Today we’d like to introduce you to Gloria Hines.
Hi Gloria, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I knew as soon as I heard my friend’s home-birth story and the way her midwife was able to give her excellent care unlike anything she experienced in a hospital that I wanted to be a midwife. I didn’t make it to my car before beginning my research on how I could do this. I started as a doula since that seemed to be the consensus. It makes sense to me now – you should know if you can bear the life of being on call. It’s tough! It’s not just missing date night and your kids birthday parties, it’s potentially waking up after 30 minutes of sleep and being up for the next 30 hours. I met with a midwife who was both a CPM and a CNM (and gave up her CNM). She explained the pro’s and cons of both and recommended that I become a CPM due to my preference to learn primarily hands on. So I went to school in Hawaii (devastating I know), and then did my apprenticeship for a few years under a busy practice here in Kansas City before being hired at another practice before I had even passed my board exam. I loved both practices and so I kept my toes in one as I transitioned to the other. After working for the next practice for a little over 2 years I realized my dream was to keep dreaming. I love creating and striving for higher and higher excellence. Stagnancy will kill me! So I had to start my own practice, I planned to start small, one midwife will only get you so far – but somehow the cards fell in the best way possible and I got another midwife with all the qualities I needed (that also happened to be my best friend, but in contract with another practice) to join me. It was seamless; we filled in all the gaps for each other and were able to create something that Kansas City was asking for with this booming home-birth community. We immediately were booked out and had to start telling people to consult with us before they got pregnant so that they could book with us as soon as they got those 2 positive lines.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Midwifery is one of the hardest jobs out there! It’s well known that on-call home-birth midwives have a very short career, and a very high burnout rate. The ones that don’t often are terribly unhealthy, facing terminal illnesses or chronic health conditions. We are creating a system that helps patients receive better care by taking care of the midwives well. We have an on-call and off-call system. We can trade in and out days as needed so that date nights, kids birthdays, and sleep are not missed. We also don’t have clients reaching out over the phone (they use our online portal!) unless it’s emergent. This ensures we aren’t woken up multiple times a night to random thoughts of a pregnant woman who is scared she will forget by morning.
We are some of the happiest midwives I know that are still obsessed with our job and adoring of our clients. Sustainability is everything and the clients feel it!
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a home-birth practice of 3 midwives and several apprentices (student midwives). We do all of your prenatal care, labor/birth and postpartum care up to 6 weeks after birth. We do labs and non-diagnostic ultrasounds in office. Our clients love to do water birth, our tub rental and birth kit is included in our package. We are known to give attentive and preventative care, striving for excellence and moving high risk into the low risk category. We work really hard with our clients to put all the odds in their favor for a peaceful, safe, and beautiful home-birth. Historically, we have been known for specializing in VBAC’s, twins, and breeches due to our training and experience. But we don’t take them all, we are very choosy! We believe in low-risk for out of hospital birthing.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Take a midwife out to lunch or coffee! That’s what I did. Ask her what she loves and what is hard. Start as a doula and see how you and your family do with the demands. Research the laws for your area and which path would be best for you and aligns with your belief system or where you want to make a positive impact and change. And… be in a group practice in order to continue to love what you do. 🙂
Pricing:
- $5,000 for the basic package
- $7,500 for the deluxe (all home visits)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://glorybirth.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glorybirthkc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glorybirth
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/oS3gvE9oIQI
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/glory-birth-kansas-city
