A new birthing center in Lawrence will combine two midwifery practices under one roof to offer holistic care to locals wanting a natural birth.

The Grove Family Center, set to open at 515 Rockledge Road in the coming months, will give birthing people a central location to find prenatal, labor, birth and postpartum services and more from Lilly Mason, certified professional midwife, and Jodie Mayfield, certified nurse midwife and founder of Lawrence Birth and Wellness.

Holistic birth practitioners aim to provide more individualized care that’s flexible through the process. In her personal practice, Mason performs around 15 births annually. The national average an OB-GYN performs is 100.

In addition to care surrounding an expected birth, Mayfield’s practice will offer pap smears and breast exams, menopause management, contraception and more services. The center will also eventually host birthing classes, community meetings and additional support.

“I’m just chuffed – absolutely over the moon – that we were able to do this,” Mayfield said.

Mason said the center will meet a demand and bridge a gap with other practitioners in the field.

“Having a space where different kinds of midwives are collaborating, and different kinds of practitioners are collaborating, and families are building this community of finding their own care and how to care for themselves, it can just spread,” she said.

A doctor may introduce a cesarean section after 12 hours of a difficult labor, but a birth midwife may help someone naturally pace themselves through a safe 36-hour labor, Mason said. That’s partly why C-sections occur at lower rates at birth centers than hospitals. Mayfield said she and her colleagues are not blasé about emergencies that require hospital transfers, though.

Mason said she doesn’t pretend to be knowledgable about all cultural birthing practices but that she’s open to learning, and she works to fit personal needs.

She and Mayfield said their goal is that the center is a safe place for all families and birthing people, including queer folks, and that they’re challenging the framing of reproductive health solely as a “women’s” issue.

‘We need more midwives of every kind’

Mason is also a hospital birth assistant for clients through Mayfield’s practice.

The two colleagues began planning the center before news dropped that a major birth center in Johnson County was closing, which Mayfield called a “massive loss for the KC area,” but it reinforced their mission.

New Birth Company in Overland Park was the sole licensed birth center that wasn’t affiliated with a hospital in the Kansas City area, and it closed its doors in September 2024 because of funding issues.

Financial access to birth centers is a barrier for low-income families that Mason said her colleagues continue to advocate for. Mason can’t accept any insurance because of state regulations, she said, so most of her clients pay out of pocket.

Mayfield’s practice accepts insurance via Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Aetna, but not Medicaid because the reimbursements are so low. New Birth Company had accepted Medicaid clients, which the former CEO said partially contributed to the closure, Kansas News Service reported.

Another issue is a scarcity of home birth midwives, which Mason said largely results from a lack of training opportunities in the field. Students who attend nursing school for home birth midwifery train in hospitals, graduating with little to no experience out in the field.

“We need more midwives of every kind,” Mason said.

Initiating a possible solution, Mason plans to phase in a program where students could see both nurse midwives and home birth midwives in action. Students could observe five birth center births and one home birth within a month and eventually complete their required training for certification in five years as opposed to 11 like it took Mason, she said.

The Grove Family Center is not affiliated with Lawrence Memorial Hospital, but Mason said she’d like the building to be a space where collaboration happens. She plans to invite doctors and doulas and other practitioners in to see what midwives do and discuss advocacy within the field.

“There’s so much wrong in our medical system, and most of it is because we have a lot of, ‘the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing,’” Mason said.

A unicorn, a labyrinth and a dream

Mason said her mother, Charlotte Knoche, purchased the property at 515 Rockledge Road because she believed in her.

The property was a unicorn, Mason said — it’s both residentially and commercially zoned within the city as it previously housed an acupuncture practice, and its rooms were already positioned well for treatment.

Its backyard faces a woodsy area, and Mason has envisioned an outdoor oasis and a labyrinth trail.

Mason’s husband, Anil Kamat, is the general contractor via his company, Homecraft Lawrence.

The space will have one designated birthing room with sound-blocking features. Inside that room is a corner where a birthing tub will be situated right next to a shower and toilet, all atop heated floors.

One of the offices will be multipurpose, also serving as a backup if two births are happening at once. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment will need to inspect the center in order for it to be licensed to have births onsite.

The entryway will be ADA-compliant, leading to a lobby with a play area for kids and a front desk.

“This is the culmination of a lot of dreaming,” Kamat said.

Construction will likely wrap in mid-February, with hopes of officially opening soon after. Mason said she plans to hold open houses when the time comes.

Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

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Molly Adams (she/her), photo editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2022. She can be reached at molly@lawrencekstimes.com.

Check out more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

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