Contact us today to schedule an appointment to tour the birth center and meet with a nurse midwife.
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Our Staff
It takes a whole crew of dedicated people to provide the services we do.
Click on picture for a larger image and to find out who everybody is (opens in a new window)
Samantha McCormick, RN, CNM, ARNP
Director of Midwifery Services
I am a Registered nurse and Certified Nurse Midwife, licensed by the state of Florida as an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner. My Bachelor of Science in Nursing (1993) and Master of Science in Nurse-Midwifery (1996) are both from Columbia University.
As a nurse, I worked on a high-risk obstetrics unit at Mount Sinai hospital, I was the IV specialist for a home cancer therapy center; and I also worked on a pediatric unit with kids with cancer, AIDS, diabetes, and other chronic diseases. Before moving to Florida in 2004, I worked in New York City as a midwife in a free-standing birth center, several community hospitals, large medical centers, an inner-city municipal hospital, and had attended a few homebirths.
I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to own the birth center and live in Florida. I have truly achieved my dream and can't imagine living or working anywhere else! I want to publicly thank Bess Raulerson for starting the birth center and giving me the opportunity to make my career here.
I believe in birth centers and natural birth (especially WaterBirth) because I believe in women and I believe in the wisdom our bodies contain. Every woman is capable of a natural birth, just because most women won't choose an unmedicated birth, doesn't mean that it is not the healthiest, most loving choice a mom could make.
I named the birth center Baby Love Birth Center, as a tribute  to the moms who love their babies so so much, that they are willing to undergo un-medicated labor to bring them into this world in the safest, most gentle way possible.
I am truly in awe of the women who come through the birth center. Even the ones who are unsure and frightened, or traumatized by a past birth experience, show so much strength and resolve, it is inspirational.
The way we take care of families at the birth center is really special. I have lots of time to get to know the clients and to treat everyone as an individual. Most of our pregnant moms bring their children along to prenatal visits, which makes the whole experience fun and relaxed for all of us. Pregnancy is not a disease, so why treat it according to the medical model? It is a family event, so why not invite everyone to participate?
Our moms are so well prepared, through pre-natal visits with the midwife and childbirth preparation classes, that most of them seem to sit back and enjoy their pregnancy. Labor is never easy, but we make the environment comfortable and relaxed and are constantly awed by the powerful women who walk through our doors and what they accomplish. I think everyone would agree, that in the end, it is all worth it when the whole family is snuggled up in the big bed together, cooing over their new baby, ready for a nice nap. 
Nurse Midwives have full prescription licenses. We do pap smears, prescribe birth control, manage menstrual problems, treat menopause, and manage basic infertility. We also do some “primary care" - treatment of medical conditions such as urinary tract infections, vaginal infections, asthma, diabetes, headaches, depression, and high blood pressure. Mostly, though, we just simply take care of women.
I use herbs and natural remedies in my practice, but I use them as medicines and believe in using only carefully selected, research-proven herbs to treat specific conditions. I like to be able to choose from a variety of "tools" to attack a problem, from herbs and homeopathy all the way to pharmaceuticals. The latest advance is bio-identical hormones for menopause, which require time and care to find the right match. It is very satisfying to be able to work closely with my clients and the specialist pharmacy to find exactly what works for them
Midwifery is a collaboration between the woman and the midwife that seeks to find partnership in a shared endeavor: what YOU want and how WE can safely achieve it. |
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Dr. George Kovacevic, MD, Board Certified ObGyn 
Medical Director
As important as the midwives, educators, and assistants are, we really couldn't run the birth center without Dr. George. By law, a Nurse Midwife/Nurse Practitioner must have a "collaborative" agreement with a "supervising" physician, and for practical reasons, we must have a physician to turn to when our clients need a higher level of care (for example, when a client needs a cesarean section).
Dr. George is available for consults if problems arise during the pregnancy. Most of the time the problem is resolved and the client continues her care at the birth center, but he is also available to take over care of clients who become too high-risk to continue at the birth center. When a client transfers out of the birth center during labor, Dr. George admits them to the hospital and assumes their care until they can return to Nurse Midwife care at the birth center.
Dr. George has admitting privileges at Cape Coral Hospital. His office, Cape Women's Care, is on Del Prado Blvd in Cape Coral. He provides prenatal care for normal and high-risk pregnant women and advanced gynecologic surgery. He has been in private practice for 10 years and trained at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He moved to Cape Coral in 2005 and opened his practice in Cape Coral in April, 2006.
A big supporter of midwives, natural birth, water birth, and birthing centers, Dr. George believes strongly in forming a partnership with his clients, so that the woman makes her own decisions about her healthcare without having to conform to a physician's idea of what is right.
The professional relationship between Dr. George and the Nurse Midwives of the birth center is very close, which is understandable, as he is married to Samantha McCormick, the Director of the birth center. Samantha likes to say of him "I don't think he's a good doctor just because I'm married to him; I wouldn't have married him if he wasn't an excellent and accomplished physician who believes in compassionate women's health care". |
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 Braidy Greene, Office Manager, Receptionist
Licensed Massage Therapist #MA41524
The friendly voice on the phone when you call the birth center is Braidy, who doubles as the receptionist/office manager and our massage therapist. Braidy makes appointments, checks clients in and out, and she also handles insurance inquires and payments.
Braidy teaches Infant Massage every month at the birth center and also does massage for pregnant and non-pregnant female clients at the birth center. She specializes in pregnancy massage and sports massage.
Benefits of pregnancy massage include reduced fatigue, less swelling, and more energy. Massage is available for $70 per session. We offer packages for Expectant Moms and New Moms (did anyone say "shower gift idea"?).
For Expectant Moms the package includes one private Infant Massage lesson before the baby arrives, one Pregnancy Massage for the mom, and one Infant Massage after the baby arrives.
The New Mom package includes one therapeutic Full Body Massage and two private Infant Massage sessions (you may exchange one of the Infant Massage sessions for another full body massage).
For new clients, your first massage is $30 off.
Call Braidy Dauernheim at (239) 645-8541 to schedule a massage, or give us a call at the birth center (239) 540-9010. You may also email Braidy at massage@waterbirthbaby.com
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 Jaclyn Sieben, RN
HypnoBirthing® Instructor
Jaci has been a nurse for 23 years. She has worked in both hospitals and free standing birth centers. Jaci has extensive experience in "natural" childbirth, waterbirthing, and HypnoBirthing. She began teaching HypnoBirthing® classes in Maine after experiencing first hand as a labor and birthing nurse what women can do when their bodies are in harmony.
We are very proud to be the only birthing center in the area offering this valuable technique for our clients. All Baby Love Birth Center clients must attend this 5 week class series (unless you have already had a natural birth).
Fee for this class is $75 per couple, which includes HypnoBirthing Book & CD. This class is open only to Birth Center clients at this price. The birth center subsidizes the cost of the course because we have seen the incredible results women get when they apply the simple techniques of Hypnobirthing.
For more information contact Jaci at (239) 280-6276 or email hypnobirthing@waterbirthbaby.com
or go to Jaci's Web site www.BonitaBirthingSolutions.com |
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 Kristie Bulla
Breast Milk Bank Coordinator
Kris was the office manager for the birth center until September 2006; she now runs the Breast Milk Bank. She handles all the day-to-day operations of the breast milk bank, including interviewing new donors, picking up donations from moms, shipping frozen milk to Prolacta in California for processing into pharmaceutical-grade breast milk for hospitalized premature infants.
She does all of this while raising two active boys and pursuing her passions of promoting recycling, designing butterfly gardens, and developing home school curriculums for pre-schoolers. She is a certified Florida Naturalist.
Kris also hosts the Natural Parenting Group on the 1st & 3rd Monday of every month. 10-Noon.
Kris is also a certified Redirecting Children's Behavior Instructor, leading classes in creating cooperative relationships with your children.
For more information on the Breast Milk Bank email milkbank@waterbirthbaby.com
or go to the Mother Nature Milk Bank page on this site http://www.waterbirthbaby.com/milkbanknews.aspx | For more information on the Parents's Group email parents@waterbirthbaby.com
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