My hope in writing this review is to warn others considering having their babies at Pacifica to take a long, hard look at if it is worth the risk. My advice: DO NOT ENTRUST YOUR BIRTH PLAN TO PACIFICA BIRTH CENTER. Have a solid Plan B in place, at least. My husband and I went into partnership for the birth of our first child in the middle of my 2nd trimester (about 25 weeks into my pregnancy) after carefully weighing out options (between other birth centers; home birth; and a hospital birth). During the two months the Pacifica team provided support, I was interviewed many times and shared all necessary medical information. I thought the midwives and student midwives were knowledgeable and compassionate. So, I was blindsided when Pacifica waited until I was 35 weeks pregnant to inform me that they were not going to support my birth...via an email late on a Friday night! I would have never waited until I was a month away from my first birth to begin choosing where to go for the birth...but Pacifica forced me to do just that. FYI, eight months into pregnancy is generally too late to find available birth professionals in the Bay Area. Your choices if you are looking at eight months are limited. After being blindsided, my last month of pregnancy was flooded with unanticipated anxiety, which was not good for me or my baby. I started to question if what happened was my fault. I poured through all my pre-pregnancy and pregnancy tests and still find no good reason to have been dropped as a Pacifica patient. I was not even given the dignity and respect by the Pacifica staff of being engaged before they reached their indelible conclusion. Yes, Pacifica is free to choose with who they accept. I understand that they assume a lot of risk in doing the work they do. But to wait until the last minute to inform me was terrifying and inconsiderate to do to a new mom-to-be.

My husband and I agree that discovering Pacifica and deciding to receive care and give birth here was the best decision of my life. I gave birth naturally to healthy baby all thanks to the amazing team of midwives and student midwives. Everyone is so competent, some midwives witnessing and attending over a thousand births-this is their specialty and expertise! I couldn’t have done this without all of them. I would be fortunate to have any of the midwives attend to the birth and delivery, the day of I had A’Maya and Clover by my side providing so much care and guidance otherwise I would have been lost-had I been at a hospital without them, I’m sure I would have just done whatever the doctors suggested in terms of unnecessary interventions and drugs out of fear and would have felt rushed and famished. I would recommend Pacifica to anyone and would go back here again if I decide to have a 2nd child. I am so grateful for such great care from everyone at Pacifica.

This was my first pregnancy and I kept saying to my husband, “I just want a medical professional that knows me, my pregnancy, that I can trust and that will help me navigate the unknown of birth by offering natural solutions and methods before jumping first to medical intervention.” (Okay, maybe not in so many words, more like “I’m scared to give birth in a hospital with doctors I’ve never met before.”)Prenatal, birth, and postpartum care with Pacifica Family Maternity Center (PFMC) was everything I hoped for and even more wonderful than I could have imagined. I started care around 20 weeks, after what felt like months of people telling me my desire for personalized, holistic and informed care was just unrealistic. I knew that a midwife could offer me this kind of care, but I didn’t realize that unless you have very specific circumstances or coverage, insurance does not help cover the cost. On top everything else COVID-19 had many Bay Area midwives booked to the brim and I was running out of time. I felt so alone, frustrated, and defeated.Pacifica was my last attempt at finding alternative care and they were tremendously supportive and accommodating from day one. With Pacifica’s sliding scale and our HSA we were able to afford care and I can’t express how grateful I am for my entire experience. I absolutely love how they acted as our guides, equipping both my husband and myself throughout the entire process. Each appointment the students and midwives were generous with their time and great listeners. They lead with information and consent and taught me so much about my body and the process of pregnancy and birth. During our baby girl’s birth they were empowering and encouraged me to listen to my body and its urges throughout the entire process. Immediate postpartum was very family centered and allowed for sweet and peaceful bonding time together. Postpartum care in the following weeks helped me feel confident as a new mom.Lastly, Pacifica taught me what it looks like to have quality healthcare that empowers the patient. I wish we lived in a world where the kind of health care Pacifica offers was more accessible to everyone. Thank you to every single midwife and student on the team and keep up the great work!

I recently was referred to Pacifica by my doula. After scheduling a virtual tour and following up to begin services with them. I was told to email and move forward after giving them my due date. One of their midwives I spoke with to move forward with service never mentioned they would need to check the schedule or see if they have openings. I was lead to believe I could give birth at their facility. The woman emails me and tells me they no longer have availability to accommodate me. I was floored and very disappointed by the level of care and service to a pregnant woman especially when I was in communication with them for several weeks. Be careful when dealing with their staff. As a 31 week pregnant woman it was not only disheartening but unprofessional.

I cannot say enough about our incredible experience with Pacifica. We were cared for by the Pacifica team from the very start of our pregnancy. The midwives here are the most passionate people. They are extremely knowledgeable, incredible listeners and care deeply about their patients. We looked forward to every appointment with our midwives. Ultimately, my health risked us out of birthing at Pacifica but the midwives were the only reason we were able to have the unmedicated birth that we hoped for even though we were in the hospital. We just wrapped up our 6 week postpartum appointment and will miss the team so much. We will definitely return to Pacifica for our next pregnancy and birth.

I received excellent, competent, personalized care at Pacifica. The midwives there are both knowledgeable and sensitive. They provide personalized care, ensuring the safety and comfort of mamas and babies in a home-like space that is close to multiple hospitals should the need for transfer arise.

This review is long overdue. My son is now 10 months old and Pacifica Family Maternity Center (PFMC) has been nothing short of a positive community. Where do I begin? No words can describe the emotional impact and detailed care-giving that PFMC does in spades. They are more than just midwife professionals. They are passionate. They are attentive. They all possess unfathomable amounts of emotional intelligence and patience. My wife and I always felt safe, respected, understood, and very well cared for.We chose PFMC because we wanted a more natural birthing experience. A hospital environment is not the most comfortable for us, and we wanted to feel more at ease and when bringing a being into the world. Additionally, weve had some unpleasant experiences with hospitals where care was rushed, not personalized (get through patients as fast as possible), and there tended to be a push to medication instead of more natural methods. I could go on and on. Fortunately for us, PFMC isnt anything like this and instead made us feel more at home and part of a trusted family. They are always informative and provided guidance, and never judgment.The team that we had were Cindy, Kavita, Jaqxun, AMaya, Jinny, Amanda, Sydney, Lacey. There were others as well, depending on the rotation. All were incredibly knowledgeable, supportive, attentive, patient, and just downright awesome. They all complemented each other extremely well. I was impressed with how much they even knew about different folkloric traditions of pre/postnatal care (e.g., postpartum confinement) and they were all very respective to our culture and background and ultimately whatever/however we decided to do things. They also continue to study and broaden their existing knowledge and bring forth exciting studies, stories, stats, technical concepts, etc, and share it. Im glad they continue to push the boundaries and do their own research and cross-check it for us, which is more helpful than any advance google search I can do (and I do a ton in my line of work).As for the rest of the experience?Well, I dont want to jump to a lot of details since the journey is a rather personal one. What I can say is that we ended up having an unplanned birth at a hospital, and Cindy, Sydney, Kavita were there every step of the way and continued to provide more support than we could ever ask for. It felt like we had our own personal advisors/therapists, and they were able to be a lot more informative and supportive than the nurses/doctors at the hospital, and helped us stray away from certain decisions. When things are unplanned, it can be hectic. Luckily they were with us the entire time and they provided a lot of emotional support and made an uncomfortable situation more soothing. I can continue on and write about how special and impactful each person made us feel, but it would just end up being much longer than is deemed appropriate for this review space.At the end of the day, we have a happy, healthy boy, and were very glad that we had PFMC the whole way. Should we decide to have another child, I know we will want to do this with PFMC again.

Wow, they are awesome! My wife wanted to have natural childbirth. She didnt want to give birth in a hospital, but was not ready for a home birth either. We ended up with Pacifica Maternity Center. They were honestly attentive, careful, sounded most understanding, experienced and trustworthy. My wife is very picky when it comes to planning important things. She usually researches every little details. And Midwifes from PFMC checked every her requests. Now our baby is about 6 weeks and we recently had our last check up with PFMC. Totally recommend.

My wife calls the midwifes here fairies - they do a lot in a lovely way; and the place itself has a very relaxing atmosphere.

Amazing care and beautiful, intimate space.