(Radio Iowa) – Iowa has a free-standing birthing center again after a law lowered barriers for midwives to operate one. A birthing center is a facility for mothers to have what’s called a natural home birth experience. Midwife Sarah Sorvillo says she decided to open the center because she was already serving communities in maternal care deserts. At least 41 birthing units have closed in Iowa since the year 2000.

“People are just looking to go back to basics, because what has been working isn’t working,” Sorvillo says. “I think that’s just forced people to think outside of the box.” The new center is owned by Heaven Sent Home Birth and is located in Adel. Sorvillo says the local E-M-S is just down the street, which makes it easier to transfer patients, if needed.

She says she’s had conversations with expectant mothers who didn’t feel cared for in medical settings, while they may have to drive more than an hour for an O-B-G-Y-N. Sorvillo says she’s getting appointments for the new center nine months in advance. “I would have clients that would tell me they were just pregnant and they were maybe eight weeks along, and I was already booking for that month,” Sorvillo says. “So we know that there is a demand for these types of services.”

The number of home births in Iowa has almost doubled in the past ten years. Almost 850 people gave birth in Iowa outside of a hospital setting last year alone.