About

About Dr. Coral Slavin

In November of 1933, as was customary for women of her social stature, my grandmother was dropped off at the hospital, into the hands of strangers, to be delivered of her first child. Recovering from "twilight sleep" and a difficult "operative" delivery, my grandmother remained bedridden in the hospital for two weeks. My father was brought to her every four hours to be bottle fed as was fashionable in the 30’s. By the time she was released from the hospital, my grandmother had slipped into a deep and lasting postpartum depression that would prevent her from ever really bonding with her son.

Every caregiver who assists a woman in labor knows that birth can certainly have a "butterfly effect." And that is why I am passionate about a woman's right to gentle birth choices. In 1996, my daughter's birth was a wonderful out-of-hospital experience at a birth center in Maryland. When we moved to Wisconsin the following year, I was dismayed to learn that birth centers were not yet an option. Our youngest son was born at home instead–an experience that our family cherishes.

"It had been my burning desire since then to open a center in the Milwaukee area so that other women would have the same choices that I was lucky enough to have. All women should be able to birth where ever they are most comfortable, whether at home, in a hospital, or at a freestanding birth center. And to that end, I opened and operated Well-Rounded Maternity Center (one of Wisconsin’s first birth centers) from 2004-2019."

Coral is married to husband Jim. She has three children. Robert, the oldest was born in a hospital. Ruth was born in a free-standing birth center and Michael was born at home. As a birth professional and a mother, she knows the pros and cons of birth in all three settings.

Coral has a M.A. and Ph.D. in health education, and a M.S. Ed. in Family Life. She has, at one time, been certified as a Bradley Childbirth Educator; both an ICEA and DONA Doula, an ACE Prenatal Fitness/Yoga Instructor, and a Stress Management Counselor and hypnotherapist. She has been a doula and childbirth educator since 1996 and has attended over 550 births locally, in all types of settings.*

Coral has a doctorate in health education, and has, at one time, been certified as a Bradley Childbirth Educator; both an ICEA and DONA Doula, an ACE Prenatal Fitness/Yoga Instructor, and a Stress Management Counselor and hypnotherapist. She has been a doula and childbirth educator since 1996 and has attended over 500 births locally, in all types of settings.*