Best Midwife Bakersfield Near Me

4worldlovers: Justine Backhaus, LM, CPM, IBCLC, is the clinical director and founder of the Bakersfield Birth Center. Justine’s vision is to provide women and their families the opportunity to experience pregnancy, birth and the post-natal period in a safe, and mother-baby friendly environment. The Bakersfield Birth Center was designed to do just that.

Whether you opt to have your baby in our beautiful, state-of-the-art birthing center or want to explore your other natural birthing options – including home birth and water birth experiences – our experienced midwife is happy to consult, and provide you with information to assist you in your decision making process.

The Midwives Model of Care was created by the Midwifery Taskforce Inc., in 1996 as a collaborative effort between the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM), the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC) and Citizens for Midwifery (CfM). It was inspired as a response to the fact that most mainstream medical doctors had no idea what midwifery care really meant, and – therefore – felt it was an unsafe practice. As a result, the Midwifery Taskforce Inc., created a universal definition of what it means to provide – and receive – The Midwives Model of Care.


Have you always wanted to labor in peace? Sans fluorescent lighting, a rotating regimen of nurses and/or doctors and in the manner and positions in which you are most comfortable? Are you curious about your options for out-of-hospital birth? If you are a healthy, low-risk woman you may be a perfect candidate for a birth center or home birth experience, assisted by our licensed midwife, Justine Backhaus.

Whether you’re choosing to have a natural birth, a midwife-assisted water birth at home, or a water birth at our beautiful freestanding birth center, our Evidence Page will assist you in finding data that supports your decision to birth un-medicated and out-of-hospital. It is reassuring that your intuitive feelings about where and how to birth your baby are actually supported by the evidence.

Our Birth Center is located in Bakersfield. Justine provides home birth services to the surrounding

Kern County and Northern Los Angeles County areas, including (but not limited to) Bakersfield,

Delano, Wasco, Shafter, Kernville, Lake Isabella, Arvin, Frazier Park Tehachapi, Ridgecrest,

4worldlovers: My name is Karen Roberts. I fell in love with the birth experience three decades ago when I was a labor support for my sister. Seeing the miracle of my niece being born changed my life! Since that time, supporting and guiding families through the intimate and transformative journey of childbirth has been my passion. I provide education, emotional and/or physical support in a non-judgmental manner to women and their families during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a Doula, my central message is that there is no "perfect" way to birth or parent; rather, there is a spectrum of options available. The ultimate goal is for parents to have a positive experience, knowing that they are validated, supported and loved throughout the process.

I am a DONA International Certified birth and postpartum doula. My experience includes hospital births, home births, water delivery, Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) and Cesarean Birth. My commitment as a doula is to ensure you feel safe, supported and loved. It is important that you are comfortable and confident in your choice of doula. Every labor and every birth is unique; my commitment is for us to work together as a team. Confidence as a birthing mother will be created with education and knowledge. Fear and uncertainty can appear; knowledge and confidence are the perfect tools to address this.

Whether your path includes meditation, medication or both, I will support your plan.

“Karen had the perfect touch of supporting the laboring momma as needed and then stepping back and blending into the walls when she wasn’t needed. She was unobtrusive. Laboring women need to feel private safe and unobserved. So Karen was the perfect doula!”

“My wife decided that she did not want an epidural during labor this time. During her last delivery, she had an epidural and experienced no pain during the process, but felt that she had no power when it came to pushing during contractions, and also felt discouraged because she could not complete labor without it. When labor started, my wife was in extreme pain and I felt in no way capable of relieving the pain or helping her in anyway. Even as a 4th year medical student, having learned about pregnancy and labor in detail, I was completely lost. However, with the experience that our Doula Karen had, my wife was able to go through labor the way she wanted to. She provided me with techniques to support my wife and help relieve some of her pain. She provided my wife essential emotional support in ways that I felt I could not have provided her with. Before this all started, I was very skeptical of the purpose of a Doula. I definitely thought I was capable of doing this alone. Reflecting back on everything that happened, there’s absolutely no way I could have done this without a Doula. I highly recommend Karen to anyone seeking support, guidance, or a just a friendly smile through their pregnancy and labor.”

4worldlovers:
Providing evidence based care to women and their families throughout Kern County and northern Los Angeles County. Our services include: gynecological check-ups, prenatal care, home birth, water birth, and postpartum follow ups. At Simple Midwifery, we follow the Midwives Model of Care providing an individualized, holistic approach to women’s health through the childbearing years. Services received are provided by midwives licensed through the Medical Board of California.