Heidi Horner

My path to midwifery began with experiencing midwifery care myself. My oldest daughter, Madeleine, was born in a hospital with a nurse midwife. While I had started the pregnancy in obstetric care and was able to appreciate the difference between that and my CNM’s style of care, I was unhappy with the hospital experience. For the birth of my second daughter,  Beatrice, I hired a wonderful CPM and delivered in a birth pool at home. Only my husband, Madeleine, the midwife and her student were present. I found homebirth midwifery care to be nurturing, empowering, and just downright fun, and something about that path resonated with my soul.

While my first two girls were small, I was an at-home mom, and very involved with mothers’ groups and La Leche League. I read birth books and midwifery magazines and websites for pleasure, but it wasn’t until my family moved to Virginia in late 2006 that I began to seriously consider birth work. I trained as a birth and postpartum doula, began the Fredericksburg Family Childbirth Circle with other local doulas and Dr. Meggen Briscoe of Milestone Chiropractic, and attended dozens of hospital births, in addition to teaching independent childbirth classes and working with families in the postpartum period. During that time, I especially enjoyed doing volunteer doula work for moms at the Paul Stefan Home, low-income moms referred through the Fredericksburg Health Department, and several teen mothers.

In 2010, I began my midwifery training in earnest by apprenticing with a busy northern Virginia homebirth practice. As more opportunities presented themselves, I was able to work and study with several midwives around the region and attended both homebirths and several in a birth center, in addition to the many hospital births I had seen as a doula.  I continued working toward my CPM credential through the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) during my pregnancy and postpartum with my third child, Raymond, and sat for my NARM exam while in the early weeks of pregnancy with my fourth, Teresa. Those two were born at home with two of my midwife colleagues, as well.  

I have been a CPM and had my state license since 2014. In 2017, I helped facilitate the opening of Fredericksburg’s first freestanding birth center before returning to the path I was originally called to--traditional homebirth midwifery care on a small scale.

My practice now is strictly homebirth, with care done in the family’s home, and I intentionally keep my clientele small, in order to preserve the intimacy that is unique to midwifery care. My practice currently consists of myself and a very experienced, carefully chosen assistant, as well as one well-trained and knowledgeable student.  One or both of them will accompany me to each birth, as well as many visits. I enjoy the slower pace and individualized care that this type of practice allows, and love getting to know each of my families over the course of their care.

When I’m not attending births, I live with my very patient husband, three daughters and a son, and my dogs, cat, chickens, ducks, and rabbits. In addition to hanging out with my multi-species familiy, I enjoy hiking, yoga, and playing autoharp in an old-timey country band, the Wayworn Travelers.