Redding Midwife Nora McNeill A 50 Year Legacy of Beautiful Birthing Experiences

“Nora is amazing. She knows just what to say to each person to comfort them and guide through the birth process.” This and many other similar glowing statements praising Nora McNeill were expressed recently at a celebration honoring Nora’s 50 years of helping women experience the miracle of childbirth with calm, loving, gentle, nurturing guidance.

Nora’s calm and reassuring touch helps alleviate expectant mothers’ anxiety, leading to more peaceful, joyful birth experiences.
Photos provided by Nora McNeill

One woman tearfully testified to Nora’s generous and welcoming spirit. She and her husband had made careful plans to give birth in their mountain home. They had traveled many miles to Redding to shop, when her water broke. A fast-moving storm prevented them from returning home and they didn’t know where to turn. They called their hometown doctor from their car, rain pouring down, the road home was closed due to snow. Their doctor said he knew of a good midwife in Redding and gave them Nora’s address. They knocked on Nora’s door and asked if she could help them. Nora welcomed them warmly, fed them and helped them have the beautiful birth experience they had hoped to have, right there in her home.

Midwife assisted births, whether at home or in a birthing center such as Nora’s birthing sanctuary, allow plenty of time for families to bond with their new little bundle of joy.

The Journey to Midwifery

Nora became captivated by the beauty of birth when, as a little girl, she watched her cat having kittens. Little did she know that experience would set her feet on a path to a midwifery practice that has immeasurably enriched the lives of over 1,000 mothers and babies. 

“I’ll never forget the first birth I attended,” Nora says. “As I was driving home from the birth, I looked down at my hands and said, ‘Wow, these hands just caught a brand-new baby.’ And I still think that today. It’s a pretty amazing thing.”

Nora has faced challenges and prejudice over the years despite the fact many current studies show that midwifery care leads to lower cesarean rates, reduced preterm birth and low birth weight, improved maternal satisfaction and breastfeeding rates and safe outcomes for planned home or birth center deliveries in low-risk pregnancies.

Nora is dedicated to teaching and mentoring the next generation of midwives.

Normal and Natural Births

Nora prefers the term “normal birth” to what many call natural birth. “The term ‘natural birth’ is used by the medical model to mean any birth that is not a cesarean section,” Nora says. “I wanted to use a term that differentiates birth from the medical model. I started thinking that ‘I am working to help people have a normal birth.’”

She has come to understand that fear and anxiety complicate the birth experience, often causing undue tension and pain. “The normal process is pretty simple. If you watch animals giving birth, they are just doing what their bodies are telling them to do. They are just instinctively giving birth.”

Prenatal and Birth Care

Most prospective parents looking for a home birth with Nora come to her by word of mouth. “They’ve heard a testimonial from friends about what it was like having a baby with me,” she says. “I realized with my first that the hospital birth was not what I was wanting,” says Noel McNeil, mother of eight. “All our babies have been birthed with Nora and she is family now.”

Nora offers a free one to one and half-hour consultation, during which she explains her philosophy about birthing and what to expect preparing for and experiencing a birth in her birthing center. Pregnant moms come once a month for prenatal exams until 30 weeks of gestation, every two weeks after that until 36 weeks and then every week until the baby is born.

Moms labor and deliver in the beautiful birthing suite in Nora’s home, just two minutes from Mercy Hospital. A comfortable arrangement, including a charmingly decorated family room, two bedrooms and two bathrooms, create a nurturing space for parents and any of their chosen birth attendants to experience the miracle of birth. A lush lawn and lovely garden provide a space for those wishing to labor outdoors in nature.

Proper Nutrition is Key to a Healthy Gestation and Delivery

“Babies are made out of what moms eat,” Nora tells prospective moms. “Babies’ body tissues are made up of the nutrition that moms take in. Good nutrition helps mom’s body to safely carry a fetus for nine months. We ask at each prenatal appointment ‘What did you feed your baby today?’ We put the question where it belongs.”

Nora encourages mothers to be sure they have high quality nutrition after a cesarean to assist the uterine tissue to grow back strong and healthy so that if that mother becomes pregnant again and wants to avoid a cesarean section, her uterus will be better equipped to handle the challenges of labor. 

Support for Difficult Hospital Births

Nora is dedicated to giving the highest standard of care to her clients. She knows that some higher risk births are best supported in a hospital setting. Her assistant, Destiny Conover, can attest that Nora is there every step of the way, working with hospital medical teams to provide the best care possible for mom and baby. Destiny had a high-risk pregnancy and was confined to a hospital bed for several weeks. The baby came early and had to be placed in the NICU. “Nora was with me throughout this difficult journey, providing comfort & guidance.”

Passing on 50 Years of Wisdom

Nora has tried to retire several times over the years, but each time she has felt the deep calling to care for families urging her back to service. “I don’t know when I will retire,” she says. “But I feel it is important to pass on what I have learned to the next generation of midwives.” Student midwives provide extra support and attention to birthing moms in her practice as she mentors and trains them to eventually start practices of their own. Several midwives that Nora has mentored over the years spoke at her 50th anniversary celebration, expressing their gratitude for Nora’ deep wisdom she so generously shares with students and the high standards of care she teaches them.

What is most compelling about the home birth experience is the transformation that can occur for women who choose this way of bringing a child into the world. “After I had my first baby with Nora, I felt like I was a person, not just a number in a hospital,” says Brenda Porter with wonder in her voice and tears in her eyes. “It’s powerful to see women championing their birth,” Nora says. “Where they were initially timid and afraid and then come out of the experience empowered and strong.” 

To learn more about Nora or schedule a consultation, go to reddingmidwife.com or call (530) 638-0161.

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After an unhappy hospital birth experience, Stacey had the second of her two children at home with a midwife; a beautiful, peaceful experience with much reduced labor time and pain. One of her most precious photos is of her two-year-old son nestled on the couch smiling and holding his new, minutes-old brother in his arms.