“Birth is a normal thing,” says Miriam Mivehkar, a nurse midwife at UCLA Health. “I think people chose a midwife because we are all about normal. When people come to us, they usually ask to have choices, for us to give them time and to go with their wishes, and we do that as long as the baby and the mom are safe. We hear patients say, ‘This is what I wanted for the birth and I never thought it would happen.’ They’re so appreciative. Even women who have had other children love their experience here, because we try to give people more options and more time. We are all about birth being normal.”