So I am in the process of my birth doula certification through DONA International. Thanks to my amazing friend Laura I was able to find my first two clients, and eventually I found even the third one so it looks like I may get certified by the end of the year. Woo-hoo! I have done the training and most of the required reading but I’m still putting together a huge list of resources for my future pregnant clients (one of the certification requirements). And while I was in the midst of what seemed like a never-ending messy search for midwives which serve the Jersey City/Hoboken area, I decided I will share the list I put together with you … just in case you are trying to locate midwives in our area.
Those of you attempting to bring your child to this world at home surrounded by family, please refer to the first column. Those of you who prefer or are medically required to be birthing in the hospital setting, please refer to the second column.
Hospital midwives (CNM) are usually in-network with many insurance plans, so now you just have to check with the midwife or your insurance whether she is in-network with your particular insurance plan. Homebirth midwives (usually CPM) are always out-of-network since no insurance plan allows homebirth to be a part of in-network coverage. If you have a PPO plan allowing you to seek medical care out-of-network, you should check with your insurance provider to determine the amount of your out-of-network deductible and your coinsurance (= percentage of costs you will be responsible for). If you are lucky enough, you may be granted an in-network exception upon request (not guaranteed though).
Now what all these letters mean…
- CNM = Certified Nurse Midwife, which has a Bachelor degree in Nursing and a Master degree in Midwifery, all hospital midwives are CNM, some CNMs offer homebirthing services on a side or have switched to homebirths completely
- CPM = Certified Professional Midwife, most homebirth midwives are CPM since becoming a CPM requires experience with homebirths
- CM = Certified Midwife
- LM = Licensed Midwife
Homebirth Midwives in Northern New Jersey serving Jersey City & Hoboken
- Jessica Lawlor, LM, CPM (In Due Season), office located in Sussex County, NJ, offering home visits for clients in Hudson County, NJ (go to website)
- Vicki Hedley, LM, CPM, CM (Seventh Moon), office located in Montvale, NJ, and once a week in Hoboken, NJ (go to website)
- Sabine LaBonne, LM, CPM (Homebirth Into Being), office located in Montclair, NJ (go to website)
- Carole Shipman, CNM, MSN, RN, LCCE, office located in New Milford, NJ (go to website)
- Linda Perry, CPM, CM, CTT, office located in Caldwell, NJ (go to website)
- Lesley Franco, LM, CPM (SoulShine Midwifery), office located in Whitehouse Station, NJ (go to website)
- Valeriana Pasqua-Masback, CNM, office located in Chestnut Ridge, NY (go to website)
- Ayla Dunn, CPM, and Liz Collins, CPM (It Takes a Village Midwifery), office located in northern NJ (go to website)
- Judy Hagan, CNM, and Kasey DiVine, CPM (Babycatcher), offices located in Morristown, NJ, and Rockaway, NJ (go to website)
- Midwives of New Jersey (former Hackettstown Midwives), four CNMs (Lisa Lederer, CNM, Cindy Redmond, CNM, Kaitlyn Schoenfelder, CNM, Kimberly Navarro, CNM), offices located in Madison, NJ, and Hackettstown, NJ, offering homebirth services in Hudson County, NJ (go to website)
Hospital Midwives in Northern New Jersey serving Jersey City & Hoboken
- Donna Tabas, CNM (North Jersey Midwifery Care), office located in Union City, NJ, affiliated with Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, NJ (go to website)
- Lauren Pine-Bildner, CNM, office located in Teaneck, NJ, affiliated with Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, NJ (website not located, email: laurenmidwife[at]gmail.com)
- Paola A. Escobar, CNM, office located in Clifton, NJ, affiliated with Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, NJ, Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood, NJ, and St. Mary’s Hospital in Passaic, NJ (go to website)
- Risa Lynn Klein, CNM, office located in Clifton, NJ, affiliated with Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, NJ, and Meadowlands Hospital in Secaucus, NJ (go to website)
- Evelina Tuers, CNM, WHNP-BC, office located in Clifton, NJ, affiliated with Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, NJ, and Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, NJ (go to website)
- Kristin Mallon, CNM (Mindful Midwifery), office located in Hackensack, NJ, affiliated with Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, NJ (go to website)
- Tina Alessi, CNM (ONE to ONE FemaleCare), office located in Morristown, NJ, affiliated with Morristown Medical Center in Morristown, NJ (go to website)
- Midwives of New Jersey (former Hackettstown Midwives), four CNMs (Lisa Lederer, CNM, Cindy Redmond, CNM, Kaitlyn Schoenfelder, CNM, Kimberly Navarro, CNM), offices located in Madison, NJ, and Hackettstown, NJ, affiliated with Morristown Medical Center in Morristown, NJ (go to website)
- Avalon Midwives, four CNMs (Donna C. Roosa, CNM, MS, Joann Yates, CNM, MS, Joanne Cunha, CNM, MS, Lisa Millstein, FNP, CNM, MSN), offices located in Caldwell, NJ, and Morristown, NJ, affiliated with Morristown Medical Center in Morristown, NJ, and Overlook Medical Center in Summit, NJ (go to website)
- The Childbirth & Women’s Wellness Center, three CNMs (Lonnie Morris, ND, CNM, Elizabeth Jane Contarino, MSN, CNM, Dedra D. Sally CNM, NP, MSN), offices located in Clifton, NJ, and Montclair, NJ, affiliated with Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, NJ (go to website)
- Holistic Women’s Healthcare Midwifery Practice, two CNMs (Lorraine M. Garcia, MSN, WHNP-BC, CNM, and Teresa Brennan Turi, MSN, CNM), offices located in Jersey City and Hoboken, NJ, affiliated with Jersey City Medical Center in Jersey City, NJ (go to website)
Additionally, if you are planning for a water birth and your homebirth midwife does not have a birth pool for rent, contact Tamara Templeman at yoga[at]hpdnj.com. Her rates are affordable and the birth pool she has is called Birth Pool in a Box ECO. It is large enough to accommodate you and a partner, has a seat, 3 sets of handles, and can be inflated to different heights. Included is an air pump to inflate and a water pump to empty the pool. For hygienic purposes you will have to purchase a new pool liner and a hose.
Dear readers, if you see any incorrect info here and have the update for us, or if you know of other homebirth or hospital midwives in our area, please share it with us in the comment section and I promise to update my article. I would love for this to be a helpful resource for those trying to locate a midwife here in northern New Jersey. Thank you!
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Lovely doll image via mooshoo
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Bamboola Baby 
Hi there! A client of mine just sent me this link thinking I may want to correct my resource listing. I am Jessica Lawlor and I am a CPM/LM. I have an office for folks closer to Sussex County but my visits in Hudson County are all home visits. Could you please let folks know that I do in-home visits in the area? Also, the Hacketttown midwives also offer homebirth in Hudson County and so does Leslie Franco (soulshinemidwifery.com)
Thanks for the listing and good luck with your doula work!
Thanks so much for the update, Jessica! I updated your info and added Lesley Franco to the list, and copied Hackettstown Midwives into the homebirth category. Thanks a lot!!
I’m so happy for you and so glad to help! (thanks for the mention!) You know I’m looking forward to your first “birth”! 🙂
Thank you, Laura!! So excited for J’s birth 🙂 We all miss you here. Say hi to your little man 😉
Thank you so much for listing my home birth midwifery practice. I also provide GYN care in my home office. Wishing you well on your path as you serve woman as a doula and through this website. Carole Shipman CNM, MSN, RN, LCCE
Thanks so much for the info and the well wishes!
Hi there,
I just found your site and wanted to know if you could also add my information. My name is Elaine Keller-Duemig, CNM and I practice in NJ. I work with Dr Daniel Hakimi in our office in Clifton, NJ and attend births in Holy Name Medical Center. We work closely together, yet I maintain a set of my own patients as well. Our office phone is 973-471-0707. Our website address is http://www.myobgynteam.com. I would love it if you could add my information to your site! Thank you so much!
Thanks so much, Elaine! I just updated the info and added you to the list. I am so happy you got in touch with me so that mamas-to-be can easily locate midwives in our area. Thanks!!
Please update my listing. Sabine LaBonne LM, CPM
http://www.BirthIntoBeingNJ.com. I work in Northern NJ. HUdson Cty included.
Thank you, Sabine. I just updated your website info.
Thank you for this list!! I have been asking around and this was a HUGE help!
Thanks Michelle, glad it’s helpful 😉
Do you have any knowledge of which homebirth practices accept United Health Care insurance?
Hi Michelle. If you are planning for a homebirth then it’s a little tricky with the insurance, but not that bad. Homebirth midwives are always out-of-network since no insurance plan allows homebirth to be a part of in-network coverage. Now you have to check your insurance card or call United Healthcare to see if you have a PPO plan allowing you to seek medical care out-of-network. If you do, your homebirth will be covered on an “out-of-network” basis. In this case you should check with your insurance provider to determine the amount of your out-of-network deductible and your coinsurance (= percentage of costs you will be responsible for). If you are lucky enough, you may be granted an in-network exception upon request which would cover the homebirth (and the prenatal care) on an in-network level. Fell free to email me for a more detailed advice and my own experience through the process: BamboolaBaby@gmail.com – hope it helps. Veronika.
Great! Thank you for your insight. I am just starting my journey of research. I had called my insurance company (UHC) and they said that if the practice accepts UHC, then a home birth is covered as in-network. (i made her write it in my notes of my account…lol.) from what i’ve read it’s a nightmare.
I will keep your email handy and will most likely be emailing you soon! thanks!
If I can recommend something it would be not calling your insurance company as they give very inaccurate advice on homebirth since they are not very experienced with it – they all say this (if the practice accepts XY insurance, then everything is covered as in-network). Thing is that only hospital based midwives have contracts with insurance companies and therefore will be in network with them. So if you go with any of the hospital based midwives you’ll be covered fully (if they take UHC) but that means you have to deliver in a hospital – whatever hospital the practice is affiliated with. Homebirth midwives will never tell you they accept such and such insurance because they don’t have contracts with any. It works a little differently. Their care is always covered on an out-of-network basis, always. It’s much easier for the midwife to make the phone calls because they know what to say and submit and keep the confusion to the minimum. For instance, our midwife has been a blessing and deals with the insurance company on her own and was able to get the in-network coverage for us, so we pay nothing for her prenatal care/birth. Although we don’t have UHC, I’ve heard from many midwives and friends they are the best insurance for homebirths 🙂 But even if you do go out-of-network, you are most likely to pay nothing as well – in this case you might have to pay some money upfront and after the birth, once the midwife submits all the paperwork and the insurance company pays her, she will reimburse you. Feel free to email me with any questions. I cannot even begin to put into words what a difference it is to receive a prenatal care from a regular practice versus a homebirth midwife, such a personal approach and so much care I did not receive with a regular practice, it’s really amazing. Good luck with everything!
thank you! thank you!
i will def be in touch!
And really…. the fact that you have this list of reference is HUGE. i have been asking around and have only got a handful of names, etc.
So this was a great big help! thank you 🙂
Donna Tabas, C.N.M., M.S. would like to update her practice information listing. The name of her practice is North Jersey Midwifery Care, L.L.C., and she offers holistic and extraordinarily personalized midwifery care to the women of Hudson , Bergen counties of NJ, and Rockland County in NY. Deliveries occur at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, NJ. She uniquely does home prenatal visits which are extended in time, unrushed , with no time limits, and is available for appointments in the evenings and weekends as well as daytime hours. In addition, she has an office in Union City, NJ. Her website is http://www.northjerseymidwiferycare.com
Thank you! I’ve updated the information.
I have heard of a Jersey City Midwife who works with the Jersey City Medical Center.
Holistic Women’s Healthcare Midwifery Practice
http://www.jerseycitymidwife.com/
Thank you! I have added this midwifery practice to the list, though anything holistic in association with JCMC is like an oxymoron (c-section rate is still in the neighborhood of 50%). Let’s hope they can change that!
Hi! My name is Evelina Tuers, CNM, WHNP and I also practice in Northern NJ. I would really appreciate it if you could add my information to this list! Dr. Daniel Hakimi is my collaborative physician and our office is located in Clifton, NJ.
I am one of two midwives delivering at Hackensack University Medical Center as well as in Holy Name Medical Center. Our office phone is 973-471-0707. Online we can be found on these websites: http://www.myobgynteam.com and https://m.facebook.com/obgynandinfertility
Thank you very much! 🙂
Thank you, Evelina. Just added the information 🙂
Hi,
I am Paola A. Escobar, CNM and I have been in practice in Northern NJ since 2001. Please if you can add me to the list.
The office is located at 1700 Route 3 West; Clifton, NJ 07013;
973-747-5217; http://www.holisticobgyn.com ; https://www.facebook.com/holisticobgyn .
My collaborative physician is Dr. Charles Haddad. I have been delivering at the following hospitals Pascack Valley in Westwood, Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, and St. Mary’s Hospital in Passaic.
Thank you so much for your time!