The Midwives of Appalachia Get Organized Despite the region’s rich history of reproductive care, birth options remain incredibly limited. A group of midwives in Kentucky want to change that. Bill Frakes/Sports Illustrated/Getty When Laura Browning was pregnant for the first time, she knew what she wanted from her birth experience. She wanted a home birth with a midwife, ideally, and if that wasn’t possible, she wanted a nurse-midwife (who are typically hospital-based) to deliver her baby. She associated obstetricians with “quick in-and-out appointments” that lacked personal care and warmth. “I wanted to know who’s going to be delivering my baby—who’s going to be catching my baby—and have a relationship with them,” recalled Browning, who is now pregnant with her fourth child.