“I first became interested in the birthing process and becoming a midwife while I was still in high school.  I used to be obsessed with watching ‘A Baby Story’ and ‘Maternity Ward’ on TV, and as much as I enjoyed watching each episode and seeing the hospital birth process, I felt that something was missing.  It seemed odd that even though each family was different, it was always the same once they got to the hospital (epidural, pitocin, pushing on their backs with legs in the stirrups, cord cut right away, etc).  One day, there was an episode of a home birth with a Midwife and Doula present, and it was as if God was saying, "THIS is what I have intended for you!".  As a teenager though, I thought that all midwives were ‘grandmas’ (my apologies to my fellow midwives!), and I would have to find a normal job to do in the meantime until I was done having kids and they were grown.

'“So, I set off to college on a Presidential Scholarship and proceeded to change my major from Psychology to Education to Nursing, never quite finding the right fit, but loving aspects of each profession.  Along the way I found my future husband Jeff while we were working the night shift together at a private airport, and instead of doing my homework during my downtime, I would spend hours talking with him.  One of these nights, he asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I told him that I knew I wanted to be a Midwife someday, but until that time came, I might be a psychologist or a teacher or a nurse, but I couldn’t really decide.  He seemed confused (which I learned later was due to the fact that he didn’t know what a Midwife was—see his bio for more on that story), and then asked me why I couldn’t go ahead and just be a midwife now. That stopped me in my tracks and made me realize how silly I had been to put my dreams on hold, and that I had been wasting years not pursuing God’s calling on my heart.

“I began my journey by becoming a Birth Doula through Doulas of North America (DONA) in 2004, as I thought this would be a good way of getting some experience with birth, before I became a Midwife.  After getting married to my wonderful husband Jeff in 2005, we welcomed our daughter Keira the following year at a local birthing center with a Nurse Midwife.  At the time I thought that all Midwives were the same, and I never noticed that my Midwife never gave me all the information I needed to make an informed decision, or that I was not really allowed to make my own choices since she would push me along the same path as her other clients by coercing me into making choices that would be beneficial to her (like forcing me to push my baby out in a way that was convenient for her, even though it exponentially increased pain for me).  I was young and naive, and I blindly trusted her; never asking questions or taking the initiative to educate myself about important decisions.  It was only years later, once I started my midwifery training and I saw how the Midwife/client relationship should be, did I realize what had been taken from me with that first birth and this helped shape me into the Midwife that I am today for my own clients.

“After Keira’s birth, I continued my Doula work and began my midwifery training in 2008.  When I was halfway through midwifery school, we became pregnant with our son Hunter in 2010.  We knew that we wanted another out-of-hospital birth, but I wanted to be able to make my own decisions and regain some of what I had lost first time around.  I also knew though that I wouldn’t be in my right frame of mind to be a safe medical provider for myself and my son, so we hired the Nurse Midwife I had been training with since she had taught me the importance of knowing when to use medical knowledge and tools to ensure a mom and baby’s safety, while not losing touch with the natural intuition and instincts that are the foundation of our profession.  She honored my wishes and protected my birth space, allowing my midwifery training and my natural instincts to guide the process and when the time came, she stood back and watched while I birthed my son into my own hands, with my wonderfully supportive husband in the tub by my side, and our daughter looking on in amazement. 

“After five very long and challenging years, in 2013 I graduated from the National College of Midwifery and became a Certified Professional Midwife and a Licensed Midwife in the state of Texas!  I am so grateful every day that God has blessed me with such an incredible family who have made many sacrifices over the years and support me unconditionally, so that I can support my clients in their own journeys.  When I am not busy visiting with moms and catching babies, I love to read books while snuggling with my five cats, laughing at our favorite shows with my husband who is also my best friend, sitting around the fire pit eating s’mores and listening to music, and our "Family Game Nights" with our kids.  It might be a crazy life that I live, but I would not have it any other way!”