Knelly Dettinger, Owner

I was first introduced to out of hospital birth by my first midwife, Paula Bernini Feigal, who served the homebirth & birth center community in the Chippewa Valley, Twin Cities metro & Duluth from 2001-2018 through her homebirth practice and then with the development and growth of MorningStar Birth Centers, which started right here, in our current space.

Paula was instrumental in encouraging me as a young, 23 year old mama who had never heard of the term “informed consent” to ask questions, learn about natural birth, attachment parenting and holistic living.

My husband Jake and I never set out to be “homebirthers” or have a large, unconventional family, or to be “crunchy”. 

We were just a mainstream couple, who wanted to have a natural birth, and hold our baby afterward. We did our research and soon realized that our best chances of achieving that outcome was to hire a midwife.

So we did. We educated ourselves. I was healthy, committed to a natural birth in a setting I was 100% comfortable in - and for newly pregnant me, that was right there in Paula’s office, where she saw women prior to even opening MorningStar Birth Center.

After the education, the one on one care, and comfortability & readiness that comes after 9 months of pregnancy, we had a homebirth in our little house that we rented in Eau Claire’s Third Ward.  

It was hard - like all first births are, and the outcome was a gorgeous little girl named Fiona that grew up to be one of our loves of our lives. And after that, we had 8 more loves. All born at home. And one we chose through adoption.

I’m not going to bore you with the details of 9 birth stories (although I’ll totally tell you everything if you ever ask & really want to know) While we were having babies, and moving houses, and even experiencing care with different midwives, I became a champion of this model of care for all women, of this space, because of my amazing experiences. I referred anyone who asked to MorningStar Birth Center, or the homebirth midwives that had helped our family. I became a connector, and made many life long friends and shared beautiful experiences in this sacred space. 

When MorningStar closed, with Paula’s retirement from midwifery, our community was left with a huge void. Women need places to connect, to share, to feel safe. Women need options in birth.

Whenever I passed by the big yellow house on the corner, I remembered the incredible experiences that we all shared there as young moms. The Mother’s Tea events (we brought those back!), the Midwifery Day celebrations, the backyard garden party playdates.

My real job (other than momming 9 kids) is running TruLiving Real Estate. I had the honor of working with Paula to sell the birth center in 2018 and found a wonderful family to purchase it and live there. It was the best I could do at the time and they loved it there.

In the summer of 2022, I received a call from that family, telling me that change was coming to their lives and they needed to relocate to Michigan. So again, I advised them, prepped the property for sale, and held the first open house. As I sat there in the space, I thought to myself, why couldn’t I bring this back?

This possibility got me so excited, I called my husband right away. He was immediately on board with re-opening the birth center.

A lot of learning, faith, uncomfortableness, connecting, encouraging and persevering followed.

In Sept 2023, TruLiving Birth Center welcomed its first family to birth in our space.

We now have five midwives serving families, an in-house doula and strong relationships with support providers in all facets of pregnancy, birth & parenting.

I am using my real estate business to create opportunities for families in our community to birth in a space that is unique, safe and special. To support midwives in fostering community at scale, and encourage families in the most basic and natural start to home.

I may be finished birthing babies, and I can use my experiences to fuel the desire to create an amazing birth environment for others.

My prayer, to you mama reading this, is your find your path, because this is for you.

Knelly Dettinger

Owner, TruLiving Birth Center