The Birth Of Something Great
for Alabama
The Birth Sanctuary delivers safe + supported pregnancy care, labor, and birth services right where they're needed most.
The Birth Sanctuary is currently accepting clients with due dates in 2025 + 2026
Founded by Dr. Stephanie Mitchell, DNP, CNM, CPM, The Birth Sanctuary is the first freestanding birth center in the state of Alabama, thoughtfully providing options for home births, center-based births at our state-of-the-art newly renovated facility in Gainesville, or complete prenatal care for all desired birth plans—including those choosing a hospital delivery.
Write Your Own Birth Story
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Home Birth
Midwife services for home births provide personalized, compassionate care in the comfort of your own home, supporting natural birth with a focus on safety, empowerment, and respect.
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Birth Center
Midwife services at our newly renovated birth center combine a warm, home-like environment with expert care, blending comfort and safety for a supported, natural birth experience.
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Hospital Birth
Prenatal midwife services provide personalized, expert client-centered care throughout pregnancy, supporting birthing mothers who choose to deliver in a hospital with informed guidance and continuous support.
Childbirth Prep Courses
Our six week Childbirth Preparation Courses offer essential knowledge and confidence to expecting parents, covering everything from labor stages and pain management to newborn care and postpartum recovery.
These classes reduce anxiety, promote informed choices, and help support partners feel more involved and prepared. By building practical skills and setting realistic expectations, they lay the foundation for a more empowered and positive birth experience.
EXPLORE OUR
BIRTH CENTER
Our newly renovated birthing center is located in beautifully restored historic home. Designed with comfort and community in mind, The Birth Center features modern birthing suites and examination rooms with advanced equipment, hydrotherapy tubs, and spacious private rooms. From pre-natal appointments to post-partum checkups—and everything in between—families have access to a fully equipped kitchen, comfortable lounge areas, and support from trained midwives and birth professionals. The blend of historic charm and thoughtful, high-end amenities creates a safe, welcoming space for during one of life’s most important moments.
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"Anarcha" Birthing Suite
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"Anarcha" Birthing Suite
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Hydrotherapy Suite
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Kitchen
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Atrium
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Lounge
Our Approach
Based in Gainesville, Alabama—a small town in Sumter County, just shy of Mississippi—The Birth Sanctuary is dedicated to using the midwifery model of care to ensure quality, empowered healthcare relationships for all birthing bodies in western Alabama. Our work honors both the ancient wisdom of women giving birth and modern evidence-based experience to create a partnership of excellent care.
We look at each person comprehensively, monitoring the safety of our clients and babies with our holistic approach to physical health, mental health, and cultural awareness. Our commitment to collaborative care allows you the time you need to process choices and options, understand risks and benefits, and make the most informed decisions on your birthing journey. Our practice aims to empower you to make the best decision for you, your body, and your baby.
Meet The Midwives
Our carefully assembled team of expert midwives and birth consultants brings deep experience and cultural competence to every birth journey. With a shared commitment to respectful, individualized care, we honor each family's unique background, values, and choices—providing trusted support every step of the way.
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Midwife + Founder
DNP, CNM, CPM, LMStephanie is a Certified Nurse Midwife and Certified Professional Midwife who has practiced full scope midwifery in private collaborative practices, hospital, home and birth center settings since 2016. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Nursing, a Masters of Science in Nursing with a specialty in community-based midwifery, and a Doctorate of Nursing Practice.
Dr. Mitchell began her path working as a pediatric nurse, as a labor and delivery nurse, and then as a midwife in a collaborative midwifery group in one of the largest and highest volume hospital systems in Boston and Rhode Island. In her time there she held space at thousands of births, attending over 600 births as a midwife.
During this time, she saw firsthand the life-changing—and lifesaving—potential of midwifery care. Stephanie has bore witness to many transcendent birth experiences, beautiful, supported, and ending with joy. This has shaped how she practices and cares for the families she sees as a midwife. While so many things on our healthcare journeys are beyond our control, one thing Dr. Stephanie realized during this time was, what often makes the difference between negative and positive birthing experiences is simple: Knowledge! When people are empowered and provided the time to process their choices and options, to understand risks and benefits, and to make the most informed decisions on their birthing journeys, outcomes are vastly improved, and satisfaction of the overall birth experience is had.
In 2020, Dr. Stephanie moved to Gainesville, AL, with her husband of 20 years, back to his hometown to follow his dream of owning a BBQ restaurant. At that time, as she was looking for a Birth Center to join so she could continue her work as a midwife, she was surprised to find zero freestanding Birth Centers serving her region, she decided to build her own and Birth Sanctuary was born.
She is mother to four children, Jasmyn, Jaymie, Jayar and Jesse. In her spare time, you can find her reading, gardening or enjoying the outdoors. Her most glorious times are when she finds ways to combine all these facets and fabric of love together! She is beyond thrilled to be bringing the first midwifery owned, led, and operated, freestanding birth center to the state of Alabama.
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Midwife
MSN, CNM, CPMBrittany is an experienced Certified Nurse Midwife with over 10 years of nursing experience including 5 years focused on the postpartum and mother-baby couplet care. She has recently completed extended training as a Certified Professional Midwife. She completed her nursing education at University of West Alabama and her graduate training at Frontier Nursing University with a focus on community based midwifery. She is passionate about supporting those who are pregnant and their families through education, advocacy and holistic midwifery care. She is committed to promoting safe, respectful birth experiences and positive maternal-newborn experiences.
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Midwifery Assistant, Student Midwife, Doula
Jamilah is a second-year student midwife at Commonsense Childbirth School of Midwifery. She started her journey as a birth worker after graduating from Bethune Cookman University with a degree in psychology and minoring in child development in 2014. She went on to become a Certified birth and postpartum Doula, Midwife Assistant and a Breastfeeding Advocate. Jamilah is very passionate about educating the community on their choices surrounding their birth experience and she strongly believes it takes a village to care for a birthing person so in return, they can nurture their baby. Jamilah is the Chief of Operations for Diamonds for Doulas and her whole mission is to make a difference in maternal and infant outcomes.
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Birth Assistant
RDHJaymie has been in and around birth her whole life. Her mother is our founding Midwife, and pregnancy, labor and birth are as normal of a dinner conversation as the news or the weather! Jaymie is also a Registered Dental Hygienist and her passion includes oral health and hygiene during pregnancy. In her free time, you can find Jaymie, vlogging, writing, reading and enjoying a multitude of outdoor activities including her favorite activity— kayaking.
What is Midwifery?
Midwifery is modern medicine based on generations-deep tradition. Traditionally focused on attending births, Midwives are also equipped to provide expert, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally competent care for low-risk birthing bodies throughout pregnancy and childbirth, providing prenatal and postpartum care for mother and child. Midwives are highly trained, licensed, and certified to provide safe and effective maternal-infant healthcare in a non-hospital setting.
"Mothers in Alabama deserve access to maternal healthcare and education in a nurturing environment in the heart of their community"
- Dr. Stephanie Mitchell, DNP, CNM, CPM
Let’s Birth A Better Future For Alabama
Join us in supporting our work to improve the lives and health of Alabama’s most vulnerable—from first trimester to first birthday and beyond.
Your donation provides crucial opportunities for families to easily and safely access supportive, professional, integrative 1-on-1 care from highly trained, fully licensed, state certified midwives. It takes a village and, with your help, we are building one together.
By The Book: Building Your
Birth Plan
Welcoming a new baby is an exciting and joyous time, but it’s natural to be nervous about getting everything ready. Just like every body is different and every baby is different, every birth is its own beautiful story, waiting to be written.
With her new book, The First-Time Parent’s Childbirth Handbook, our own Dr. Stephanie Mitchell builds on her thirteen years of experience working as a pediatric nurse and labor and delivery nurse prior to becoming a Certified Professional Midwife to empower you with answers for all your burning questions about giving birth and the days before and after. This simple and demystifying guide offers deep insight into the journey to parenthood, with space to build a custom birth plan that speaks to your values and the tools to write a birthing story that works for you.
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