Evidence-Based Care,
Delivered with Love
MIDWIVES
Choosing a care provider during this special time is one of the most important decisions you’ll make and will affect not only your pregnancy, birth and baby, but your life.
We believe our job is to provide excellent, unbiased information and resources, including licensed, certified midwives, doulas and natural birth options. We offer safe, gentle, compassionate and evidence-based care to families who are seeking an alternative to the medical model of care during pregnancy and birth.
Birth-n-Babies, Naturally
NATURAL BIRTH PLANS
Your birth plan is our birth plan…We want you to wear your own clothes and eat and drink as desired. We support laboring in our large, deep birth tubs, and are the only facility in RVA that allows you to actually birth in water. We encourage you to push in whichever positions you feel comfortable. We never clamp cords before they stop pulsing and your baby’s first moments will be spent skin to skin on your chest. Your baby will never leave your side, let alone your room. Know your choices, and have your decisions respected and honored
Every Family
Deserves a Doula
DOULAS
Doulas provide emotional support and physical comfort measures during labor and birth. We believe in doulas so much that we created the Embrace Doula Intern Program! Every month we host aDoula Meet & Mingle, where you can find the right doula for you. Evidence shows having a doula can improve your birth experience, reduce the length of your labor and are linked to lower rates of postpartum depression. A doula, whether from our intern program or someone you hire from RVA’s thriving doula community, will be a wonderful addition to your birth team!
Welcome to Our Home
BIRTH CENTER
Our birth center is your home away from home. Refreshments, lending library, comfy couches, queen size beds, deep tubs and candles take center stage. For healthy moms having healthy babies, we keep the interruptions to a minimum to allow your body and mind to relax and do the big work of birthing. We have created a warm, home-like environment, while discretely keeping any needed medical equipment tucked away.
Mer-babies Welcome Here
WATER BIRTH
We are the first and only facility in RVA that encourages you to not only labor in water, but to have a full water birth. Water birth is magic! Babies who are born into a gentle world of water are better oxygenated and seem to be a little more peaceful. You’ll likely find water to be soothing and comforting, and the buoyancy promotes more efficient contractions. Labor is described as less painful, and several studies have determined that water shortens labor itself. What’s not to love?
Sometimes, there’s no place like home
HOME BIRTH
Homebirth is just like birth at the birth center…same midwives, same doula intern, same safety measures, same care. If you feel like your home is your sanctuary, your safe place, then home birth might be perfect. We visit our home birth families at 36 weeks to make sure everything is ready for your birth, while dropping off your birth pool and all our supplies. When labor starts, we come to you!
About Us
Midwifery, at its core, is being fully present, listening deeply, laughing joyously, and holding sacred a space for women in their journey to motherhood. Our holistic birth center provides support by offering the assistance of a certified midwife and doula to help expectant mothers prepare and navigate their pregnancy.
Who We Are
Our Staff
Corina Hossle, CPM LM – Founder, Clinical Director & Midwife
Corina ordered her first “How to Become a Midwife” book in 1992, but raising three children, homeschooling, and running several businesses got in the way of her dream. At 42, with her kids leaving home and her life shifting, she decided to make the leap!
Corina doula’d her way through midwifery school, serving high risk mothers who were provided doulas for support. She attended National Midwifery Institute, which is accredited by the Midwifery Education Accreditation Counsel. She passed her North American Registry of Midwives test in 2012, and became a Certified Professional Midwife.
Since beginning her journey, she has worked with 13 different midwives at over 300 birth center or home births. She spent months assisting Hispanic women on the border of Mexico who spoke no English, has witnessed Amish women give birth by lamplight, has attended doctor’s wives who chose home birth and placenta encapsulation, and has sat with hippy mamas singing to their babies under full moons. Corina even spent 18 months as a staff midwife at the only freestanding birth center in the Caribbean, working with island families in Trinidad and Tobago.
After teaching at an accredited midwifery school in Florida for several months, Corina decided that Richmond VA was the place to open her birth center, and she came to RVA on a mission! Embrace Midwifery Care & Birth Center (and Embrace Wellness Collective!) is her dream come true.
“The truth is, all women birth in similar ways and they all know how to do it. It’s Intuitive. My vision is to create space and support so that women can access that intuition and birth with joy.”
AMY CHANDLER – OFFICE MANAGER
Amy is a graduate of the University of Richmond and has worked in medical offices here in Richmond, in Northwest Ohio, and most recently comes to us from an ob/gyn in Rochester, NY. She and her husband are excited to be back in the Richmond area, this time with their two toddlers in tow! In her free time Amy loves to be outside with her family, practicing yoga, and going to see live music.
“When we moved back to Virginia I was so excited to hear that Richmond would be adding their first midwife-run birth center! Bringing a child into the world is such a powerfully beautiful thing, and I’m thrilled to be working with such a great group of women on what I think will be an awesome addition to the RVA birth community.”
Our Doulas
Elise Benoit
Elise Benoit is a toLabor trained birth doula, Cappa trained postpartum doula, and IPPA trained placenta encapsulator. She believes every family deserves an empowering and educated birth experience. Elise loves journeying alongside families through pregnancy and birth, and then helping families adjust to their new role as parents. Elise holds a degree in Community Journalism, but found her way into birthwork after the birth of her son, Theodore (now 2). Elise enjoys flower arranging, reading, and spending time with her husband gardening, and cheering on the University of Georgia football team.
Kat Cannon
Kat Cannon is a ToLabor trained birth doula who is passionate about all parents and their families receiving positive support and evidence based care during their childbearing year. She loves being a Mom to two adorable and energetic boys who keep her in the moment. When not doing birth work, Kat enjoys growing vegetables in her urban garden, spending quality time with her husband and friends, and continuing her “day job” as a physical therapist. “I believe in the inherent wisdom of a birthing person’s body to know exactly how and when to birth their baby.” Trusting this wisdom is the core of Kat’s doula philosophy.
Heidi Blanton-Pohl
Heidi is a Professional Birth Doula trained with toLabor. She is committed to supporting, encouraging, and educating families during pregnancy and their birth year. She loves going on new journeys, and birth is a new journey each time. She feels honored to be a part of each one. Heidi holds a strong background in teaching and recently nursing. With that background and her nurturing personality, she strives to empower parents to navigate through their journey to parenthood. Heidi loves birth work because she feels each family is changing the world one baby at a time. Being a part of that change excites her endlessly. When Heidi is not working in birth she is checking out a local festival with her hubby. With nine nieces and nephews (so far!) they always have a tag-along. She also enjoys time in the kitchen cooking for friends and family with her dogs at her feet.
Doula Referrals
Doulas are amazing. We know the importance of emotional and physical support during labor and birth, and we know that the more, the better. By adding a doula to your birth team, you have a woman dedicated to you and your partner’s emotional and physical comfort. A doula will handle the details so your partner will look like a rock star! A doula can bring you ice water, make cold rags to wipe your face with, and do those hip squeezes for hours, giving your partner a chance to do what they do best…love you. We suggest that every family hire a doula, no matter where they plan to birth. Contact us for a list of doulas we’ve worked with…and love.
Giving birth should be your greatest achievement,
not your greatest fear.”