SNOQUALMIE – Lisa Boyd first decided she wanted to be a midwife when she lived in Lesotho, South Africa. She was pregnant there with her first son and her own midwife suggested she look into the profession. After some serious consideration between midwifery and alternative medicine, she went with midwifery despite the small demand for out-of-hospital birth services.

Only two percent of Washington State women give birth outside of a hospital.

Still, Boyd’s business, Ten Moons Birthing Services, has drawn a good number of clients since it opened in April.

She feels midwifery is much more personalized and natural than hospital births, while it lacks nothing in care or medical technology.

“There’s a lot of focus on the needs of the client,” Boyd said. “We know each client very well by the time they give birth.”

Her appointments, like those of most midwives, last about an hour where doctor appointments at hospitals go only 15-20 minutes and aren’t necessarily with the doctor who will deliver the baby.

Most of Boyd’s clients make an appointment with her as soon as they know they are pregnant, but there are also those who come to her at other points in their pregnancy, changing their minds about giving birth in a hospital.

“I feel like many women have forgotten that they do know how to give birth and they don’t have to be afraid,” Boyd said.

Boyd said she’s not against hospitals and that she knows when a woman needs to be in one for a birth, but she sees midwifery as the keeper of natural birth.

“I feel like so many of us give up our power and give it to physicians,” Boyd said. “If we believe in ourselves and let our bodies do what they do, we can all give birth.”

Boyd has been practicing since February of 1997. While appointments with her clients are held in her newly remodeled home office at 8110 Falls Ave. in Snoqualmie, Boyd does the deliveries at the Puget Sound Birth Center in Kirkland or at the patient’s homes if they prefer. She said about 60 percent prefer to do it at home.

“Some people like the Birth Center because it’s a block from the hospital, it gives them a sense of security,” she said.

Boyd said 28 percent of women in the state have C-sections, but according to the World Health Organization there should never be more than 12 percent. There is also more inducing then there should be, she said.

“The ideal birth is totally hands off. I let the woman do what she needs to do to get the baby out. I do her vitals and listen to the baby every 15 to 30 minutes and more once she starts to push,” Boyd said.

Boyd helps women to give birth in water or any position they prefer.

“The beauty of it is allowing the woman to take charge and do her thing. We’re there for safe keeping,” she said.

And the baby is never parted from the mother once it is born-a very important element of midwifery.

“I believe in the mother/baby connection. We encourage the mom to talk to the baby if it doesn’t take its first breath. We believe in that bond pretty strongly with traditional midwife care,” she said.

Licensed midwives must study medicine and midwifery. Boyd said her classroom education took 2 1/2 years and after that she had to assist with or deliver 100 births before she was certified.

“There’s nothing like watching a woman in labor, nothing like seeing the pleasure of a woman who has just given birth,” Boyd said.

Boyd and her partner Colette Lescantz work together on each birth, because once the baby is born there are two people to take care of, she said.

“We are the ones who attend the birth. It’s always me, not a zillion people,” Boyd said, referring to the many different doctors and nurses a woman may have involved in her care at a typical hospital birth. “When you’re at a hospital the doctor is only on call for a specific time.”

Boyd also does new-born exams, gives postpartum exams at the patient’s home the first two weeks after birth, and does follow-up exams up to six weeks. Boyd doesn’t use forceps, vacuum-like devices or unnatural products for inducing labor.

Cost is another factor some women consider when deciding to go with a midwife over a traditional hospital birth. A hospital birth can cost $5,000-$8,000, whereas midwives charge about $2,800-$3,000. Health insurance covers all licensed midwives.

Boyd has delivered about 300 children during the course of her career, which may sound like a unique line of work, though midwives have been around since ancient times and midwifery remains the primary method of birth in Europe.

“Midwife” means “with woman.”

In fact, when modern medicine first took root and women starting having their babies in hospitals, there was a high rate of infant mortality due to the diseases in the hospital babies picked up. At that time there were no antibiotics and many women died as well.

“People think more risk is involved if the baby is born outside a hospital, when in fact that’s not true.”