Taylor Almodovar’s husband Justin Gardner looks up as Taylor experiences a painful contraction during her labor at the New Life Midwifery in Arcadia, California. Taylor Almodovar decided to switch to working with a midwife due to the outbreak of Covid-19, worried that her husband would be banned from the delivery room.
Midwife Chemin Perez works with her team of student midwives in outdoor tents in the parking lot of New Life Midwifery in Arcadia, California. Student midwife and doula Renae Morales draws blood from a client on the left while Chemin Perez and another student perform a prenatal checkup on the patient on the right inside the tent. Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, Chemin Perez moved the majority of her birth center into tents outside to keep her staff and clients safe.
Midwife Naomi Drucker listens to the baby’s heartbeat using a doppler fetal monitor at GraceFul Birthing Clinic in Silverlake, California. Naomi and her assistant took extra precautions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, including disinfecting her equipment, the examination room, bathroom and waiting area, and staggering client appointments.
Student midwife and doula Renae Morales performs a prenatal check up at the outdoor section of the New Life Midwifery in Arcadia, California. Midwife Chemin Perez and her staff see up to 40 patients a day at the small site where her clients drive-up for a health and temperature check and wait in their cars until they’re called for their appointment.
Jes Anderson with her husband, mother and midwife Naomi Drucker during the early hours of her labor at her home in Los Angeles, California. Jes Anderson experienced contractions since early afternoon and kept a careful log of the time, length and strength of each. Once the contractions reached four minutes apart, she began to complain of feeling light-headed and nauseous.
Taylor Almodovar in labor with her husband under the pepper tree outside of New Life Midwifery in Arcadia, California. If labor isn’t progressing, a doula or midwife will often suggest walking outside. Taylor Almodovar took a short walk around the neighborhood surrounding New Life Midwifery, stopping for breaks when a contraction became too strong.
Midwife Chemin Perez listens to the fetal heartbeat of Taylor Almodovar’s baby during her prenatal checkup at a separate birth center in Arcadia, California. When the summer hit, the outdoor tents became too hot to see clients. Chemin Perez rented a small office space near her birth clinic for prenatal and postnatal checkups, keeping the space at New Life Midwifery available just for births.
Midwife Christian Toscano performs a postpartum checkup on mother Roni Le and her infant daughter while her two other daughters watch nearby at Roni’s home in Temple City, California in early March. This was the last week Christian Toscano performed home visits before switching to telehealth due to the outbreak of Covid-19.