Afua Hassaine and Patricia Ghaly

Afua Hassaine moved to Houston to pursue a career in midwifery. She graduated from the Houston School of Midwifery in 1984. Afua is the founder, owner and licensed midwife of The Birthing Place. The Birthing Place is the only free standing birth center that is owned by and operated by a black midwife in the city of Houston. Her business is located in the historically African American community of Third Ward. The best services are the homegrown mom and pop businesses and she is proud if it. She believes the mother is the captain, the partner is the co-captain and Afua is the advisor. Being a midwife with over 30 years of experience, she has seen a lot and that is why the client will always choose their path/journey when you are a client of The Birthing Place.

Patricia Ghaly has been a Licensed Midwife since 2014 and has been caring for women through their birth work since 2005. She believes women have the right to choose what care is best for them and their babies. Patty became a midwife because she strongly believes women should have the opportunity to birth the way they wish. She trained as a doula with Childbirth International after her second child was born. Upon completing her training, Patty attended births in Abu Dhabi and Egypt, and soon learned that, while doulas are certainly valuable to have at a birth, hospital rule trumps all. She went on to earn a degree in Midwifery from the Midwives College of Utah. Being a midwife allows her to provide a supportive, caring environment for all women. At Cy-Fair Birth Center, they offer a celebration of pregnancy, birth and postpartum that every mother/baby deserves. They believe every baby should come into the world celebrated and the midwives try to do that from the first visit all the way through the postpartum period by taking care of mom, pampering her, and ensuring she gets off to a good start in her parenting journey and her new identity as a mother.