A very special birth!

This little guy is Zane Jerald! He was born May 12 at the stroke of midnight and weighed 7lb 10oz!

This is their 10th baby born with us here at Alaska Family Health and Birth Center! We think this is so very special and they deserve special recognition!

In honor of their family and their journey with the birth center, we will be placing a tile on the entry wall here at the birth center! We look forward to seeing which one you guys pick out!

Congratulations Andrea and Jesse, you have a beautiful family!

Lyle's Birth Story

Here is Kirsten’s birth story, her son Lyle was born at Alaska Family Health and Birth Center!

I woke up at about 5:30am on December 21st with my first signs of labor. I wasn’t sure if I was in active labor so I got up to see if my contractions would stick around. After walking around my house and taking a bath, I realized my contractions weren’t going away. I sat on my medicine ball and bounced while watching Christmas movies while my husband slept. This is one of my favorite memories from that day.

I felt my contractions starting to get more intense so I figured it was time to wake my husband. Of course he didn’t believe that I was in labor (I couldn’t believe it myself). We called the birth center around 10:30am to let them know what I was experiencing. Kate was the midwife on call and she said to try to to go on a walk or do some Christmas shopping to help me progress and to call when my contractions were about 4-5 mins apart. At first I thought I could leave my house and then things started picking up. My husband would time my contractions periodically and when the timer app told him to “get our bag and head to the hospital”, I heard him tell me “ummm babe, I think we need to leave now”. We called Kate and let her know we were on our way.

We arrived to the birth center at about 2pm. Manga was the other midwife on call, she got us settled into our beautiful birth suite. She checked me and I was already at 5cm dilated, which I was so pleased to hear. My two close friends arrived shortly after we got there, they were such amazing support for my husband and I. I labored in the shower for what was probably hours with the hot water running on my back. This was so helpful with my back labor. When I was checked again, I had only dilated one more cm. Our midwives figured out that our little guy was stuck on my pelvis and that’s what was keeping him from descending down. They had me labor in multiple different positions to help straighten him out. It wasn’t easy laboring that way, but shortly after while I was hanging on to my husband, my water finally broke, all over his feet! I’m so grateful for our midwives being able to help my body do what it was made to do naturally, without forcing anything. Then my labor really began to pick up and near the end. I labored between the shower and the tub. The water was so helpful to me. I was checked one last time when I finally heard “you’re ready to push”.  It was music to my ears! I pushed for about 50 mins and then our lives changed forever. Our sweet boy was born weighing 8lbs and 20” long. I’ll never forget the feeling of him being laid on my chest.

The hours after his birth will always be so special to my husband and I. The stillness of the room, our amazing midwives, and the outpouring of love will always be cherished. Giving birth to my son was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do but it was also the most empowering thing I will ever do.

Thank you Alaska Family Health & Birth center for your exceptional care and for showing us that birth can be natural, safe, and an intimate experience

Support during labor

He is here! So in love!

Continuing in Excellence!

Dear Friends and Family,

As you may have read, our long-time Executive Director Dana Brown will soon be leaving us.  She is currently working from home like many of us have been to varying degrees. She is also incorporating some much deserved leave time into the rest of her time here in Alaska.  Dana was here when Alaska Family Health & Birth Center first opened in 1988, and she was attending births for several years before that.  It is with mixed emotions that we make this announcement.  We are happy for her because she will be able to travel and spend time with family and friends and, hopefully, have many fun adventures.  But we are sad that our clinic and our community will be losing an awesome midwife.  Hopefully we will be able to have a get-together with Dana before she leaves the state because it would mean so much to her to be able to connect with all of “her” families and babies (though many are not babies anymore)!

Dana is leaving her legacy - this Birth Center and the midwives who have trained under her.  We will continue doing prenatal care, postpartum care, and births as we always have - with love and compassion, wisdom and safety.  

As Dana steps back during this time of preparing to leave, her Administrative Director Cheryl Corrick will step up to the Executive Director position.  Cheryl and Dana have worked together for the past 28 years, ever since Dana trained Cheryl to be a midwife.  Dana will continue to advise Cheryl during this time and is available as a consultant even after she leaves. Cheryl  retired from midwifery in 2017 after 25 years but continues to work as an administrator. Cheryl will be working closely with Julie Moon, our Clinical Director, and Jamie Gray, our Office Manager, as well as all of our staff to ensure the quality and standards of Alaska Family Health & Birth Center continue in excellence.

Thank you for being a part of our birth center family and supporting the birth center as part of our community. 

The Staff of Alaska Family Health & Birth Center