Transition to…
holistic care
Midwifery is about caring for you and your baby as one. It focuses on your full wellness including all aspects of your physical, mental, spiritual, and social needs. It's rooted in the understanding that all these aspects affect yours and your baby’s overall health, and the wellbeing of one aspect affects them all.
empowered experience
A Midwife is someone that walks a journey with you. Along the way they supplement your own knowledge with information to help you feel confident in making decisions that you feel are the best for you and your family. A midwife encourages your confidence, means, and innate ability to give birth how and where you feel most comfortable.
Full autonomy
Our team of Midwives believes in Women’s capability to make decisions that are right for them. This means with every step of your journey, we ensure that you feel fully informed about all risks and benefits, have time to discuss any questions, and are ultimately the owner of your experience.
Transition to…
A new birth paradigm
A team that advocates for families, aims to create a more holistic, body-based approach that honors the birthing experience and recognizes the interconnectedness between mother and baby.
Where women are the experts of their own bodies and birth
Birth is seen as a family centered event
Women’s desires are welcomed and honored
Mother and Baby are treated as one
Transition To…
A Model of care that makes a difference
The Midwives Model of Care is based on the fact that pregnancy and birth are normal life processes.
Monitoring the physical, psychological, and social well-being of the mother throughout the childbearing cycle
Providing the mother with individualized education, counseling, and prenatal care, continuous hands-on assistance during labor and delivery, and postpartum support
Minimizing technological interventions
Identifying and referring women who require obstetrical attention
The application of this woman-centered model of care has been proven to reduce the incidence of birth injury, trauma, and cesarean section.
Copyright (c) 1996-2018, Midwifery Task Force, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Our PHilosphy and practice
At Transitions Midwifery, we believe in supporting families to our fullest potential. We want to ensure that we are able to always give our best energy and full attention to each individual client throughout their pregnancy as well as during their birthing time. In order to do this, we keep a low client volume of a maximum of 2-3 clients per month so that we can build close and trusting relationships with women and their families, and ensure we are rested and fully prepared to give you our all when you go into labor. Giving birth is one of the most vulnerable and memorable moments of a womans life, and we want to be sure that women feel safe to release and surrender to their full power in our presence.
We believe that a Midwife’s role is to assist the birthing couple in their journey through pregnancy, labor, birth, and post-partum by monitoring the natural process of such. We embrace that childbirth is a family centered event and our presence is to enhance the family’s power of unity and increase their confidence to birth naturally during this experience. We believe that childbirth is a normal and naturally occurring event and, in most cases, when encouraged to begin spontaneously, proceed physiologically and without intervention, labor will unfold to an uncomplicated and beautiful delivery for both mother and baby.
Prenatal Care
We believe strongly in preventative health and offer personalized care to meet each individuals needs as they are ever changing. Prenatal visits are performed in our office space or in your home and typically run for around 45 minutes. This allows plenty of time to talk and listen. We will discuss your unique physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. This includes nutritional counseling, offering recommendations for discomforts, addressing concerns, and evaluating yours and your babies overall well-being. During your care we may recommend supplements, herbs, tinctures, or homeopathic remedies as alternative treatments to traditional medicine. We will also perform clinical assessments of you and your baby and offer and discuss any routine standard of care applicable to that time during pregnancy.
Appointments occur on the following standard care schedule, unless otherwise requested:
Conception through 32 weeks, visits once every 4 weeks
32-36 weeks, every 2 weeks
36- delivery at least once a week, or more as needed
“We have a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong.” -Laura Stavoe Harm
Birth
Your Birth belongs to you! We believe in mother led physiological birth, which means we follow your lead every step of the way. That means we will participate as much or as little as you desire, we will arrive as early, or as late as you request or need, and will always inform you and gain your consent before anything is done to you or your baby. We love following a mother’s lead during their birth, as we believe women know themselves and their babies best!
What To expect during labor and birth
We will monitor your labor progress by phone until it is mutually determined that we should come to you as labor intensifies and birth is approaching. A Midwife and at least one birth assistant will attend your birth, Student Midwives may attend with your permission. When your Midwife arrives, she will take vitals of both you and baby and assess your labor as needed as well as chart all pertinent medical information. We will offer physical and emotional support during your birthing time and continue monitoring you and your baby throughout. After birth we will assist with delivery of the placenta, monitor and manage any bleeding, evaluate and repair lacerations as necessary and assist with breastfeeding and infant care as needed.
Post Partum Care
Post Partum care with Transitions Midwifery is different. We truly care about your post-partum experience whether it be as a new mother or with the newest edition to a large family. Every baby is different and with that can come uncharted territory into motherhood. We come to evaluate and support both you and baby after birth between 24-48 hours, 1-week post-partum, and 2- weeks post-partum, and then see you again in the office at 4- and 6-weeks post-partum. We also continue to be available to you for support as needed during this time whether it be newborn care, breastfeeding difficulties or mental health support we are fully committed to ensuring women feel nurtured and loved during this most precious time. As Licensed Midwives in the State of Virginia, we are able to provide well baby care through 6 weeks in your home or in our office.
Our Team
Chelsea Shira, CPM, LM
Chelsea knew early in life that she had a passion for women and family advocacy, however it wasn’t until after the pregnancy and homebirth of her first son in 2012 that her calling to midwifery was undeniable. She quickly began to immerse herself in birth work as a doula in 2013 and attended her first homebirth as a Student Midwife in 2014. Chelsea also previously served as the Chapter Director for the Birth Matters Tidewater region for many years and has helped to admin and manage the local Homebirth Support Hampton Roads group for over 10 years. Chelsea finished her apprenticeship in 2018 and began to work alongside other midwives to gain further experience. She attended over 150 births before passing the NARM exam and becoming licensed in June of 2020.
Chelsea’s other passions include being a homemaker and mother to her two sons, expanding her knowledge, education and practice of herbalism, and landscape design and gardening.
Chelsea Shira is a NARM (North American Registry of Midwives) registered Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), Licensed by the state of Virginia Board of Medicine to practice Midwifery as a Holistic Health Practitioner.
MIDWIFE
Danielle wright, CPM, LM
Dani began her journey to midwifery shortly after the homebirth of her first child in 2009 and officially began an apprenticeship utilizing the Professional Evaluation Process outlined by the North American Registry of Midwives in 2014. She is now a Certified Professional Midwife licensed by the Virginia Board of Medicine.
It is Dani’s goal to support our local community in more than just midwifery, but also with herbology and homeopathy.
Pregnancy, birth, and motherhood have had such a positive impact on Dani in all aspects of life. This phase of life allowed her to embrace her culture and bloom into the woman she is today. Dani remains grateful for her home births that watered the seed of midwifery.
Dani has four children and raising them has been an honor. Their family has a small homestead lovingly dubbed The Hopeful Homestead. Where they homeschool, raise small livestock, grow an abundance of food, and always find time for family.
“Whenever and however you give birth, your experience will impact your emotions, your mind, your body and your spirit for the rest of your life.”
— INA MAY GASKIN
Midwife
Contact us!
Fill out our contact card to setup your free consultation and chat further with Chelsea and Dani. After filling out our contact card, you will be redirected to see if your insurance will help cover or reimburse for your homebirth!
Location
Welcome to our friendly neighborhood office! We are centrally located in Chesapeake, VA between Greenbrier and Greatbridge just near the corner of Battlefield and Volvo. We currently serve all of Hampton Roads and the surrounding areas of Suffolk, Carollton and Gloucester. Please contact for a consultation for further address and directions.
FAQs
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Yes! In a study done by Midwives Alliance of North America Statistics Project dataset, birth years 2004-2009, Among 16,924 women planning a home birth at the onset of labor, 89.1% gave birth at home. The majority of intrapartum transfers were for failure to progress, and only 4.5% of the total sample required oxytocin augmentation and/or epidural analgesia. The rates of spontaneous vaginal birth, assisted vaginal birth, and cesarean were 93.6%, 1.2%, and 5.2%, respectively. Of the 1054 women who attempted a vaginal birth after cesarean, 87% were successful. Low Apgar scores (< 7) occurred in 1.5% of newborns. Postpartum maternal (1.5%) and neonatal (0.9%) transfers were infrequent. Excluding lethal anomalies, the intrapartum, early neonatal, and late neonatal mortality rates were 1.30, 0.41, and 0.35 per 1000, respectively.
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Yes! We love the benefits of waterbirth for both mom and baby! We provide all items needed for a waterbirth including a tub, a liner, a hose, a faucet adapter and any other necessary equipment to setup or take down the birth tub.
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Maybe! We are partnered with an insurance billing company that can submit an out of network claim for most private insurance at no cost to you. We do not accept tricare at this time.
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Your Midwife and birth team are well trained and prepared to manage complications including shoulder dystocia, post partum hemorrhage, neonatal resuscitation and other possible emergencies. We carry emergency medications and equipment to manage a hemorrhage or help a baby that may need extra assistance during their transition after birth.
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One of the most common reasons for a hospital transfer is long labors. This can be because labor is not progressing after an extended period of time or for an exhausted mom or baby.