Places to Give Birth: At Home with Birth Roots Midwifery!

Corinne Westing attending a home birth in Chicago

A series in which I share my own experience of birth places around the Chicagoland area plus the data that we have available. There is no one right place to give birth. The right place for you is the place where you feel safest. In this article I'm going to share my doula review of Birth Roots Midwifery.

Part 1: Birth Center of Chicago - reopened Dec 2025

Part 2: Illinois Masonic

Part 3: Northwestern Prentice

Part 4: Evanston Hospital

Part 5: OMG Midwives at Hinsdale

Part 6: Burr Ridge Birth Center ; permanently closed April 2026

Part 7: Swedish Hospital

Part 8: Birth Roots Midwifery (you are here!)

Everyone hears home birth and panics, so thanks for taking a look at this page. You don't have to be a hippy or anti-vax in order to consider home birth as a safe option. First I want to say that felt safety is really important. In order to relax and allow your body to open enough to let a baby pass through, you need to feel really fucking safe. Generally speaking that means that the safest place for you to give birth is the place you feel safest.

But the more nuanced conversation is that hospitals often feel safe because they are equipped to deal with the worst possible scenario - the stuff with percentage likelihoods measured in the .01% and less. For some people, worst-case scenario safety is their bottom line. In fact, as a culture, that is the type of safety we opt for most often in healthcare. Obstetrics tends to be litigous and therefore highly risk-averse. There are other kinds of safety: psychological safety, emotional safety, physical safety. Only you know your own risk profile, and only you know the safest place for you. That said, there is no risk-free way to get a baby.

I'm not in the business of talking anyone into a home birth. I'm not in the business of talking anyone into anything, tbh. However, I do care that you have the information needed to make an informed choice.

Low-risk clients come to me regularly wanting:

• To avoid a cesarean

• To labor and birth in water

• To avoid induction

• To move around in labor, and to push in whatever position they feel comfortable

• To delay cord clamping until the cord is white / not pulsing

• To have an undisturbed golden hour with their newborn

The reality is, I only see all of those wishes honored consistently in out of hospital birth. If you are low-risk, you are a magical unicorn. You don't need much to ensure a safe birth for you and your baby. You have all the power to go wherever you would like to give birth because almost everywhere is safe. Why? Because any complication you experience will likely be a common one. We live in a world where trained midwives can address all of the most common birth complications in any setting. Your biggest risks are:

• Bleeding too much after giving birth (postpartum hemorrhage)

  • > treated with medication like pitocin, which home birth midwives carry

• Infection

  • > treated with antibiotics, regularly available

  • guess where you are most likely to get one of those? It is not your home...

• Baby needing help breathing (resuscitation)

  • > midwives carry a resuscitation kit with oxygen

The fact that a home birth midwife can address all of these concerns is why I do attend home births, and why I do not attend births that are not also attended by a medical professional (aka "free birth"). Home birth with a qualified midwife might even be safer than a hospital birth.

Experience

Corinne Westing (they/them) is the owner and midwife at Birth Roots. Corinne has worked at a large hospital, a local birth center, and with another home birth practice - they are incredibly experienced. They are also queer and LGBTQ+ affirming. I feel so lucky that we have a home birth midwife here in Chicago who is fam. They also hate capitalism, just like me. They have helped many of my clients with the TTC journey with at home IUIs and other fertility services. For pregnancy and birth, they offer slow prenatals where they get your whole family involved. I find that Corinne is very professional while also staying warm and caring.

When my clients choose to birth with them, we usually do a home visit / prenatal combo so that the whole team is on the same page for the birth. During labor, Corinne comes to your home, catches your baby, and stays for several hours to ensure that you and your baby are stable. You can expect them to emphasize bodily autonomy, informed consent, and safety.

One of our shared clients, Mitchell, generously shared his family's birth story. If you would like to read an in depth example of working with me and Corinne as a team you can check it out.

Stats and Information

Birth Roots is a very small practice and they have a few stats available on Instagram. That said, I do think that Corrine has stats readily available if you talk to them. They are very scrunchy: science-crunchy, and they will be able to cite research to help inform your decisions.

Services and Amenities

What you have is up to you! Corinne will bring a birth tub, and will advise you about what other supplies you need. Otherwise, you benefit from being in your own home. Want your dog or cat at your birth? No problem! Wish that you could eat your favorite brownies just like your mom makes them? Easy.

Next Steps

Still not sure? Don't just take it from me. Corinne has several excellent blog posts about having a home birth for a first baby, home birth v. birth center, and even the differences between a midwife and a doula.

The price of this service is usually the thing is the biggest barrier, once people have true informed consent. The cost of a home birth with Birth Roots is a flat fee: $6,000. With insurance, a hospital birth is often about $2,500-4,000 out of pocket. I understand that that could be a $2k-4k difference. There are excellent resources online for how to get your insurance to pay for a home birth, and I have had clients who have had success! You can also ask about a payment plan. My therapist also likes to say, "there are costs that you pay that are not monetary."

Even if you are not sure if this could work, my best advice is to talk to Corinne. You will learn so much and meet a rad queer midwife in the process!

Full Series

Part 1: Birth Center of Chicago - reopened December 2025

Part 2: Illinois Masonic

Part 3: Northwestern Prentice

Part 4: Evanston Hospital

Part 5: OMG Midwives at Hinsdale

Part 6: Burr Ridge Birth Center; permanently closed April 2026

Part 7: Swedish Hospital

Part 8: Birth Roots Community Midwifery