Home Birth in San Diego
All Families are Welcome!
Experience
Brooke has attended over 2000 births as a midwife and has a variety of experience working in a hospital, a birth center, and homes. The importance of experience can’t be understated when it comes to safety. It makes all the difference!
CNM Privileges
Being a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) comes with some bonuses! Brooke can prescribe medications for you if needed AND is the only home birth midwife in San Diego who has a back up physician. So if you need to transfer to the hospital, you'll have a natural birth-friendly provider waiting for you.
We Accept Tricare and Medi-Cal!
Brooke accepts Tricare and MediCal insurances to better meet your needs
A Midwife's Story
Meet Brooke Ray
Brooke’s path to midwifery began with the homebirths of her own children. They sparked in her a passion for guarding the sacredness of birth that still burns in her today.
After the births of her own three children she became a doula, a childbirth educator and a midwife’s apprentice. As her children grew she went to Nursing School to become a Registered Nurse and then earned a Master’s Degree in Midwifery from UCSF. Her first job as a Certified Nurse Midwife was at the UCSD Birth Center. She worked there for six years before starting her own homebirth practice. Homebirth was her original inspiration and continues to be her favorite setting for childbirth.
Throughout her career she has been committed to making homebirth more accessible for all and has worked hard to meet the requirements to contract with MediCal and Tricare.
- Excellent Safety Record
- Nurturing Personality
- Respect for Women
- Dedicated to Birth Equity
1000's of
Happy Clients
Top Tier
Suturing Skills
100's of
Referrals & Resources
Our Services
What We Offer
The San Diego Home Birth Package
A home birth with Brooke is all inclusive. You get all your prenatal testing, prenatal visits, labor & birth, a water birth option, and postpartum home visits in this package. Brooke will be at all of your prenatal visits, your birth and the follow up visits making this a great option for people who want to know and bond with the person who will be at their birth.
Convenient Midwife Office
The Homebirth Midwife office is clean and modern and centrally located in Mission Valley. It is a dynamic space shared with a chiropractor, who specializes in pregnancy and newborn babies, and popular pelvic floor therapists. Prenatal Yoga classes and Parenting classes are also held here.
Insurance Billing Services Included
After your baby is born and it comes time to submit a claim to your insurance company for reimbursement, Brooke provides insurance billing services at no additional charge.
What's all the hype about....
Water Birth
Water boasts several benefits, the most striking being it’s ability to decrease the pain of labor. It provides instant relief for almost everyone who tries it!
Other benefits of laboring in the water are:
- Ease of movement, which can make labor more efficient
- Improved circulation
- Reduced risk of vaginal tearing
Praise
What Our Clients Say
Rated 5 out of 5 stars based on 22 customer reviews.
- Jessica HickeyWe are so grateful to have had Brooke supporting us through our fourth pregnancy & first home birth. Brooke and her team were amazing— they are super friendly and professional, and made me feel very comfortable and cared for throughout my pregnancy, the birth, and postpartum. If you are looking for a midwife, I highly recommend Brooke! - 7/25/2024read moreread less×Jessica Hickey- 7/25/2024We are so grateful to have had Brooke supporting us through our fourth pregnancy & first home birth. Brooke and her team were amazing— they are super friendly and professional, and made me feel very comfortable and cared for throughout my pregnancy, the birth, and postpartum. If you are looking for a midwife, I highly recommend Brooke!Ariana BrookshierBrooke was my midwife for my second pregnancy and I am beyond grateful for her thoughtful care throughout the whole process. She took the time at each prenatal appointment to go over any questions or concerns that I may have. She never rushed the appointments and addressed each concern with patience and care. It is extremely evident that Brooke has a huge heart for pregnant mamas and their babies. I have never experienced care like hers from another health care provider. Brooke’s calm spirit was extremely comforting at my home birth. I felt completely safe knowing her extensive experience. Feeling safe was a big concern for me, but I never doubted my safety or my baby’s while under Brooke’s care. Brigid, Brooke’s assistant, was also apart of every prenatal appointment and a big part of my birth. She is extremely patient and nurturing. They made an amazing team and I will miss seeing them both on a regular basis. One thing that really stood out to me was Brooke and Brigid’s desire to get to know me and my family on a personal level before our home birth. I found this to be so valuable and it made me feel extremely comfortable inviting them in to our home. I will shout Brooke’s praises from the rooftops forever. If I have another baby, there is no question that I will want Brooke as my midwife. - 7/06/2024read moreread less×Ariana Brookshier- 7/06/2024Brooke was my midwife for my second pregnancy and I am beyond grateful for her thoughtful care throughout the whole process. She took the time at each prenatal appointment to go over any questions or concerns that I may have. She never rushed the appointments and addressed each concern with patience and care. It is extremely evident that Brooke has a huge heart for pregnant mamas and their babies. I have never experienced care like hers from another health care provider. Brooke’s calm spirit was extremely comforting at my home birth. I felt completely safe knowing her extensive experience. Feeling safe was a big concern for me, but I never doubted my safety or my baby’s while under Brooke’s care. Brigid, Brooke’s assistant, was also apart of every prenatal appointment and a big part of my birth. She is extremely patient and nurturing. They made an amazing team and I will miss seeing them both on a regular basis. One thing that really stood out to me was Brooke and Brigid’s desire to get to know me and my family on a personal level before our home birth. I found this to be so valuable and it made me feel extremely comfortable inviting them in to our home. I will shout Brooke’s praises from the rooftops forever. If I have another baby, there is no question that I will want Brooke as my midwife.polina samI received exceptional care from Brooke and her assistants. I truly felt cared for and enjoyed my prenatal visits with her. Brooke was always uplifting, caring, wise, and friendly. She always took her time to go over necessary information and never made me feel rushed. I felt like my wishes were respected and honored. Brooke went above and beyond to help me with my insurance issues. Ultimately, I felt like she really cared about every small and big thing related to pregnancy. I had a wonderful experience with her services and miss seeing her often. - 5/23/2024read moreread less×polina sam- 5/23/2024I received exceptional care from Brooke and her assistants. I truly felt cared for and enjoyed my prenatal visits with her. Brooke was always uplifting, caring, wise, and friendly. She always took her time to go over necessary information and never made me feel rushed. I felt like my wishes were respected and honored. Brooke went above and beyond to help me with my insurance issues. Ultimately, I felt like she really cared about every small and big thing related to pregnancy. I had a wonderful experience with her services and miss seeing her often.Diana TobeyI had an unexpected change in my birth plan late in my third trimester with UCSD’s birth center and I was so stressed out about who would deliver my baby because none of their OB/GYNs were available. Thankfully, the universe conspired to bring me into Brooke’s midwifery practice. Everyone from my doula to my chiropractor recommended her, so I was ecstatic that she could take me on as a client! It turned out that Brooke was one of the most experienced and beloved midwives in San Diego. She actually helped to get the UCSD birth center started, was one half of the extremely well reviewed Mother to Mother midwifery, and now runs her own private practice where she supports mothers across their entire journey (including postpartum for regular OB/GYN needs) and trains new midwives (such as Brigid, who was also amazing). All that experience translated to an incredible intuition on what to do during pregnancy and labor, with the confidence to support you through any issues that might come up. I experienced an early rupture of membranes and Brooke guided me through it with natural remedies and without any pressure to speed things up, while checking on our vitals to make sure we were both healthy. As we entered the second day, she recommended a chiropractor who could help to naturally induce labor, and that worked like a charm! I had a speedy labor with no complications and no tearing, and welcomed my new baby safe and sound in my own home. It was a beautiful experience and I’m so thankful to Brooke and her team for making it happen! If you are considering a natural home birth and are low risk, I highly recommend Brooke and her team. When I first got pregnant, I knew I wanted a more natural birth (I had my first child in a freestanding birth center), so I thought UCSD was the best of both worlds: a birth center with the backing of a hospital in case anything went wrong. In practice, I felt like my pregnancy was treated and managed more like a disease; it seemed like decisions were made to avoid legal risks rather than based on the actual risk level of my pregnancy. Of course, complications can emerge anywhere, whether you decide to go with a hospital or home birth, but personally I wish I could go back in time and choose Brooke from the start! Oh and Brooke also has an amazing person on her team (Maureen) who helped us submit paperwork for state disability and insurance, and luckily we were able to recoup a significant portion of the fee from our insurance. That was the cherry on top! - 5/14/2024read moreread less×Diana Tobey- 5/14/2024I had an unexpected change in my birth plan late in my third trimester with UCSD’s birth center and I was so stressed out about who would deliver my baby because none of their OB/GYNs were available. Thankfully, the universe conspired to bring me into Brooke’s midwifery practice. Everyone from my doula to my chiropractor recommended her, so I was ecstatic that she could take me on as a client! It turned out that Brooke was one of the most experienced and beloved midwives in San Diego. She actually helped to get the UCSD birth center started, was one half of the extremely well reviewed Mother to Mother midwifery, and now runs her own private practice where she supports mothers across their entire journey (including postpartum for regular OB/GYN needs) and trains new midwives (such as Brigid, who was also amazing). All that experience translated to an incredible intuition on what to do during pregnancy and labor, with the confidence to support you through any issues that might come up. I experienced an early rupture of membranes and Brooke guided me through it with natural remedies and without any pressure to speed things up, while checking on our vitals to make sure we were both healthy. As we entered the second day, she recommended a chiropractor who could help to naturally induce labor, and that worked like a charm! I had a speedy labor with no complications and no tearing, and welcomed my new baby safe and sound in my own home. It was a beautiful experience and I’m so thankful to Brooke and her team for making it happen! If you are considering a natural home birth and are low risk, I highly recommend Brooke and her team. When I first got pregnant, I knew I wanted a more natural birth (I had my first child in a freestanding birth center), so I thought UCSD was the best of both worlds: a birth center with the backing of a hospital in case anything went wrong. In practice, I felt like my pregnancy was treated and managed more like a disease; it seemed like decisions were made to avoid legal risks rather than based on the actual risk level of my pregnancy. Of course, complications can emerge anywhere, whether you decide to go with a hospital or home birth, but personally I wish I could go back in time and choose Brooke from the start! Oh and Brooke also has an amazing person on her team (Maureen) who helped us submit paperwork for state disability and insurance, and luckily we were able to recoup a significant portion of the fee from our insurance. That was the cherry on top!
- Morgan SeagravesI moved to San Diego when I was around 23 weeks pregnant and found Brooke to be our new provider for our third pregnancy. I had 2 previous unmedicated hospital births, and I was looking for a more holistic experience with a home birth. Brooke (and her assisting midwife, Brigid) could not have been more perfect for what I was looking for. She was happy to discuss any of my fears regarding home birth and put my husband and me at ease with the first facetime call we had since we were initially long distance. My birth was a wonderful experience, and I felt very held and cared for before, during, and after for those first postpartum weeks. They gave me all the tools to prepare for a home birth.These women are passionate about supporting a mother through pregnancy and birth and beyond, and I am so happy I found them! - 4/25/2024read moreread less×Morgan Seagraves- 4/25/2024I moved to San Diego when I was around 23 weeks pregnant and found Brooke to be our new provider for our third pregnancy. I had 2 previous unmedicated hospital births, and I was looking for a more holistic experience with a home birth. Brooke (and her assisting midwife, Brigid) could not have been more perfect for what I was looking for. She was happy to discuss any of my fears regarding home birth and put my husband and me at ease with the first facetime call we had since we were initially long distance. My birth was a wonderful experience, and I felt very held and cared for before, during, and after for those first postpartum weeks. They gave me all the tools to prepare for a home birth.These women are passionate about supporting a mother through pregnancy and birth and beyond, and I am so happy I found them!Sean WaggonerBrooke is our Fairy Godmother! We were a little panicked because we had to find a midwife for our home birth with only a few weeks left before our due date. She made us feel so well cared for, and helped us get everything ready in time for our delivery. When the day came she and her assistant came right away when we called (our labor was very quick so she showed up within 30 min and we had our baby within 30 min), helped us with labor and welcoming our baby to the world. She accomodated us with our umbilical cord burning and let us dictate how we would like our birth to go. She followed up afterwards with visits to our home to check on us (the whole family) and has helped with every step of the way. If you are reading this and searching for a midwife, stop searching and call Brook Ray! You won't find anyone better! - 4/03/2024read moreread less×Sean Waggoner- 4/03/2024Brooke is our Fairy Godmother! We were a little panicked because we had to find a midwife for our home birth with only a few weeks left before our due date. She made us feel so well cared for, and helped us get everything ready in time for our delivery. When the day came she and her assistant came right away when we called (our labor was very quick so she showed up within 30 min and we had our baby within 30 min), helped us with labor and welcoming our baby to the world. She accomodated us with our umbilical cord burning and let us dictate how we would like our birth to go. She followed up afterwards with visits to our home to check on us (the whole family) and has helped with every step of the way. If you are reading this and searching for a midwife, stop searching and call Brook Ray! You won't find anyone better!
- Elizabeth VoorheesI am forever grateful for Brooke’s care during both of my pregnancies. I was able to labor truly undisturbed, and having both of our girls enter the world peacefully is truly the greatest gift. Brooke is attentive, considerate and thorough, and her many years of experience really show in how she practices midwifery. We love Brooke! - 3/01/2024read moreread less×Elizabeth Voorhees- 3/01/2024I am forever grateful for Brooke’s care during both of my pregnancies. I was able to labor truly undisturbed, and having both of our girls enter the world peacefully is truly the greatest gift. Brooke is attentive, considerate and thorough, and her many years of experience really show in how she practices midwifery. We love Brooke!Ariel FreudenthalI am 11 weeks out of my third birth with Brooke. She is a treasure and I couldn’t imagine being with anyone but her. I want to have more babies just so I can have her as a midwife:). There are a few things that really make her practice stand out and are worth noting that would be different than other midwives. First of all she is Certified Nurse Midwife, this is the highest level of midwife and I don’t think there are any other CNMs in San Diego area doing homebirths. This means she can prescribe medication and has more years of training. She started her career in hospitals and switched to homebirth. She has a medical side that can be very helpful if there are any complications. I feel safer with her knowing she has such extensive training and experience. She works with a doctor, Dr. Lac Vu, who is the backup doc for the birth centers and many home birth moms. Twice she called him on his cell and he answered right away and spoke to her about my complication. It’s nice knowing she had a doc in her back pocket who could do a C-section in the middle of the night if needed who is fine with homebirth and knows he’s there just in case. He also will be the one to deliver if you go to the hospital. Brooke’s prenatal care is top notch. Each appt is 1 hour long and you can also text anytime. The hour allows you to also talk about feelings or anything on your mind. This build a strong relationship and I now feel like she’s apart of my family. Even if I knew I was having a C-section I would choose to have her do all my prenatal care. Brooke also does well woman care. I get my Pap smears etc from her and it is such a nice experience. It feels like what care should be. She isn’t rushing to fill her schedule, she truly cares about you and your experience. I feel loved by Brooke. I have had three births with her and each was a totally different experience and she supported be very well in each. Her words of wisdom gave me strength and her intuition is spot on. I had one hospital transfer, one water birth and one next to my bed. She helped me move into great positions with all and I never once felt scared because I knew she would always keep me safe. She’s my guardian at birth and I can’t speak more highly about her. She also comes to visit multiple times during postpartum. Not having to go to a doctor is amazing. She checks on breastfeeding and the baby and even helped teach my husband how to help me when he was struggling to know what to do. She does book up so make sure to call her early in your pregnancy. I believe she is only taking a few moms per month. - 1/22/2024read moreread less×Ariel Freudenthal- 1/22/2024I am 11 weeks out of my third birth with Brooke. She is a treasure and I couldn’t imagine being with anyone but her. I want to have more babies just so I can have her as a midwife:). There are a few things that really make her practice stand out and are worth noting that would be different than other midwives. First of all she is Certified Nurse Midwife, this is the highest level of midwife and I don’t think there are any other CNMs in San Diego area doing homebirths. This means she can prescribe medication and has more years of training. She started her career in hospitals and switched to homebirth. She has a medical side that can be very helpful if there are any complications. I feel safer with her knowing she has such extensive training and experience. She works with a doctor, Dr. Lac Vu, who is the backup doc for the birth centers and many home birth moms. Twice she called him on his cell and he answered right away and spoke to her about my complication. It’s nice knowing she had a doc in her back pocket who could do a C-section in the middle of the night if needed who is fine with homebirth and knows he’s there just in case. He also will be the one to deliver if you go to the hospital. Brooke’s prenatal care is top notch. Each appt is 1 hour long and you can also text anytime. The hour allows you to also talk about feelings or anything on your mind. This build a strong relationship and I now feel like she’s apart of my family. Even if I knew I was having a C-section I would choose to have her do all my prenatal care. Brooke also does well woman care. I get my Pap smears etc from her and it is such a nice experience. It feels like what care should be. She isn’t rushing to fill her schedule, she truly cares about you and your experience. I feel loved by Brooke. I have had three births with her and each was a totally different experience and she supported be very well in each. Her words of wisdom gave me strength and her intuition is spot on. I had one hospital transfer, one water birth and one next to my bed. She helped me move into great positions with all and I never once felt scared because I knew she would always keep me safe. She’s my guardian at birth and I can’t speak more highly about her. She also comes to visit multiple times during postpartum. Not having to go to a doctor is amazing. She checks on breastfeeding and the baby and even helped teach my husband how to help me when he was struggling to know what to do. She does book up so make sure to call her early in your pregnancy. I believe she is only taking a few moms per month.Calie GrossheimI truly can’t thank Brooke enough. She was the best support through pregnancy and truly cared for me as a whole human being. Her wealth of knowledge and experience made me feel so incredibly safe with her. I look back on my son’s pregnancy and birthday as some of the most precious times of my life, and I owe so much of that to Brooke. - 1/15/2024read moreread less×Calie Grossheim- 1/15/2024I truly can’t thank Brooke enough. She was the best support through pregnancy and truly cared for me as a whole human being. Her wealth of knowledge and experience made me feel so incredibly safe with her. I look back on my son’s pregnancy and birthday as some of the most precious times of my life, and I owe so much of that to Brooke.Jeremy WatsonAfter having our first child at a birthday center, we wanted to explore having a home birth for our second. The most important part for us was to find a midwife who made us comfortable through her experience and approach. Brooke was the perfect fit for us, as she had an amazing reputation in the community, tremendous experience, and knew how to ease our anxieties throughout the process. Brooke helped us navigate all the tests, scans, paperwork, and process so easily that we ultimately only needed to see a doctor once (to establish care). We couldn't have picked a better midwife team for us, and credit Brooke for helping us have a smooth pregnancy and amazing home birth! - 6/28/2023read moreread less×Jeremy Watson- 6/28/2023After having our first child at a birthday center, we wanted to explore having a home birth for our second. The most important part for us was to find a midwife who made us comfortable through her experience and approach. Brooke was the perfect fit for us, as she had an amazing reputation in the community, tremendous experience, and knew how to ease our anxieties throughout the process. Brooke helped us navigate all the tests, scans, paperwork, and process so easily that we ultimately only needed to see a doctor once (to establish care). We couldn't have picked a better midwife team for us, and credit Brooke for helping us have a smooth pregnancy and amazing home birth!
Our Team
Meet Our Team
Call Us!
Brooke Ray
CNM, RN
Aja Youman
Licensed Midwife
Brigid Merritt
Student Midwife
Maureen George
Office Manager & Biller