The COVID-19 pandemic brought many changes to U.S. healthcare spaces. One example is a significant increase in interest in birthing at home rather than in the hospital due to restrictive pandemic-related hospital policies. The purpose of this research is to examine how cultural perceptions concerning birth safety and setting have changed due to the pandemic, and asks the following questions: has COVID-19 affected pregnant people’s perceptions of perinatal risk in the Midwestern United States? Furthermore, has COVID-19 changed the way that pregnant people and birth workers perceive the safety of home birth in the Midwestern U.S.? This presentation will discuss preliminary findings from qualitative interviews with birthing people, doulas, and midwives in the Midwest who attempted a home birth during the COVID-19 pandemic. This presentation will also detail research design and implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as my own positionality as both a doula and anthropologist navigating research and birth work during a time of global crisis.