When Emma Strickland learned she was pregnant with her second child, she started looking for an alternative to a hospital birth. She found it at the WNC Birth Center. The center is open during the COVID pandemic but has had to scale back on some of its related services. Ironically, that’s led to a shortage of income at a time when women like Strickland find themselves increasingly drawn to a birth center.
Although New Dawn Midwifery closes at the end of March, safe and supported birthing options abound in the Asheville area, including hospitals with obstetricians, hospitals with midwives and the WNC Birth Center, which is set to open this spring on South French Broad Avenue. Professionals across the region continue to advocate for education and support as the keys to making choices during childbirth. […]
After 19 years of providing Asheville women with pregnancy and gynecology services, New Dawn Midwifery is closing. Jan Verhaeghe, founder and president of New Dawn Midwifery, is retiring. “We are making referrals for providers, and we are offering care up through March 31. We have enjoyed every client in our practice,” Verhaeghe says. The center offered prenatal […]
As one of the mothers quoted in the Nov. 23 Mountain Xpress Wellness article, "Mother Knows Best?" I feel the need to clarify and correct a quote attributed to me that stated childbirth was "dangerous." During my conversation with the reporter, Caitlin Byrd, I attempted to convey to her why hundreds of people in our […]
It’s spring again in the mountains, and my daughter, Karoline Lucinda Johnson, is almost 1 year old. It’s hard to believe. She came in the month of May, when the mountain laurel was blooming. People tried to tell me how profoundly giving birth would change my life, but I could never have fathomed the incredible […]
