An Empowered Hospital Birth | Ericka Dalton, CNM

The provider you choose shapes the birth you have, but most families make that decision without ever really knowing who they are choosing or why it matters.

That is why I created Birth Your Way - so you never wonder if you chose the right person.

This week I sat down with Ericka Dalton, a Certified Nurse Midwife at A Woman's Place in Fort Collins, CO.

In this episode:

- Why a 3.4% C-section rate out of 230 births tells you everything about how a practice views birth
- The difference between a provider who sees birth as an illness and one who sees it as a normal part of life
- What prenatal care is actually supposed to feel like and why most people have never experienced it
- How to support yourself through fear prenatally and in the birth room
Everything you need to know about VBAC and why having an aligned provider makes all the difference
- The signs that it might be time to change your provider, even at 36 weeks
- What a successful birth actually looks like according to a midwife who has seen hundreds of them

Connect with Ericka and A Woman's Place:
Instagram: @awomansplacefortcollins
Website: awomansplacefc.com
Located in Fort Collins, CO: 2620 E Prospect Rd Suite 160
Book a free 15-minute meet and greet at the link above

Links and Resources:
Website: www.greatestjoydoula.com
Listen to the Birth Your Way Podcast 
on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/birth-your-way/id1891727848
and Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5XaaUhUPmPUB3497gTQSje
Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@birthyourwaypodcast

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome to Birth Your Way Fort Collins. I am thrilled today to have Erica Dalton, one of our local certified nurse midwives who works at a women's place. Welcome for having me. Thanks for coming on. Full disclosure, Erica is one of my midwives. I had the distinct pleasure of having an exam and then being like, would you like to be on my podcast?

unknown 0:29

It's perfect.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

I'm nice, Lita. I'm so thrilled to have you here. Women's Place has such a great reputation in the community, so I'm so happy to have you guys on. I would love for you to share what drew you to birth work, what brought you here.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Yeah, so kind of a long journey of wanting to empower women and be with women. Even when I was young, my ultimate goal was to be in the healthcare setting, but more of a baby doctor. And then as I got older, my sister actually had a baby when I was 16, and I got to be in the room for that experience. And it was just so eye-opening to see what the body can do. So I think that was kind of the first, oh, I think I want to work with women and support women. And then when I had my first baby in 2017, I was again kind of humbled and in awe of the nurses and the providers and all of the women that just rallied and made that experience so wonderful for me. So it was kind of in that moment. I was going into nursing school right after I had my baby, and I was drawn to that labor setting. So from there, I went on to have three more babies, but it was just always that almost innate need to nurture and support women in one of the most exciting and vulnerable experiences in their life.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

So you were always drawn to medicine. Yes. But then you saw your sister have a child, and then you had a child, and that kind of sealed it for you. This is for me. Yeah. It's so funny to hear a lot of birth workers have shared seeing a birth really drew them to it. And sometimes I think the narrative in society is oh, if you see birth, you'll see how scary it is. But the for people in the birth world will know it's amazing. Yeah, we're like, we won't get another.

unknown 2:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Yeah, it is really funny to you're right, that reflection of like, nope, that is exactly what I want to do and what I want to see. But I I do feel like sometimes society kind of turns that a little bit and makes it a little bit more scary.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

But and what drew you to it was really witnessing how powerful the body is. Tell me about your schooling and your credentials. So once you decided this is what I want to do and you were going to nursing school, tell us about your journey of getting licensed and yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

So first I started off as a women's infants nurse. So I did the postpartum and mother baby side. And then from there I switched into labor and delivery. And I actually worked in Greeley at a hospital that saw more high-risk patients and everything. So I kind of saw the scary side of labor and birth just because everyone was high-risk complication. Yeah, had complication. Birth was very much a sickness, which is hard to see when you're in this journey to midwifery.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

So honestly. Oh, sorry, I was going to clarify when birth was a sickness, was that the perspective of the provider or when women had a complication? Can you kind of define it? Both, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

So birth as a sickness in terms of most of these women were sick or they had something going on. But also most of the hospital is run by OBs and residents, which I think not that it's a wrong way to believe, but OBs are kind of trained to see birth as an illness. So I think that everything is just managed a little bit different. Whereas midwives are trained to see birth as this holistic normal thing that happens in life. So, you know, when anything comes up, it's more of an urgency, which is kind of why I chose midwifery. That was my experience. I was in Louisiana for working as a mother baby nurse and starting my labor nurse career. They didn't really have midwives, so everything was just run by doctors and kind of treated that way of this is exactly what should happen. This is the timeline for labor and birth. And it didn't really feel like women had a choice in what happened to them during that whole experience, which is ultimately, I guess, what led me into midwifery of this has to change. This is very much a woman journey, what they feel and what they should be empowered to do because our bodies are meant to do this. So yeah. I completed my certified nurse-midwife license in May of 2025 through Bethel University. And then I did all of my clinicals in the northern Colorado area. I worked with Jessica and Page as a student from August 2024 until I graduated in May. And then I signed on with them at a woman's place in May of 2025.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

So have you been in Northern Colorado for a while, but you're newer to a woman's place?

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Yeah. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about Bethel.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Yeah. So Bethel is based out of Minnesota. When I first started applying for midwifery schools, I was looking at places that I could do mostly online learning and then someone that would help find clinical placement, because that's really, really tough to do. So that was one of the schools that had a really high reputation of success rate in passing the board and the board exam. And then also students finding work outside of graduation. So I chose that school and I actually was accepted after my first application, which was awesome. And then yeah, I started and finished there. So we flew to Minnesota a couple times throughout that program for intensive purp purposes and stuff, but most of my schooling was done online and then clinicals were all here.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

All in northern Colorado. Yeah. That's nice. You're able to be in your home base without having to move to where school was. Which was really nice. Yeah. When people come to a woman's place and they're doing a consult with you, what are some of the top common questions they ask you?

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Yeah, I the top questions I would say that people ask are who's gonna deliver my baby? Which I always think is which one of you? Yeah, but also there's some, I think maybe confusion between the doula and the midwife and then an ob. So I think a lot of is which one of the four of you will deliver? So going through call schedule. And then also, what do you actually do? Um, a lot of times I think that midwives have the picture of where doulas, so it's kind of explaining, no, it'll actually be one of us. It's not gonna be, it won't be an OB comes into your birthroom after or when you're ready to have this baby. It is actually us there with you that whole time. Yeah. Another question is what is our c-section rate? Last year in 2025, as a practice, our c-section rate was 3.4%, which is phenomenal. I mean, national average is far higher than that. Yeah, can you give some context for how low that is compared to your I think the national average, I haven't looked at it for 2025, but it typically falls around 25 to 30 percent. We would ideally at under 20, even 15% would be best, but I think 3.4% just speaks volumes to how holistically we practice and how patient we are, I think is a big, big piece of that.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Yeah. Maybe for the if you're able to share 3% out of how many?

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Yeah, how many births out of two, I think we did 230 around there, 230 births last year.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Yeah, that's pretty phenomenal numbers, yeah, compared to national averages.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Yeah. I think one of the other biggest questions that we get asked is what does prenatal care look like? And how, why would we choose this versus an OB clinic? I mean, prenatal care with us is you kind of we we want to get to know you. This is a very vulnerable journey and moment, and we want to empower women. So our visits are longer. Are we try to connect with everyone that we meet on a personal basis almost because we want to know about your first and second kid and what they're doing in school and all of that because it kind of circles back to some of the birth and trying to find childcare and the fears in the birthroom and stuff that so I feel how we interact with people is a lot different than what you would get at an OB clinic, where sometimes it feels like you're just a number and you're trying to they're trying to get in and out. We provide a lot of education, we teach and we try to empower women to do their own research.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

So women are wanting to know who's gonna be at my birth and how is this gonna be different than if I went to an OB clinic, like prenatal wise? Yeah. What are some questions that you wish they would ask you?

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Yeah. This one is tough. I think one of the biggest questions I wish that people would ask would be what are your viewpoints on birth? How is this experience going to be different? And I think I already mentioned it, but I truly view birth as a normal process. Your body was meant to do this. So I am really, really good at sitting on my hands, and I'm also really good at knowing when I need to intervene. So most of the time, birth is going to be, it's gonna go how it's supposed to, and we need to realize that as if we're just backing off and supporting women, then the body's gonna do what it's supposed to. Another question I wish people would ask would be alternatives to just treating something with medicine. So a lot of times if we can start supplements or if we can uh involve people in other aspects in the community, PT and chiropractor and acupuncture and stuff like that for common ailments in pregnancy, I feel like have much better satisfaction and it can help alleviate their symptoms in the same way. Or even better. Even better, yeah. Especially just in terms of thinking of lifestyle changes and stuff that.

unknown 10:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

And your view, who is a good fit for care with a CNM? And how would you say care with you at a woman's clinic is different from another clinic?

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Yeah. Care with a CNM should, I mean, patients should be ideally low-risk or not have a substantial history that would negate them from that low-risk physiologic birth. However, we are midwives that deliver in a hospital setting. So we have the resources of OB hospitalists that we work really closely with, if anything were to go wrong. We also have the experience and knowledge that if we did have someone with gestational hypertension or gestational diabetes or even turning into pre-eclampsia, we are in that hospital setting to be able to treat and manage those patients appropriately. So even though most of the time we do care for low-risk patients, so that just means absence of risk factors, diabetes, and high blood pressure and stuff that, then we do manage some of those patients too.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Can you kind of help walk us through the line between we're able to manage some complications, but at this point in time it's out of your what is the end of your scope?

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Yeah, yeah. End of our scope is anything that's gonna be significantly preterm, so less than 34 weeks. Anything that is needs surgery. So at that point, if someone were to need a C-section, we do have to consult those OB hospitalists. If people are sick early on in their pregnancy, that is gonna be with pre-eclampsia before 28 weeks or really before 34 weeks, as if they're severely pre-eclamptic. Diabetic mamas that are on insulin is something that would kind of risk people out of our practice, too. So if they had pre-existing diabetes. Yeah. But if someone tests positive for gestational diabetes, yeah, so we will send them to a diabetic counselor and try to get them managed with lifestyle and diet changes. And typically, most of the time with gestational diabetes, we can control it that way. If we do have to start someone on insulin, it's kind of a case-by-case of monitoring growth and everything to see if they would risk out of our practice.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Okay, that's helpful. And yeah, would you say coming to a woman's place? What is different about your midwifery practice than a different midwifery? Because there's something distinct about it.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Yeah, absolutely. We are an independent midwife practice, so we don't have any OB oversight, which just allows us to put practice to the full scope of our CNM licensure, which means we practice in a hospital because we like having those resources. But we also we like to provide that kind of bridge almost between the birth center and home birth setting in the hospital because I do feel like some of the birthing people in this community do feel safer in a hospital, but they also do want the water birth and all of that. So we are affiliated with UC Health, but we're not employed by them, which allows us to support women in a different way.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Got it.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

So access to the resources of UC Health, but you're making independence. Yeah, so we don't have to have an OB in the room. We don't have to have someone that is telling us what we need to do and how we should practice.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

And what would be the benefits of that, would you say?

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Yeah. Sometimes I feel when you have that oversight of someone that's sees pregnancy as an illness and sees labor as an illness or something could go wrong, you have that almost scare of, okay, I need to interact sooner, I need to react, I need to do this sooner. Whereas we don't have that person over ahead of us that's saying, Did you do this? Should you have done this? Why aren't you doing this? So it kind of gives us more of a way to view birth as physiologic.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

I think that leads beautifully into my next question. I'm curious. What do you define as a successful birth?

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Yeah, that's a hard question. Yeah. Because success is so different for every single person. Truly a successful birth to me is one where the birthing person feels empowered and they are happy and satisfied with their birth experience. And that, don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean that everything had to go exactly how they wanted it to and how they envisioned this birth and labor to be. But they were at the forefront of making those decisions. They were at the forefront of feeling just satisfied with how they handled and how they coped with and truly empowered in their decision. Successful birth is, I mean, it could be truly that someone stuck exactly to their birth plan and birth went exactly as they wanted it to. It could have been someone that felt that they needed something because their labor was super long and they ended up getting an epidural and having a beautiful birth. It could be a VBAC mom or a VBAC mom that had that successful VBAC. It could be a mom that was trying to have a VBAC and actually made that empowered decision to have a repeat C section. So I don't think it is a one size fits all, but it's definitely very individualized to how the woman felt during that experience.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

I'm glad you mentioned VBAC because I mentioned on the interview with Paige, who also works at a Mom's Place. Owen's Place has a reputation in our community for being very VBAC friendly. And kind of the place for many VBAC moms who maybe feel safest in the hospital because of their prior cesarean, but they want to go for a vaginal birth. Can you talk a little bit more about your perspective on VBAC? Yeah, I love a good V back.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Yeah, yeah. There's just nothing quite like having someone that has had that prior experience. And I I feel a lot of times having a C-section can be traumatic in some way because it kind of strips away everything that you believed about birth. And oftentimes it's in an emergent situation, and birth can be viewed as very scary after that. So empowering women into making that choice to have a vaginal birth after a c-section is huge. We, I mean, ideal realistically, there's c-sections are for a reason. They we do have that surgery component, but oftentimes VBAC is a the less risky option to a repeat C-section because we think about scar tissue and injury to bladder and other organs and stuff of that. Typically, when I am counseling someone that does want to have a VBAC, I am, I love to get them in contact with other resources. So pelvic floor PT, acupuncture, massage, chiropractic care to kind of help navigate pregnancy and help them connect with their body. One of the things that I really strongly recommend in that prenatal period is going to be watching videos on VBACs and connecting with other moms in the community that have had VBACs or even the VBAC link that you can just listen to stories and stuff that empower. We know that a lot of times birth is mental. So if you're not in the mindset that you can do this and that your body was meant to do this and you haven't heard any success stories from other moms, I feel that almost kind of hinders that birthing process.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

When you're making the decision to have a V back, no matter what kind of birthing experience you're looking for, having an aligned provider is very important. But with V-BACs, especially, because that mindset is so important when you're coming from a different experience and now you're wanting something quite different.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Yeah. And the risk of a vaginal birth after C-section is a uterine rupture. That's the big risk, but it's so low that even practicing in a hospital setting, it just has that added layer of comfort, which I think is why a lot of people come into our practice too. That, okay, maybe I don't want to do a home birth, but if I could do this in a hospital setting with providers that align and truly believe in me, I think it makes a huge difference.

unknown 18:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Yeah. And I you had mentioned there's a risk with the cesarean as well. And I know I have this conversation a lot with birthing people that you're never choosing a zero risk option. You're choosing between risks. Yes, yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

So to understand what the risks are and which one yeah, which one aligns with you. And at the end of the day, my goal is to support women, whatever they choose. It doesn't have to be what I think it should be. It doesn't have to be what the rest of the world thinks it should be. It should truly be that they're educated in all of those decisions and that it's whatever feels best for them and their family.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

This kind of leads right into my next question, which is when fear and uncertainty come up, whether it is around a V back or it's just generally, because it almost always does. In fact, I don't know what time we do. How do you support people through that, both prenatally and in the first place?

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Prenatally, I try to really dive into what is causing this fear, what has happened, or what did we see on TikTok, which is usually what happens. That's a dangerous place. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

It can be.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

It can be. Yes. What is causing this fear and kind of get down to it and then go through the education on what we typically see and what the pros and cons of everything is. I feel like if we can verbalize that fear and make it known, and if I can give you support and resources in the prenatal period to work through those fears, birth goes a lot smoother. In the birth setting, it's a little bit harder, but you're right, there is just so much fear. And I think it's the fear of the unknown or the uncertainty. I I try really hard to be present and to just hold space for those women and those families. I feel like I spend a lot of time at the bedside saying, okay, relax, blow that fear away. You are safe, your baby's safe, your body was meant to do this. I think that sometimes we because it's such a vulnerable time and it's a lot of times, even between births, if it's your first or your tenth, every birth is just so different. So sometimes it's the very, very quick labors and births that people are, I'm so scared, I don't want to do this, versus the long ones because I don't know why. I think it's that fear of I haven't done this before. That it's kind of just like coaching people through in that moment of you can do this, you were made to do this, your body was meant to do this. Kind of in that same moment, if I can get to that, what is causing this fear? What is what is holding you back? And we can kind of talk through it, even if it's between those waves and moments of intense intensity, then I think that usually it's enough to kind of make people go through that next step.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

Yeah. A lot of affirming, believing in them when maybe they're shaken a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Yeah. And if someone is listening right now and feeling very unsure about having a midwife or who to select as their provider, what might you say to them?

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Yeah. Interview, interview, interview, interview. Get to know providers in this community and also ask around. Ask your friends and your family members who they've had for their providers and why they liked them, why they didn't them, if there was anything that they could change about their experience with that provider. We do very short 15-minute meet and greets with our prospective clients that maybe are unsure if they want to switch providers or are just newly pregnant and want a different experience. We usually do those at the end of the day. I don't know if many of the other clinics here in Northern Colorado do those, but it's kind of a way to not have an official appointment. Right. Yeah. You just come in, you meet with whoever's there for the day, and we talk, you get to ask questions, which I think is huge in terms of which maybe this is also a good way to get out in the community of. These providers are here, and here's their take on birth, and here's their take on the body and everything. So that way you have that before you choose a provider. But also, my biggest piece of advice is if you don't align with your provider, change. It's okay to change in your pregnancy. There's nothing saying that you cannot switch providers. It's easier early on, of course, because you form a bond and a relationship with these people that are caring for you. So I will say that I've seen many, many patients that get to that 36-week mark and they transfer to us because they realize at that point, okay, maybe we're not on the same page. What I thought was going to be this beautiful birth that I had planned and envisioned, I'm now realizing my provider is not on board with. Change. It's okay to change. I do feel there are subtle clues before that 36-week birth planning and going into that labor category. There are subtle clues of maybe this isn't the right provider for me. I would say ask questions. It is okay absolutely to say, tell me your thoughts on physiologic birth. Tell me what you think about in this scenario. You just don't have to stay with someone because you feel you've spent the majority of your pregnancy with them.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

What are some of the signs, would you say, that it might be good to can to consider changing?

SPEAKER_01 23:11

I would say a lot of things I see are going to be pushback. So a lot of times you have to do, I would say the gestational diabetes screen. You have to do the glucola drink, which is the one you have to do in lab. But there are so many other options. There is the fresh test, there is, which is an organic version of the glucola drink. There is blood sugar monitoring for a couple of weeks. There are high sugar load foods that you can do in replacement of that 50 gram sugar drink. So that's one of them that when it's very black and white, yes, I absolutely want you to get that gestational diabetes testing, but can't does it have to be in the absolute way that everyone tells you? No, there are alternatives. So I think if there's pushback on you have to do this, if anyone is ever saying, you absolutely have to do this, know that you don't. It's not, it's not black and white. Pregnancy is not black and white. Or if there is something that you're very passionate about and your provider is just, oh yeah, sure, yep, that that's fine. But never dives into that and tries to get to know that, know you or why you're passionate about that, that might be a sign of, hey, maybe we don't align. I think the big one for VBAC, since we've talked about that, is the, yeah, sure, that's that sounds fine. That sounds fine. And then as they get further on and they start talking about, okay, what does birth look as a VBAC? A lot of times it is, okay, well, if you don't have an induction scheduled, or if you don't go into labor by 40 weeks, we're scheduling a C-section. So I think asking those questions early on in your pregnancy are going to be huge of what are alternatives to this? What is your policy around VBACs? What is your policy around induction timeline? What is your monitoring, your increased monitoring look like? I think asking any of those questions early on can maybe help give you a better picture of what your provider aligns with in respect to all of those things. And to know that they're a good fit for you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Who would you say is a good fit for you? What would be when you think about your ideal clients that really align with you?

SPEAKER_01 25:14

Who is that? Yeah. It I do find it hard to not, I find it hard to say I don't get along with most people. I feel I kind of mold into whatever you need me to be, I will be there for you. But my ideal client, I would say, would be someone that is very much willing to educate and empower themselves throughout this journey. And whether that's that they want a water birth or that they want to see how far they can make it unmedicated, or that they want an epidural, or that they want that repeat C section, I really think that educating and empowering and knowing what tools that they have available and that we can help them with is gonna be huge.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

So someone who's really wanting to own the decisions and educate themselves and make decisions in partnership with you. Yes. And maybe someone who might not be a good fit.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

It's gonna be almost the opposite of that in terms of the person that is not wanting to really take control of their pregnancy and their journey or educate and learn about what they want and or take suggestions. So a lot of times if we're in the birthing room and I'm, hey, this doesn't seem like it's working, let's try this or this or this, and they don't want to even entertain that idea, it makes it a little bit difficult to not support, but just to get them to their goal of that whatever birth it is they want.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Right. So it's almost like they need to have a sense of ownership and the desire to be educated and make informed decisions for you to effectively work together. Erica, thank you so much for coming on. Where can the people find you? Are you on the internet? Are there other places they can find you? I'm not online very much.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Good for you. I have four kids, so I'm very busy. Yeah. I am out and about in the Fort Collins community a decent bit. I try to attend birth worker events as I'm able to. And then in the next couple of years, we hope to start having a little bit more community involvement and all of that in the Fort Collins area.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

Oh, that's exciting. If you're wanting to work with the Midwest Women's Place, they contact the office. Yes. They can come and do the meet and greet. Yeah, they can do the meet and greet.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

They can just schedule an appointment. I feel a lot of times my people that come back are gonna be my annual exam clients that are, oh, let's get this ball talking about prenatal care and what this looks with you and everything. So I do feel a lot of our gynecologic problems or you all woman exams end up turning into, hey, we've loved our experience here in this period. So we're gonna follow you and continue with our prenatal care.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Oh, that's great to hear.

unknown 27:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Well, we're so lucky to have you in the community. Thanks for coming on the show. Thank you so much for having me. We did it!