A midwife is a trained healthcare professional specializing in pregnancy and childbirth who provides prenatal, labor, delivery, and postpartum care for families choosing to give birth at home.

The Midwifery Model of Care is a fundamentally different approach to pregnancy and childbirth compared to contemporary obstetrics.

Key components of the midwifery model include:

• Respect: Midwives respect the woman and her capabilities, and promote her autonomy and self-determination. 

• Trust: Midwives build trusting relationships with their clients. 

• Safety: Midwives create a safe and reassuring environment for their clients. 

• Non-intervention: Midwives promote non-intervention in normal childbirth. 

• Continuity of care: Midwives provide care throughout the pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum period. 

As your midwife I firmly beleive in shared and informed decision making. You are in charge of your body, your baby, and your birth. Other roles of a midwife include:

• Monitoring Well-being: Assessing the physical, psychological, and social well-being of the birthing parent throughout the childbearing cycle.

• Individualized Care: Offering personalized education, counseling, and prenatal care, along with continuous hands-on assistance during labor and delivery, as well as postpartum support.

• Minimizing Interventions: Focusing on minimizing technological interventions unless necessary, to create a more natural and empowering birthing experience.

• Referral for Complications: Identifying and referring clients who require obstetrical attention, ensuring safety and access to appropriate medical care when needed.

Midwives work exclusively with low-risk, healthy pregnancies and are often regarded as the leading experts in prenatal care and delivery in many developed countries. Many midwives also provide preconception care and routine well-woman reproductive care throughout the life cycle.

Homebirth is a safe option for low risk and healthy pregnant women whose pregnancies are without complications and are full-term at the start of labor when monitored and attended by professional midwives. For some babies and parents who are at higher risk for complications, a hospital birth is a safer option. To learn more about the safety of home birth, check out these studies:

• Outcomes of planned homebirth with CPMs in North America

• Outcomes of planned homebirth after regulation in British Columbia.

In the State of Colorado there are certain guidelines in order to be eligible for a homebirth with a licensed midwife. These guidelines are:

• Low risk and healthy pregnancy status

• Can not have pre-existing hypertensive or diabetic disorders

• Can not develop hypertension or gestational diabetes

• Cannot have uncontrolled thyroid disorders

• Free of communicable diseases such as HIV, Hep B, and AIDS

• Delivery occurs between 37-42 weeks gestation

Your age does not risk you out of midwifery care, nor how many previous babies you have delivered. You can also have a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) in most cases. Feel free to reach out if you have questions about your eligibility for a homebirth!

During your prenatal appointments you can expect 1 hour long visits which consist of nutritional, lifestyle, and childbirth education. These appointments are where we get to know each other, and I get to learn about your preferences, your family, personality, and how to best support you as your midwife.

You can also expect:

• Blood draws and cultures for indicated blood work including: initial pregnancy panel, Gestational Diabetes testing, GBS testing, NIPT genetic testing.

• Nutrition and lifestyle recommendations from a holistic perspective.

• Comprehensive health assessment of you and your baby at every visit including; hands on growth estimation, fetal position monitoring/checking, fetal heart tone monitoring and an overall wellbeing assessment for baby. I will also perform blood pressure monitoring, pulse rate, and wellness checks for you.

• Prenatal, birth, and postpartum education and referrals.

• Psychosocial and emotional check-ins to hold space for all the shifts that are part of pregnancy, birth and postpartum.

Anyone you wish to invite can be at your birth! The presence of loved ones who bring positivity and their love for you into your birthing space is one of the best parts of a giving birth at home.

During a typical birth, you will be encouraged to take your baby and place them on your stomach or chest, enjoying uninterrupted skin to skin for at least the first hour of life, aka the “Golden Hour.”

During this time I monitor your bleeding and your baby's transition to life outside the womb. Once the placenta is delivered and the umbilical cord has stopped pulsing, I will ask if you're ready to cut the cord and discuss who will do it, assisting with clamping and cutting as needed. If any suturing is required, it will be typically be done at this point in time.

Following this, you will have some privacy for family bonding while remaining nearby to address any needs and check in on you as necessary.

If your baby shows interest in nursing, I’m here to help with positioning and latching. After a comprehensive newborn examination, when your family feels comfortable and ready to rest, and I confirm that both you and your baby are healthy and stable, I will depart. I will help you use the restroom, get cleaned up, and tucked into bed.

I will return approximately 24 to 36 hours later for your first postpartum visit.

Surprisingly no! I am typically able to leave the house as clean as it was when I arrived. While you have family bonding time with your new baby, I quietly tidy up.

Midwives are trained to handle certain complications at home, and to recognize complications where a hospital birth is advisable and to transport in those circumstances.

One of the most common complications we handle at home is excessive bleeding immediately after the baby is born, and we carry medications to stop this bleeding and use them the same way they are used in the hospital.

The other, which is rare but still one of the more common complications, is a baby who needs some help to take his or her first breaths. I am certified in neonatal resuscitation and have ample experience with handling this scenario. Most of the time a baby just needs a couple breaths and then will start breathing on their own very quickly. Again, in this scenario, we follow the same standards as the hospital.

The most common transport to hospital happens for a first-time labor that lasts a long time and mom nears clinical exhaustion; we go to the hospital for an epidural so that mom can have several hours of sleep and get her uterus the rest it needs.

We also listen to the baby with a doppler during labor so that the baby can let us know that he or she is doing well; babies usually give us plenty of advance warning with a change in their heart rate if they need us to go to the hospital for their birth.

Midwives in Colorado are legally licensed to carry equipment and medications to safely manage normal deliveries at home. Some of the equipment I carry includes:

• Monitoring equipment for you and your baby, including a doppler, blood pressure cuff and stethoscope, thermometer, and infant stethoscope.

• Supplies for the newborn exam and any newborn procedures that you choose, including a scale, measuring tape, erythromycin ointment, and vitamin K.

• Antihemorrhagic drugs to stop excessive postpartum bleeding. I carry all 4 types of antihemorrhagic drugs available.

• Resuscitation equipment for baby and birth parent: a bag and mask resuscitator and oxygen.

• IV Fluids in the event of extreme dehydration or need to replace fluids quickly

• Suturing equipment to do repairs if any tearing occurred, and lidocaine to numb for suturing.

Licensed midwives do not offer pharmaceutical pain medication with the exception of local anesthetic for stitching small tears, which may occur during the birth.

Midwives are trained to use many other comfort techniques to help you relax and manage the sensations of labor. Some of the techniques we can offer include: hydrotherapy (laboring in the tub), acupressure, massage, position-changes, and counter-pressure.

I recommend that parents (especially first-time parents) attend natural birthing classes so they prepare themselves as much as possible. And consider hiring a doula if you are concerned about pain and coping with the sensations of labor.

No, it’s not required unless you choose to do so. Midwives offer the same clinical services as doctors during prenatal care, including monitoring the baby's heartbeat and checking your blood pressure.

While you don't need to have a doctor for prenatal care in addition to your midwife, there are situations where I may suggest that you follow up with a physician. Referrals will be made as necessary on a case by case basis if there are shifts to your low risk & healthy pregnancy status.

In the event of vaginal tearing while giving birth I am able to suture 1st and 2nd degree tears at home. I administer local numbing with lidocaine and you should not feel any pain while I’m suturing.

In the very rare event of a more severe tear, we would transport to the hospital via private vehicle to have the repair done by an obstetrician. You would be discharged and return home after it is completed.

Absolutely! The size of your home doesn’t matter one bit. As mammals, women tend to gravitate towards the smallest nook and cranny (like the corner of a shower or closet) while giving birth anyways. I’ve attended births in tipis, studio apartments, and school buses!

Yes! There is something so special about being the first person to physically greet your baby.

On occasion babies need a little extra help coming out, so my hands may need to be there too, but I am happy to have the dad be as involved as he wants to be.

My full fee is $6000. I believe homebirth should be accessible to anyone who wants one, please reach out if finances are limiting your choice for a homebirth.

I do not accept insurance at this time.

My fee does not include:

• Your birth supply kit ($70)

• The 20 week anatomy scan ultrasound (billable to your insurance)

• The state of Colorado newborn screening ($111)

• Rhogam if you are a negative blood type ($100)