Pandemic gives birth to new possibilities for beginning-of-life care

Roots Community Birth Center specializes in out-of-hospital delivery in North Minneapolis. Founder Rebecca Polston says business has boomed since the coronavirus reached Minnesota. Here, a family rests after their delivery at Roots last October. Photo courtesy of Gather Birth Cooperative

By Kenzie O’Keefe Editor

Rebecca Polston’s midwifery practice is set up to deliver babies outside of a hospital. Never has the demand for her services been greater.

“We have an influx of clients,” she said of her business, Roots Community Birth Center in North Minneapolis. “We are trying really hard to scale quickly to accommodate them.” Noting her team’s anti-racist, trauma-informed approach, she says Roots is “uniquely suited for this moment.”

Jasmine Tane’t Boudah, an independent community birth educator and on-call doula in North Minneapolis, is having a similar experience. “My phone has been off the hook,” she said in April. “A lot of people are afraid.” 

Some of those phone calls were from Nakara White, one of Boudah’s clients who moved from North Minneapolis to Tampa, FL earlier this year. When she moved, she didn’t know she would end up laboring in a pandemic, in a state where the COVID-19 case count was soaring. 

She gave birth in a hospital in early April, with just her fiancé by her side. Pre-coronavirus, she had planned to have her mom and doula (Boudah) there too, but hospital visitor restrictions and recommendations against travel made that an impossibility. 

As she prepared for her scheduled induction date, White was fearful but hoping for the best. “Just the thought of going to a place where sick people congregate is very unnerving. For some of us that’s the only option we have. I am just trying to hope for the best outcome,” she said. 

In the end, her son was born healthy and “perfect.” The whole family is settled back at home now. 

“It definitely felt more intense,” she said of her hospital birth. “Being met at the door with thermometers and questions, all the masks. I had great nurses though, so often it just felt like more cautious and intentional care,” she added.

Fear of hospitals seems to be pushing more patients to seek care from birth centers like Roots, but birth centers must also approach their work differently during this time. 

Roots Community Birth Center on 44th Ave. in North Minneapolis. Photo by David Pierini

For a long time, Polston has offered birth “with no limits” at Roots. Once, she says, more than 30 people attended a birth at her Northside center. “Who am I to say there’s too much love here?” she said.

Now, there are necessary restrictions. Visits are being done virtually when possible. Just one support person and a doula are allowed to accompany a pregnant person for their birth at the center. Everyone wears PPE. If a client needs to be transferred to the hospital, Roots staff members no longer go with them unless it’s clinically necessary.

“It’s about reducing risk,” said Polston.

The uncertainty of the moment grates on her team. “People are scared. There is a whole lot of unknown. Everyone is afraid of getting this,” said Polston.

Additionally, “we don’t know how this affects pregnancy. I can’t give people answers,” she said.

When Polston came down with a cold in April, she and a staff member were tested for the coronavirus. Both came back negative. But the overall lack of testing, particularly for patients contributes to an atmosphere of fear and risk “We don’t know if we’ve cared for anyone who is positive,” she said. 

There is a silver lining. “Birth centers have always been a safe place to have a baby,” said Polston. “I hope that this does bring to life that this is a low risk way to have a baby.” 

In the uncertainty and unknown of the present moment, Polston takes comfort in the timeless wisdom that “for the most part babies just come out the same way.”

“Pregnancy works, birth works, and [people] have everything they need inside of them to do this,” she said.

“Every day is bringing something new,” said Boudah, but “bodies are made for this.”