Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristine Tawater.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story. I never had an intention of becoming a midwife. I didn’t even know midwives existed until I was pregnant with my first baby. I had my first two babies in the hospital & I had good experiences with each of them as far as the birth goes, there is nothing there I regret except maybe my unnecessary episiotomy, but even from that experience, I have learned important lessons. I do remember someone in my husband’s family mentioning home birth to me during my pregnancy to which I replied (in all my world 21-year-old glory) “That’s the most irresponsible thing I have ever heard!” and so I went the route so many first-time mothers do.
9 years later, I found myself possibly eating a little crow as I planned a home birth for my third baby because it cost less & we were uninsured & I had previously had two un-medicated, uncomplicated births so I figured…why not? I didn’t choose it because I had any grand idea of changing my birth plan or because I was trying to achieve a different experience because really…. I had no clue what to expect. However, the difference in care was immediately noticeable. My appointments were an hour long and centered around how I felt, how my baby was growing, my nutrition and information to help me make decisions regarding my care along with plenty of time to ask any questions I may have which was polar opposite of my experience with my first two pregnancies where I was ushered in and out in 5 minutes after waiting forever for my turn with no communication from my provider. I remember in my first pregnancy inquiring around month seven if I was gaining to much weight, my OB glanced at my chart and said “Yeah” and that was it. I felt lost and unsure and had no clue what to do or how to eat or any of the important parts of a healthy pregnancy. I was 300 miles from home with no friends or other support systems. So, this time around, under the guidance of my midwife, I felt sure footed, intelligent and involved in my prenatal care.
Fast forward to my third labor. I called my sister to come to the house and she says to me “I’m bringing my friend, she’s a doula”. I had no idea what she was talking about and replied something along the lines of “What the hell is a doula?! Just get OVER HERE!”. She came and the doula came and the midwife was there and I had my third baby at home, peacefully and sweetly under the watchful eye of my midwife and the amazing hands on support of the doula. I remember thinking afterward “Why would ANYONE every have a baby any other way?!” Thus, the first time I learned to not say “I’ll never”.
In the months that followed, I began to read everything I could find about birth. I had no idea there was so much powerful information out there. I was slowly becoming passionate about birth and choices and was beginning to become someone friends came to for information or advice. When my daughter was about 14 months old I registered for a doula training and, funny enough, found out I was expecting baby number four during that training. I decided to hire a different midwife this time because of the logistics of life and that is where I met my now long-time friend and mentor Lisa Black CPM, LM ( I’m now of those clients that never goes away, haha) and she really encouraged my doula role until one day she said to me “While you are a great doula, really…you are a midwife” and she harassed me for several years until after the birth of my fifth baby I gave in and enrolled in The Association of Texas Midwives Midwifery Training Program. I was full of uncertainty on if I could hack it, if I could handle the responsibility of lives in my hands, if I could handle the heavy workload of school, a full-time job and raising five kids because I couldn’t afford to quit working.
I apprenticed at a birthing center and under 3 homebirth midwives. Midwifery school was the hardest thing I have ever done. I wanted to give up so many times, I cried a lot, I neglected my family, I worked myself half to death between school, study, work, births and study and study…. But my friends believed in me, my preceptors pushed me to be my very best and my family supported me through it all. Midwifery is hard on the family as a whole and mine went above and beyond to support me in my dream. My apprenticeship is where I learned the art and craft of midwifery, where I saw woman after woman come into her own, discover her inner strength and find her voice. It was the most powerful time in my life, being trusted with their hearts and lives and their babies. It was heavy, all that responsibility to be better, to do better to honor women and their innate ability to birth powerfully. In all honesty, I never thought I would actually make it…until I did.
I graduated in 2012 & I spent a couple of years working as an assisting midwife and then as a primary midwife in the birth center I apprenticed at then left to build a home birth practice. I joined my dearest friend in a one of a kind (at the time) office that included doulas, childbirth education, chiropractic and a photography studio & me. Life being life and things going this way and that we found ourselves needing to move and I had had several potential client interviews that thought we were already a birth center so I had to make a big decision. Open another prenatal office for my home birth practice or open a birth center. With much encouragement, a lot of nausea, a business plan drawn on a napkin in a pancake house in Fort Worth at 4am after a birth & many sleepless nights and 18-hour days preparing and remodeling and changing everything…Dallas Birth Center was born.
We (I say we because the birth center is all of us, not just me) opened in May 2015 and have grown exponentially. We started out with one birth room and 2 smaller offices for class and our chiropractor. Currently we are just under 5,000 square feet of the most amazing practitioners to serve our mothers. I feel like a proud mama having been through the longest labor when I tell potential clients all that we offer.
The birth center offers midwives, chiropractic, prenatal and postpartum massage, prenatal fitness, postpartum fitness recovery, lactation consults, childbirth education, infant & child cpr, we have a car seat technician, breastfeeding & newborn care classes. We are home to a phenomenal doula group and offer support groups for new moms, new dads, mothers in search of information on VBAC as we are implementing the VBAC Education Project in April, a photography studio to capture beautiful mamas, babies and families & a classroom we rent out to other birth workers.
I think the thing that makes me most proud is our commitment to being of service to all mothers. Anyone is welcome to participate in any of the birth center offerings, you don’t have to be a client of the midwives to take classes or come to support groups. We offer everything to everyone and are always adding more to our extensive list of classes and services. All of the women who work from the birth center are fully invested in building each other up and it shows in the care they all provide to all the mothers & to each other. I feel my most successful when I see a new mom timidly enter the space not knowing what to expect and be surrounded by a clan of women who want her to feel powerful and special and beautiful. I love hearing people say that from the first moment they enter the doors, they feel at home, that they belong here. We have all worked so hard to cultivate this environment and I am proud of us and I hope to be able to serve the mothers of DFW for many years to come.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you? Well, there surely have been obstacles. Safety regulations and being one of only two birth centers in all of Dallas proper lead us to some unique challenges with city and code enforcement since they weren’t really sure what to do with us. We also built the birth center without debt, so for a long time every cent was made was poured right back into it.
We’d love to hear more about your business. We have three midwives that specialize in natural birth for low risk mothers. Our midwives also pride themselves in being champions of VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) providers and attending breech deliveries under certain circumstances. Our midwives are committed to personal care and all clients communicate with us via our personal cell phone numbers & a messaging system within our EMR, we understand that communication is key in the art of midwifery.
I am most proud of the community we have built by building up each other. All of the women that work from the birth center are incredibly supportive of each other. We truly believe when one of us is successful ALL of us are successful and so we support each other 100% in everything.
We are a very laid back, non-clinical environment. We designed everything to make a woman feel as if she has just come to a friend’s home to hang out and talk. We love how comfortable our mamas are here.
One thing we feel is a huge advantage is our proximity to Baylor University Medical Center. I chose the location of the birth center to be about 4 blocks from BUMC because, simply, when we need extra help, we are going to get the absolute best, top notch, respectful care for our clients from the best nursing and OB teams in Dallas. I can’t brag on BUMC enough! Their nurses are the most phenomenal and the OBs are amazing.
What were you like growing up? Growing up I was, I guess, a basic teenager, haha. I like hanging out with friends and outdoorsy type things. I was always interested in medical things and had wanted to be a trauma surgeon growing up.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4218 Main Street
Dallas, TX 75226 - Website: www.dallasbirthcenter.com
- Phone: 682-812-2589
- Email: dallasbirthcenter.rachel@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dallasbirthcenter/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dallasbirthcenter/
Image Credit:
Photo Credit : Elizabeth Boyce EarthMama Photography
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