Austin Area Birthing Center

Austin Area Birthing Center

Written by Darcie Duttweiler Friday, 27 June 2008

Jean Stokes knows babies. After helping women give birth for more than 25 years and having two babies of her own (now grown men), Stokes is looking forward to expanding her business yet again.

At the end of June, the Austin Area Birthing Center will take over the neighboring podiatrist’s office, almost doubling its current square footage.

 

“I think it’s important for more privacy and less crowding, and I don’t want the pregnant moms to hear the deliveries,” Stokes said of the exam rooms moving to the new space. “I want to keep the place tranquil.”

With the pregnant women on one side and the deliveries on the other, the free space will be converted into a staff kitchen and an on-call room for midwives to rest between patients.

Stokes has first-hand experience with the grueling life of a midwife. She became interested in midwifery as a nursing student at the University of Texas.

“I saw every kind of birth, and I liked the way natural birth made me feel,” Stokes said. “I was born for it. I knew what to do and what to say to make it easier for the moms.”

For six years, she held home births for her clients until she realized that she needed her own birthing space.

“For a while I operated out of my house, and my two little boys would run through the embarrassing exams. I realized I needed to separate my home life and my professional life,” Stokes said.

In 1987, Stokes opened the first non-residential birthing center in Austin off of Shoal Creek Boulevard. Two years later, she and her staff outgrew their space and set up shop off MoPac and Steck for the next 15 years.

“I found a niche in Austin that women needed and wanted,” Stokes said.

Three years ago, the center moved into its current location and is already expanding. The warm and inviting office employs four midwives in addition to Stokes and has three spacious birthing rooms equipped with deep birthing tubs, spacious beds, private bathrooms and pre-warmed cradles for newborns.

Each room is designed to make the mothers feel at home and comfortable during labor. The Santa Fe room is rustic with desert sunset shades and a stone fireplace. The Windsor room is romantically Victorian with a dark wood sleigh bed and elegant chandelier. And the French Country room is quaint with plush floral patterns and intricate detailing.

While Stokes is not opposed to women having their babies at the hospital, her goal is to be a part of the “important movement in this society to eliminate fear and to give birth back to the family.”

With years in the midwife business, Stokes looks forward to the increasing acceptance of her center among medical professionals.

“Twenty years ago, if we took someone to the hospital, the nurses and doctors were rude to us,” Stokes said. “Now, the doctors are familiar and understanding of midwifery. Things have certainly changed.”

Services offered

• Prenatal Care: AABC includes routine checkups, physicals and classes to prepare for natural birth.
• Birthing Experience: Water births and pain medicine are available but epidurals are not. Your midwife is on hand during the entire labor process, and friends and family are welcome.
• Postpartum Care: New moms return home with their newborns within six hours of their delivery. Postpartum checkups at AABC are more frequent than the hospital, as you and your baby are seen at three days, two weeks and six weeks.
• Well Women Care: AABC offers annual checkups and pap smears for all women in every phase of their lifespan, from puberty to menopause.

Austin Area Birthing Center, 4100 Duval Road, Bldg. 2, Ste. 101 346-3224