Out of Hospital Births

Many women are interested in birthing their babies outside the hospital setting. Current North Carolina law specifies that a CNM may only attend births when she has back-up physicians. Because many physicians are not comfortable with home birth or births in out-of-hospital birth centers, few physicians are willing to provide back-up. Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) and Lay Midwives do attend births in North Carolina. However, they are not currently legal in this state.

Currently, Certified Nurse Midwives attend out-of-hospital births in freestanding birth centers and/or home birth practices, including those listed below.

Home Birth Practices

Fern Kingham Memorial Women’s Health Center (Lisa Goldstein CPM, CNM)
Rt. 6 Box 206
Burnsville, NC 28714
828-678-9797

Bakersville Community Medical Clinic (Lisa Goldstein CPM, CNM)
86 N. Mitchell Avenue
Bakersville, NC 28705
828-688-2104

Birthwise of Central North Carolina (Nancy Walters Harman, CNM)
1108 Callicutt Road
Bear Creek, NC 27207
919-837-5805
email nwharman@hotmail.com

New Dawn Midwifery (Jan Verhaeghe, CNM)
201 Charlotte Street
Asheville, NC 28801
828-236-0032
email JanVerhaege@aol.com

Freestanding Birth Centers

Carolina Birth Center
712 N. Elm Street
High Point, NC 27262
336-889-3646
336-889-9993 (fax)
Featured on BirthCenters.org (including pictures)
email carolinabirthcenter@triad.rr.com

Women's Health and Wellness Center
930 Airport Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
919-933-3301
http://www.ncbirthcenter.com/
Featured on BirthCenters.org (includes pictures)

More Information

For more information on out-of-hospital births, see http://www.birthcenters.org/ or http://www.nchomebirth.com/. For more information about midwifery practices in North Carolina, see http://www.midwife.org/.