I am the proud mother of 5 children whom I home school. I have been studying midwifery since the birth of my second child, our first home birth.

Just last year I began a formal apprenticeship, and have attended roughly 20 home and hospital births to this point. It is such an amazing privilege to be welcomed into these families lives to experience this transformative process with them!

Each birth holds so many lessons, for the mom, for her family, and those she has chosen to support her. Each of my own births have given me such varied experiences, which have taught me how better to support other women through birth. My first taught me the value of adequate support (unfortunately through the lack of), not just for mom, but for dad too; as well as the ecstasy of new motherhood. I learned the empowerment of education through my second birth. The third taught me how to work with hospital staff, through confident and assertive interaction, to achieve as good a birth as circumstances permitted. The fourth gave me trust in the design of the process and the power of my own body. And the fifth renewed my faith in midwifery care.

Every mom could write pages devoted to her birth experiences. These are experiences which change our souls, and memories which last far into old age. Every family deserves to have this passage honored as a personal triumph, and to be given every advantage for a joyful and healthy birth.