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Meet Diane Ortega and Belinda Hodder of Willow Midwife Center for Birth and Wellness

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Diane Ortega and Belinda Hodder.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Diane and Belinda. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Belinda and I had always romanced the idea of owning a birth center. Before opening the birth center, we served this beautiful growing community in the East Valley for over 6 years working in a hospital-based midwifery practice. We worked fiercely to change to face of hospital birth, giving women more birthing options. We worked hard, fighting many battles along the way. In return, we earned the support of the local birth community.

We made friends and were welcomed and showered with love, so we put our dreams of owning a birthing center on hold. Over time, we realized that although we had changed hospital birth, women still needed another option. Some women were not quite ready for a home birth but wanted something more than the hospital could offer. A birth center was what they needed.

During this time, a tragedy struck our world unexpectedly. A dear friend and sister midwife lost her daughter in a tragic accident. We watched this family grieve with elegance and grace, still managing to show love and compassion to others despite their deep loss. Our friend had the courage to share that she hoped one day, good could come from such unimaginable heartache.

As Belinda and I struggled to put any sort of understanding why such a tragedy would happen, we were in awe of the family and our friend’s courage. We promised ourselves that we would show such courage and strength in honor of them. Life is short, so we found the courage to fulfill our dreams. On a road trip with our friend, we revealed our plans and asked her if she had any ideas for a name. She came up with ‘Willow”.

The Willow tree is quite significant. One of the most valuable traits of the willow tree is its strength and flexibility. It is one of the few trees that are capable of bending without breaking. This message of the flexible tree, not snapping but bending, is to adjust with life, rather than fighting it. This ability allows willow trees to not only survive but also thrive in most challenging conditions. Our symbolic meaning for our willow is that even through great loss, like unexpected life events and birth, women have the ability find courage and strength to grow and transcend, giving us the potential for something new.

We found the courage to revive our dream and Willow Midwife Center for Birth and Wellness was born.

In loving memory of Clara.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It was difficult to leave our secure jobs and take a risk on ourselves. Although we were well known in the community, we didn’t know if clients would follow us and we would have enough business to sustain ourselves. This ended up not being a challenge as we finished our first year well over our projections.

As women, we also encountered more struggles in business due to our gender-we had more hurdles getting a loan, dealing with contractors, etc. We did learn quickly and were able to stand up to the challenges we encountered and have become pretty shrewd at negotiation.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Willow Midwife Center for Birth & Wellness is a boutique midwife and birth center in Mesa, AZ, just minutes from Gilbert, Ahwatukee, Tempe, Chandler and Scottsdale. We offer comprehensive, individualized care for women including maternity care, labor & birth services, and wellness care. We work in partnership to provide comprehensive, individualized care for women.

Our goal at Willow is to work closely with women and their families, to guide them through the many choices of the childbearing years and beyond. Our combined experience in the midwifery field includes birth, childbirth education, well-woman care, gynecology and more. We offer birth in our birth center, at home and in the hospital beginning this summer.

What makes Willow Midwife Center different is that it is owned and operated by Certified Nurse-Midwives. We value our midwives and they, in turn, are invested in the care of our clients. Our beautiful birth suites include private bathrooms and deep tubs for labor and birth. Attention is paid to every detail, including fair-trade organic cotton bedding, locally sourced handmade baby blankets, and delicious post-birth meals served on a beautiful tray.

What were you like growing up?
Diane was a bright child who excelled in school. Perceived as shy due to her quiet nature, people are often surprised by her sense of humor. She has always been a keen observer, strong leader, and a bit of a perfectionist. She loved animals growing up and considered going into veterinary medicine, but life took her on a different path. Diane’s journey into midwifery began after the birth of her second daughter with a midwife. With her own midwife as a mentor, she became passionate about pregnancy and women’s health and dedicated herself to pursuing a career in this field.

Belinda grew up in Wales, United Kingdom. She decided to be a nurse at the age of 4 and proceeded to go into nursing at 18. From a young age, she was strong and independent. She is a fast learner and has a quick wit. She served in the British Army as a nurse and served overseas during first Gulf War, Desert Storm. She was decorated for service with the Gulf War medal. The birth of her first son brought her military career to an end and saw the start of her career in midwifery.

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Alyssa Leon

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