Nova Birth Services
Gregg and Tara Garner Co-Founded Nashville’s most Expansive Birth Service Network.
Serving Nashville, TN Since 2012
After two classes of students completed the Childbirth Education Certification Program, Gregg and Tara sensed a need to provide a healthy model for offering their services to the local community. In 2012, they co-founded NOVA Birth Services. NOVA, meaning "new," was a tribute to the work that God had started among these women. NOVA has become the most expansive birth service network in Nashville, including childbirth education, doulas, postpartum doulas, midwifery, birth pool rentals, photography, massage, and lactation support.
Since 2012, NOVA has educated over 600 families, supported 500 clients in labor as doulas, and provided support to 330 postpartum mothers. In 2016, NOVA began offering midwifery services, and they have since served 300 clients in that capacity. In total, more than 1500 families have been served in the Nashville area! NOVA was voted "Best Doula Midwife" in three counties in Nashville Parent Magazine.
Nova Birth Services
Humanizing Birth for Mother and Baby
A Powerful Team
According to Tara, what makes the NOVA team unique is the team dynamic that they learned from the Bible. No servant of God is sent anywhere alone. Jesus chose 12 and sent them in pairs into ministry. Similarly, these women never serve alone. Their supportive network of friendship allows them to thrive in a challenging field of work. This includes the challenge of balancing being birth workers and being mothers themselves. Tara, Celesta, and Heather have 14 children between them. Through their work together, and through the many difficulties of both life and work, God continues to deepen their friendship, knitting them together into a community that supports one another and fights to make things better for women all over the world.
In order to share what God has given them and help other birth workers find networks of care and support, NOVA hosts a regular BEAUTIFUL Midwifery Conference. Tara and Gregg’s characteristic hospitality suffuses the conference, as they offer care for those who are so often caring for everyone else. There have been two BEAUTIFUL conferences so far. Keynote speakers Claudia Booker, Penny Simkin, and Mary Cooper have said it was the most organized and professional conference they’ve ever attended.
Caring for Those in Need
NOVA continues to do charitable work for Nashville mothers in need. Since NOVA began in 2012, NOVA midwives have provided 44 charitable births; NOVA doulas have provided 15 charitable births, and NOVA postpartum doulas have served seven families free of charge. Along with offering services, they have also provided free childbirth education, focusing their efforts on the vulnerable immigrant and refugee population in Nashville, Tennessee. 109 immigrant and refugee families have received free childbirth education; 67 immigrant and refugee mothers were given continued support and education throughout pregnancy and birth. Their charitable work has also been extended to teenage moms, and they have so far served 50 new mothers with free childbirth education.
Their work in Nashville has not gone unnoticed. NOVA has gained a reputation within hospitals for being well equipped, respectful, and ready to help. World Relief has called upon NOVA regularly to care for refugees who need support in birth. Because many NOVA workers have traveled and served abroad, they are able to apply a cultural awareness and sensitivity to their work with immigrants and refugees
One of the original midwives of NOVA, Heather Munoz, is now the President of the Tennessee Midwives Association. In addition, she has trained hundreds of Nashville firefighters and EMTs in emergency birth.
NOVA continues to combine forces with G.O.D. International's global mission, and have served women in the third world in the following ways.
Tara Garner, Nova Birth, and G.O.D. International are Making a Global Impact
In East Africa, the NOVA + G.O.D team has:
Taught reproductive health courses to local teens
Made a culturally-appropriate reproductive curriculum and shared it with G.O.D. cooperatives to keep and continue empowering young women consistently.
Extended Pregnancy and labor support and guidance both in country and from abroad
Provided childbirth education for families in the Kampala slums
Facilitated a birth worker conference for 50 traditional birth attendants (TBA) in Uganda
In El Salvador, the NOVA + G.O.D team has:
Taught childbirth classes taught to G.O.D. cooperatives and other expecting mothers in rural El Salvador, supporting them in a hostile health system.
Translated a maternal health education curriculum into Spanish for G.O.D. cooperatives in El Salvador to share with the neighboring community.
Facilitated three reproductive health seminars for young girls.
Worked with 70 local teachers to improve reproductive health curriculum in schools.
Assisted a local midwife for three months
In India, the NOVA + G.O.D team has:
Provided 13 online maternal health classes
Taught 10 public & maternal health seminars
Assisted two women in obtaining their Childbirth Education Certification through the International Doula Institute.
These two women are now teaching reproductive health courses for teens regularly, with over 100 girls led so far
In the Philippines, the NOVA + G.O.D team has:
Assisted the local midwives of Mercy in Action through attending births, pre/postnatal appts, and administrative help totaling over 300 hours
Taught CBE courses to G.O.D. cooperatives and provided pregnancy & labor support from abroad
Taught childbirth education courses to 40+ expectant mothers
Taught and provided hygiene packages to incarcerated women
Taught reproductive health seminars to teens and college students