Mothering Naturally Birthing Services has been serving clients in the metro Detroit area for over 11 years. This includes Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair, and Genesee Counties.
Midwifery clients can start prenatal visits as soon as 8 or 12 weeks (which is the preference) and as late as days before their birth, depending on their situation. Because I keep my practice small (which means that I am significantly less likely to have other clients due around your due date than some other midwives may), the sooner you contact me the better! See the page entitled "Midwifery Services" for more information.
Doula Clients hire me anywhere from conception to a couple of weeks before their impending birth. Please see the page entitled "What's a Doula?!" for more information.
Childbirth Education classes are forming all the time! My classes run ten weeks, and typically are held on Mondays or Tuesdays. Please see the page entitled "Childbirth Education" for more information.
I look forward to becoming a trusted part of your birth team!
About Me: Courtenay Grabowski
Hello! My name is Courtenay Grabowski, and I am a Midwife, Labor Assistant ( Doula ), Childbirth Educator and Breastfeeding Support Expert serving the Metro Detroit Area. I have been in practice for eleven years (as of January 2015), and have experienced over two hundred fifty births and mulitple dozens of series of classes.
As a midwife, I offer homebirth midwifery services in the Detroit Metro Area. I studied with Ancient Arts Midwifery Institute, one of the most challenging midwifery programs around. I spent the first two years of my Apprenticeship with Linda Honey, a senior midwife in the area who has practiced for thirty years, with over 800 catches. I then worked under Kate Mazzara, who is a CPM, studied with the Amish, and has several hundred catches of her own. I now practice with with Helen Stockton of Mother Earth Midwifery, who is a CPM and an awesome midwife with tons of births and several years of experience under her own belt. I have been lucky to work under and with several other midwives in the area, giving me a broader understanding of the ways in which midwifery can be practiced.
As a doula, I have worked in many, if not most of the hospitals in the Metro area, as well as having worked with many of the homebirth midwives in the area. I trained for both my doula work and my childbirth ed work through a group called ALACE (pronounced “Alice” and now called toLabor ), because their philosophy of woman centered, consumer driven birth really resonated with me. I also liked them because the books they required of their students were all books I had used to prepare for my own births. We were a great match!
As a childbirth educator, I have several years of experience teaching expectant parents how to be well, be informed, advocate for themselves, and prepare for the work of labor and childbirth. My students have less than a 5% cesarean rate, and a 99.5% breastfeeding success rate for breastfeeding a year or longer.
I have been providing Breastfeeding Support to families for the last 10 years, spending seven years as a La Leche League Leader, and now running my own support group, called Breastfeeding Support of SE Michigan. I make sure to take at least yearly continuing education, to be sure that I can provide my clients with the most up to date information and support possible. You are welcome to visit me at the Support Group (on the Third Thursday of the month at 7:30pm... please see the Group's homepage for more information: http://breastfeedingsupportsemichigan.weebly.com/ )! But I also provide in home consultations, and am happy to see you in your own space. Breastfeeding Support is dear to my heart, and is one of my favorite parts of working with expectant and new parents. I look forward to helping you in any way I can!
I am a wife and a mother, and my personal experiences with Obstetricians and with my own Midwife attended Hypnobirths at Troy Beaumont and at home led me down the path to Birth Work…and I have never looked back. Every couple who includes me in their preparation for birth honors me. Every birth I attend changes me, and is such an incredible event! Please look around, and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I look forward to talking with you!
