As the only freestanding, midwifery-operated clinic in the area, The Birth Center offers women a home-like place to birth their babies naturally, in safety and confidence. The Birth Center follows the Midwives Model of Care™, which is based on the philosophy that pregnancy and birth are normal life processes. The Midwives Model of Care includes:
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) 1996-2005, Midwifery Task
Force, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Our Staff
The Birth Center has a staff of qualified, licensed, caring professionals. Together, these health care givers offer professonal and personlized care. The client's preferences, concerns, and questions are listened to and honored. The safety of mother and baby, the comfort and quality of the birth experience, are always the highest priority.
Ruth Cummings, Certified Nurse Midwife (C.N.M.)
The Birth Center is owned and directed by Ruth Cummings. She has over 20 years experience as a Registered Nurse, her Masters of Science from the University of California. She is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in the areas of critical care and neurology, and a Nurse Practitioner practicing in an internal medicine practice where she focuses on women's health issues. Ruth has lectured in the nursing programs at the California State University at Sacramento, Sacramento City College, and the University of California, Davis.
Ruth's first experience in a birth center is when she gave birth to her first child. Since then, it has been a dream of hers to establish a birth center in the Sacramento area, to offer women options in their birthing choices. She obtained her Certification in Nurse Midwifery and now "catches" babies at The Birth Center. She believes that childbirth is neither an illness nor an injury, and normal healthy childbirth can safely take place outside of the hospital.
Ruth lives in Fair Oaks with her husband, daughter, and twin boys.
Jackie Belau, Office & Birth Assistant
Jackie learned about doulas while studying for an Early Childhood Education degree; she soon found her passion in birth. She was trained as a doula in 2005 and has been practicing privately since then. She now works at The Birth Center as the receptionist and birth assistant. Outside of The Birth Center, Jackie is a sign language interpreter and runs Better Birth Sacramento, and Better Birth America websites for expecting parents informing them of their birth options.
Additional staff assist at The Birth Center, including a Registered Nurse that completes home visits after the birth of the baby.
The Birth Center is owned and directed by Ruth Cummings. She has over 20 years experience as a Registered Nurse, her Masters of Science from the University of California. She is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in the areas of critical care and neurology, and a Nurse Practitioner practicing in an internal medicine practice where she focuses on women's health issues. Ruth has lectured in the nursing programs at the California State University at Sacramento, Sacramento City College, and the University of California, Davis.
