complaints from working with Dee as my midwife. My husband and I are moving this summer, otherwise I would employ her as my midwife for every child I ever have!

Having Karina as my doula gave me so much peace, knowing I had someone to turn to throughout…read morepregnancy and birth that I could trust. The prenatal visits were super helpful in helping me feel prepared for birth. I was particularly concerned about having to be induced, as well as gestational diabetes, and Karina was able to provide me with a lot of great info on those topics. I loved that she provided supplements to take toward the end of pregnancy, as well as rebozo techniques for my husband to learn. During the birth she provided amazing pain relief as well as mental support, I don't know what I would've done without her!

Karina is a wonderful doula and a trusted birth professional. I have sent several referrals to her…read morein the past few years. She is awesome! Amy Ihrig Home Birth Midwife www.joyfulbirthmidwife.com

Mamas, if you read any review about Birthing Your Way, I hope it is this one--not to deter anyone…read morefrom making the choice to birth here, but so you can have a holistic view of what this facility offers--or more importantly, what it doesn't offer. I do not believe that Birthing Your Way offers a safe environment for the patients or the employees. I took a tour of Birthing Your Way a little while ago when we were deciding where to birth our second baby. Heather, while polite, was fairly distant with us and not particularly welcoming. While we were touring the facility, a woman who was quite obviously in advanced labor tried to check into the center--or her husband did, since the mother was distressed and seemingly in a lot of pain. Heather acted almost inconvenienced when this laboring mother showed up--she seemed flustered and unprepared. The other midwife quickly tried to rush us through the rest of the tour, giving us a contract sheet and inviting us to sign then if we felt like we liked the facility. We left without signing. I was also concerned with how Heather talked to the other employees at the facility. She was very short and impatient with them and seemed disorganized and frazzled. The midwife who gave us the tour mentioned that most midwives do not stay long at the birth center. When we asked why, she vaguely said that they just move on to other things since many of them are students. However, after observing Heather's behavior for just thirty minutes, I wonder if her leadership attitude and lack of warmth and kindness towards her patients and employees contributes to the turnover rates at Birthing Your Way. Mamas, you want a birthing environment that is welcoming, unhurried, and peaceful. Where you birth your baby matters. I am truly happy for those who had a positive experience here, and I hope that happens for the majority of women, but I implore you to think critically about what you see here before you make a decision. Real changes need to be made before this center can be considered a safe place to birth.

My wife and I have had two excellent birth experiences here with Heather. As a husband attending…read moreprenatal, birth, and postpartum appointments, I feel like I can ask all the questions I want and be as involved as I dare. The impressive resources that Heather has at her disposal allow her to handle tricky situations with ease, and her broad experience enables her to recognize and avoid problems early on. We truly felt that our two births with her were exactly what we wanted, and she made them happen how we wanted them to happen. She truly believes in birthing YOUR way! I appreciate the high standards of professionalism we see, especially when it comes to communication. Every time we are faced with a decision or Heather has a suggestion, she is clear about the pros and cons, the potential benefits and hazards, and what a certain course of action might entail or require. However, the reason we will always go back to Birthing Your Way is the connection. Heather is clear and concise, but also kind and empathetic. Her willingness to listen to, help, and work with us quickly made her and my wife fast friends, and her knowledge, skill, and life-saving reactions gained her our trust forever.

The midwifes at better birth were incompetent . . my baby was literally dropped on his head!…read more My husband and I were excited to try a birthing center. we toured better birth and liked it. We chose to do the student program, knowing that a student would be present for the prenatal appointments and the birth, but always under the supervision of a certified midwife. The prenatal appointments were okay, although you always see a different midwife every time, and some of them seemed cool and insensitive. On April 21 st, 2013, I went into labor. The birthing center made me leave several times, as they have no where for you to labor. They did not even have an exercise ball for me to sit on. Finally, at about 7pm they admitted me. I was confused and upset to see that five staff members were in the birthing room . . two students and 3 midwifes. my husband, sister, and mother were with me so it was extremely crowded and impersonal. I got in the tub to help alleviate the pain. The staff members came in several times and I felt uncomfortable. My contractions became unbearable so I got out of the tub and put on a robe. i started to feel like pushing so the midwives started putting paper out on the bed and floor. They brought a birthing chair into the small room, and all five of the staff came into the room, making my mother and sister have to go and watch from the other side of the bed. A midwife took my robe off me, saying it would get blood on it, leaving me completely naked in front of the 8 people who were staring at me. This was the most embarrassed I have ever felt in my life. I sat on the birthing chair, but then decided that I wanted to squat. The midwives said that this position was fine to deliver the baby. I could not see where all the midwifes were, as they were all positioned somewhere behind me, except for the women that was sitting at her computer, in the left side of the room, typing everything that was happening. I squatted and pushed hard once, and then pushed very hard again and I could hear someone say "here comes his head". All of the sudden I saw the baby shoot forward, face down, smack his forehead on the wood floor, and then slide on his face. I heard a couple of the women gasp. Everyone was dead silent in the room and then the student who was trying to deliver the baby with no assistance from anyone else in the room, stepped around me and picked up the baby. The midwives sat me back onto the floor and someone handed me the baby. The floor was covered in blood, and I had blood all over me so I was having a hard time holding the baby. They then told me to get up and that they wanted me on the bed. As I was trying to stand up, while holding the baby, I slipped on the blood and almost fell over. I caught myself and made it to the bed. The midwives let me hold the baby for a baby's forehead and that the lower part of the baby's face appeared to be purple and bruised. There's was also a small scratch in the middle of the bump. The midwives immediately put a hat on the baby, which covered the bump. No one said anything about the incident and when we tried to address it later, they all denied it happened, even though we have pictures of the bump on the babies head and 4 witnesses!

I was referred to Better Birth by a friend who had given birth their with their 2nd child. She had…read moresaid it was a wonderful experience, but sadly, I did not have a wonderful experience. This being my first baby, I didn't know what to expect from my body or from my midwives. Up to this point in my prenatal care, I had only had one negative experience with one midwife but that was it. They were a little lacking on information for my preference, but I just figured that was the way it was. When my water broke, I knew instantly that was what had happened. I called the hotline and explained to the student what had happened. I knew it was my water breaking because it was very slick and running down my leg and I couldn't stop it. When the student heard, she said I probably hadn't gone into labor and that it was probably just from the activities that my husband and I had just had. (wink, wink). I told her no, it wasn't because I know what it feels like after being intimate, and this was not like that at all. They finally said I should come in at 4 and they would test the liquid to see if it was indeed amniotic fluid. So we started out on a bad foot because I felt like they didn't believe me and that I needed to convince them that I was in labor. They checked it and it was amniotic fluid. They sent me home until it was 5-1-1. Five mintues apart one minute long for at least one hour. We went back at midnight because my contractions had sped up considerably and were the 5-1-1. They checked me and the midwife was fine, but the student was HORRIBLE! It hurt considerably and I didn't want her to touch me again, but I didn't feel like I could tell her to leave me alone. I was at a 2 80% effaced and they wanted to send me home. At this point my contractions were so bad that I couldn't speak or move through them. There was no way I was going home. My mother, husband and myself told them I wasn't going home, so they can just get things ready. I felt like there was a complete lack of warmth or kindness from any of the women attending to me. They felt put-upon because I was in labor. Over the next few hours, they would come in, check things then leave, but wouldn't tell us anything. It was extremely frustrating! They made me stay in one particularly horrible position because my son had moved and was now in the wrong position. I was in that position for HOURS! I was in so much pain, I had mentally checked out of the birth. It was so painful I couldn't think or even breath sometimes. During this time, they did nothing to help, just told me to lower my voice to my chest because it would help with the pain. When it came to pushing, they did help get my son out. No coaching, but they were there for support, but that was the only time during the birth. When my son came out, something happened and I was bleeding excessivly. They cut the cord quickly then moved me to the ground to help stop the bleeding. I don't remember much from this time because I later found out I lost 2 units of blood. 2 UNITS of BLOOD and they didn't transfer me to the hospital or even gave me a saline drip or anything. I had to ask the midwife how much blood I lost, she didn't tell me. I felt so shaky and out of it but I had no idea that was a side effect of loosing so much blood. Finally, they don't really tell you hardly anything about taking care of the baby in those first few days. Like that they would sleep most of the time during those first few days. I thought there was something wrong with my son because he was sleeping ALL THE TIME and didn't want to eat. Overall, do not go to them. Check out The Birth Center on 5100 S in SLC if you're looking for a place to give birth naturally. THEY ARE AMAZING, while Better Birth was HORRIBLE!