Today we’d like to introduce you to Afua Hassan.
Afua, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
While a student at Brown University I was pre-med. I was seen in a clinic one day by a midwife and I instantly knew that I was a midwife. After graduation I went about learning how to become a midwife. Home birth was legal in Houston in ’83. I found some sisters Ayanna Ade and Rasheeda Mujtaabaa who already were midwives and I got my feet wet with them. I then became a student at Houston School of Midwifery run by Mercyt Inyang. After three years with her as a student I worked for her for another two years. Then I opened up my own homebirth practice. The Birthing Place. I called it that because my goal is to teach a mom that she can give birth anywhere. The Birthing place is a state of being. When you are in labor you are in the birthing place, whether you are at home in the car or in a birth center. In 2011 I officially opened a Birthing Center.
Has it been a smooth road?
In the beginning midwifery was an expensive hobby. I advertised on the radio, television and bill boards. Sure am glad I mad it until the time of social media. To make ends meet I have been a 5th grade math teacher, childbirth educator and a lactation consultant. Another one of my challenges was my location. Now Third ward is hip.
(Presently I am the only birth center inside of the loop.)
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I m a midwife who offers birth center and homebirth services. I see moms from the beginning of their pregnancy. Or like a mom that just delivered, she interviewed me on a Saturday. Decided to change from her doctor on Wednesday and had the baby on the following Sunday. She had prenatal care, she just had to muster up the courage to tell me mom she was not going to the hospital to have her child.
I thank all midwives have their own magic. Mine is family and love. The Birthing Place is a family. Because of the group prenatal as that happen once a month where the moms get together and we talk about a subject, eat and get a quick prenatal if one is needed, moms get to know each other. They come to the lactation support group run by Leah Whitley on the first Wednesday of the month. Moms also go to Healing Monday now run by Christina Popoola. The moms go on a walk then grab a bite to eat.
Once a quarter the dads get together and talk. Some of their partners have had their baby and some have not. They talk about the process from the male perspective. We have other classes her also. Car seat installation, childbirth classes. I am going to teach my first single moms class. (TBA) The energy that flows through The Birthing Place is electric. It’s not homelike. It is home. The center is on the first floor and I live on the second and third floor. Come and visit.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Moms are looking to have an experience when they give birth. That is why they seek a midwife. In the hospital must times a procedure is done with very little options for the mom. The out of hospital birth community is growing every day.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2218 Barbee Street
Houston,Texas
77004 - Website: TheBirthingPlace.com
- Phone: 713 MIDWIFE 643-9433
- Email: touchedbyamidwife@gmail.com
- Instagram: The Birthing Place
- Facebook: The Birthing Place
- Twitter: The Birthing Place
- Yelp: The Birthing Place
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
