Comadres Midwifery

What Comadres Midwifery does

Comadres Midwifery is a private, founder-owned home birth and perinatal wellness practice based in Sebastopol, California, operating from a 20-foot yurt at the Brigid's Well perinatal wellness center in West Sonoma County. Founded by Shiela VanDerveer in 2016 (per the website copyright; the founder has been a licensed midwife since 2006), the practice serves families across the North Bay Area, including Sonoma and Marin Counties, with a model that combines Western clinical midwifery care with herbal medicine, homeopathy, flower essences, essential oils, and ceremonial/somatic practices.

The core service is midwife-attended home birth, delivered as a comprehensive package covering prenatal care, 24-hour phone access, birth attendance, and a minimum of five postpartum visits, supplemented by birth tub provision, placenta encapsulation, lactation support, and newborn pediatric care. The practice has built an ecosystem of complementary offerings, including a la carte prenatal and postpartum visits, fertility counseling and intrauterine insemination through a partnership with Community Midwifery (North Bay Fertility and Conception Care), holistic pelvic care, Birth Spirituality and Healing Coaching, well-person reproductive care, and the proprietary Heartfolk Medicinals herbal product line.

The business operates as a direct-to-consumer professional services practice with no disclosed pricing, no external funding, and a small 1-10 person team anchored by the founder. Revenue is generated through service packages, individual visits, and product sales. Customer acquisition relies on organic word-of-mouth, Facebook and Instagram presence, and a referral network of 50+ complementary practitioners across the North Bay Area. The owner also operates The Gatekeepers Fund, a separate nonprofit providing midwifery care in underserved areas.

Name

Comadres Midwifery

Legal name

Comadres Midwifery

Website

https://comadresmidwifery.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Comadres Midwifery is a private, founder-owned home birth and holistic perinatal wellness practice in Sebastopol, California, serving families across the North Bay Area with midwife-attended home birth, prenatal and postpartum care, fertility services, and the Heartfolk Medicinals herbal product line.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Midwifery and Perinatal Healthcare Services

NAICS

Offices of Physicians (6211), Ambulatory Health Care Services (621), Family Planning Centers (621410)

SIC

Services-Home Health Care Services (8082), Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Midwifery & Birth Centers (HLAFAJAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Labor & Delivery / Obstetric Hospitalist (OB Hospitalist) Services (HLAKAJAK), General Obstetrics (Prenatal/Antepartum Care) (HLAKAJAA), Postpartum Newborn Care & Parent Education (NCS) (HSAAACAA)

Keywords

• Home birth services
• Midwifery care
• Prenatal postpartum care
• Fertility counseling
• Herbal perinatal products

Headquarters

HQ city

Sebastopol

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Home Birth Midwifery Services: Comprehensive midwifery care for home birth including prenatal care, birth attendance, and postpartum visits. Services include genetic screening, labs, ultrasounds, referrals, birth tub rental, and placenta encapsulation (additional fee).
2. Individual Prenatal and Postpartum Visits: A la carte midwifery visits for clients not committed to full home birth package, including those traveling or needing additional support alongside other care providers.
3. Fertility and Conception Care: Fertility counseling and intrauterine insemination services through North Bay Fertility and Conception Care partnership, serving LGBTQ, trans, and straight families.
4. Holistic Pelvic Care and Birth Healing: Therapeutic sessions for pelvic floor healing and birth spirituality coaching combining somatic practices, breathwork, and ceremonial practices.
5. Well Person Care: Reproductive wellness exams including physical exams, pap smears, breast exams, lab testing, mammogram referrals, fertility counseling, natural family planning, and sexuality counseling.
6. Heartfolk Medicinals Products: Sale of proprietary herbal product line for perinatal period including pregnancy formulas, birth support, and postpartum care products.
7. Nutritional and Herbal Consultations: Individualized self-care plans and guidance for optimal nutrition and herbal allies for the perinatal period for non-home birth clients.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Comadres Midwifery is a private midwifery practice providing holistic home birth services including comprehensive prenatal care, birth attendance by licensed midwives, and postpartum visits. The practice also sells the proprietary Heartfolk Medicinals herbal product line formulated for the childbearing years, and offers complementary services such as holistic pelvic care, fertility counseling, well-person reproductive care, and pediatric care for newborns in the North Bay Area of California.

Product overview

Comadres Midwifery is a home birth, wellness, and healing practice offering comprehensive perinatal care services. The core offering centers on Home Birth Services as the primary product, supplemented by a portfolio of add-on modules including prenatal visits, postpartum care packages, breast/chest feeding support, holistic pelvic care, birth spirituality coaching, pediatric care, and fertility/well-person services. The practice also operates North Bay Fertility and Conception Care as a sub-brand in partnership with Community Midwifery, and sells Heartfolk Medicinals as its own practitioner-grade herbal product line. Services are delivered through a 20-foot yurt at Brigid's Well perinatal wellness center in West Sonoma County.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Home Birth Services Comprehensive midwife-attended home birth package for families in the North Bay Area of California, including prenatal care, 24-hour phone access, genetic screening, labs, ultrasounds, OB backup consultation, referrals, birth tub provision, birth attendance, and a minimum of five postpartum visits.
• Individual Prenatal Visits Standalone prenatal appointments available a la carte for individuals not committed to a full home birth package, including travelers needing care or those adding midwifery support to hospital-based birth. Includes counseling, prenatal evaluation, nutritional and herbal recommendations, and referrals.
• Postpartum Care Package Six postpartum care visits including in-home visits of 60-90 minutes each, a birth process session, lactation support and counseling, nutritional/supplemental guidance, and parenting navigation. Designed for families regardless of where the birth took place.
• Individual Postpartum Visits Standalone postpartum care visits for families regardless of birth place, including clinical evaluation of mother/birthing person and baby, referrals, bodyfeeding support, and nutritional and herbal recommendations.
• Breast/Chest/Body Feeding Education & Support Dedicated lactation support appointments addressing variations on normal feeding including low milk supply, difficult latches, sore nipples, reflux, and lip/tongue ties, drawing on ancient wisdom, herbal, and homeopathic support.
• Holistic Pelvic Care Pelvic floor healing sessions combining midwife expertise with intake assessment, cranial holds, breathwork, visualization, and internal/external release work for trauma, childbirth recovery, or general pelvic wellness.
• Birth Spirituality and Healing Coaching Sessions (BSHC) Somatic practices, active listening, meditations, visualizations, and earth-based ceremonial practices for integrating birth experiences, addressing birth trauma through ceremony, resourcing, breathwork, energy work, meditation, and visualizations. Each session is 1 hour 30 minutes.
• Pediatric Care Licensed pediatric provider services for newborns through toddler years, including body feeding support, nutritional consultation for feeding parent, growth assessment, informed vaccine consent, and referrals.
• North Bay Fertility and Conception Care Fertility counseling, preconception care, and intrauterine insemination services for queer, trans, gender nonconforming, and straight families in the North Bay Area, offered in partnership with Community Midwifery.
• Well Person Care Reproductive wellness exams including physical exams, pap smears, breast/chest exams, lab testing, STI testing, fertility testing, mammogram referrals, reproductive health counseling, sexuality counseling, and nutritional and herbal support.
• Fertility Counseling & Conception Care Midwife-led fertility counseling and preconception care including self-care plans, labs, nutritional and herbal support, and holistic intrauterine insemination for straight and queer families.
• Heartfolk Medicinals Proprietary practitioner line of herbal products for the childbearing years, including specialty formulas for each stage of pregnancy, various conditions, birth and postpartum support, and individual formulations.
• Nutritional Services & Herbal Consultations Individualized self-care plans, guidance, and referrals for optimal nutrition and herbal allies for the perinatal period, available for non-home birth clients.
• Placenta Encapsulation Placenta encapsulation services provided upon request to home birth clients for an additional fee.

Named customers13 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Brigid's WellcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPerinatal wellness center operated by Comadres where they cultivate earth-based connection and ancestral wisdom. Serves as the practice's sacred container for healing, care and connection on reproductive journeys. Located on same property as practice location in West Sonoma County.
• Community MidwiferycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to create North Bay Fertility and Conception Care, expanding reproductive wellness services to meet needs of North Bay families. Combines Comadres's unique loving care with Community Midwifery's services for queer, trans, gender nonconforming and straight families seeking fertility and conception support.
• Gena McCarthycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerShiela took Gena McCarthy's certification in Birth Spirituality and Healing Coaching and incorporates this modality into her midwifery care. This powerful somatic-based coaching practice addresses birth trauma through ceremony, resourcing, breathwork, energy work, meditation and visualizations.
• Referral Network PractitionersminorOthersExtensive network of 50+ complementary healthcare practitioners in North Bay Area including acupuncturists (Jennifer Monin, Redwood Needle), massage therapists (Mo Washburn), chiropractors, doulas (Sonoma County Doulas, Better Birth Sonoma), therapists, and specialists who refer clients to and receive referrals from Comadres.
• Gatekeepers FundminorOthersNonprofit founded by Shiela VanDerveer with mission to 'give childbirth back to the family' by providing midwifery care in areas of need. Has provided care in post-Katrina New Orleans and Anapra, Mexico. Currently developing programming to support Birth Village in Kerala, India.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Mountain Midwifery Center: Midwife-led birth center offering home-like birth experience with holistic prenatal and postpartum care. Comparable to Comadres in the midwifery model of care, service portfolio (prenatal through postpartum), and community-based positioning.
• Community Midwifery: Comadres's actual strategic partner on the North Bay Fertility and Conception Care sub-brand. Directly comparable midwife-led practice with overlapping service model and Bay Area footprint.
• The Midwife Center: A freestanding birth center and midwifery practice offering out-of-hospital birth with licensed midwives. Highly comparable to Comadres as a midwife-led, home/birth-center model emphasizing personalized, holistic care.
• Bryn Mawr Birth Center: Independent midwife practice offering home and birth-center care with holistic prenatal, postpartum, and well-woman services. Closely mirrors Comadres's product portfolio and care philosophy.
• Heart & Hands Midwifery: Midwife-led practice providing home birth, prenatal, postpartum, lactation, and well-person care. Directly comparable service mix, with similar emphasis on personalized, longer-visit model.

Regional players

• Marin Family Birth Center: Birth center serving Marin and surrounding counties in the North Bay Area — overlapping directly with Comadres's geographic catchment. Comparable midwifery model of care for families seeking out-of-hospital birth.
• Bay Area Homebirth Collective: Regional directory/collective of home birth midwives serving the San Francisco Bay Area, including Sonoma County where Comadres operates. Comparable as a regional home birth service competitor and ecosystem participant.

Emerging players

• Mama Natural: Digital content and product platform serving the natural birth and holistic perinatal wellness market. Comparable to Comadres's holistic, herbal, and natural-birth positioning, though distributed digitally rather than as clinical services.
• WishGarden Herbs: Herbal products company with dedicated perinatal and pregnancy formulations. Comparable to Comadres's Heartfolk Medicinals line as a competitor in the practitioner-grade perinatal herbal category.

Broad incumbents

• UCSF Nurse-Midwifery Service: Hospital-affiliated midwifery program offering the midwifery model within a hospital safety net. Competes for the same sovereignty-seeking patients in the Bay Area while providing OB/NICU backup that Comadres cannot.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ComadresMidwifery
• Instagraminstagram.com/shelaghnagig17

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Comadres Midwifery