Courtesy Photo Lineage Midwifery owner and midwife Val Meharg weighs a newborn baby in a sling recently. The new business in Rogers City provides alternate birthing services that hospitals and healthcare systems don’t at a more affordable cost.

ALPENA — The number of expecting mothers choosing to use licensed midwives and birthing centers continues to climb, especially in the COVID-19 era, officials say.

Now, pregnant mothers in Northeast Michigan can choose to bring their newborns into the world at Lineage Midwifery, a new freestanding birth center in Rogers City.

Owner Val Meharg, who is a certified professional licensed midwife in Michigan, said the number of couples seeking alternatives to giving birth at a hospital was inching upward before the pandemic and accelerated during it.

She said now her list of her clients and interest in her services is rising quickly.

“Over the last few years, we have really seen a shift in the use of midwives for care,” Meharg said. “It also picked up during COVID when people realized maybe they didn’t want to go into a hospital because they didn’t want to expose themselves or their newborns around sick people.”

Meharg said a birthing center is an alternate location where mothers can safely and privately give birth with their loved ones near them. She said Lineage Midwifery is not associated with any hospital or health system, but has all of the needed credentials and licenses to provide child birth services at the center, or in the client’s home.

A midwife is a trained health professional who helps healthy women during labor, delivery, and after the birth of their babies.

Meharg said her business only works with low-risk pregnancies, which most pregnant women are.

“If there are risks like high blood pressure or diabetes, I have to refer them to a physician,” she said.

The birthing center does much more than just assist the mother during labor. Meharg said she will, with the help of her staff, work with a mother and the baby from prenatal care, through postpartum, and aftercare for the newborn once it’s born. It also provides education to new parents.

A midwife is one of the oldest professions and we work with the woman throughout her entire pregnancy,” Meharg said.

Having a baby is not cheap, and the cost of care and delivery at a hospital can put large debts on young families. Meharg said her services cost about $4,000 from start to finish.

Meharg said her business does accept certain types of private insurance, but as of now, she can’t accept Medicaid because the state doesn’t allow it yet.

People who are interested in the services of Lineage Midwifery can learn more on its website, lineagemidwifery.com or on its Facebook page.