|
|
|
|
|
|
I am a midwifery student at the Midwives College of Utah. I currently live on Long Island, N.Y. with my son, 3 dogs and 2 cats. I became interested in birthwork shortly after the home birth of my son in 2003. My interest soon became my passion and I have been working with families around birth and reproductive empowerment ever since. In addition to doula work, I am also a certified herbalist (centered on women's wellness), placenta encapsulator, womb cycle educator, and doula instructor. I am the co-founder of Traditional Doula and Midwifery Arts, a doula certification organization. I am an advocate for sexual and reproductive justice and I am learning how to be the best accomplice that one can be. I have love for astrology, nature, helping others, traditional wisdom, my family and healing.
My philosophy of care sees the birthing person as a client, never a patient. A midwife should be committed to providing compassionate, family-centered care in which both the midwife and the clients are actively engaged in the decision-making process. I see pregnancy and birth as normal life processes that are aided by good nutrition, a healthy lifestyle, and supportive care. Clients should be provided with evidence based information and resources to help them make decisions for their own care. When significant risk factors or complications arise that are outside of the CPM scope of practice, the client should be informed immediately. A midwife should help clients understand the situation and to receive appropriate care.
My philosophy of care sees the birthing person as a client, never a patient. A midwife should be committed to providing compassionate, family-centered care in which both the midwife and the clients are actively engaged in the decision-making process. I see pregnancy and birth as normal life processes that are aided by good nutrition, a healthy lifestyle, and supportive care. Clients should be provided with evidence based information and resources to help them make decisions for their own care. When significant risk factors or complications arise that are outside of the CPM scope of practice, the client should be informed immediately. A midwife should help clients understand the situation and to receive appropriate care.
B.I.R.T.H
Beautiful goddess woman, journeying
In between worlds, riding waves of
Remembered ancestral wisdom.
Traveling through time and space to bring in
Heavenly angels, new hope for the future.
~MB
We spend our days visiting Amish homes and farms. Dogs excitedly come up to greet us but never try to follow us inside. Simple homes with blue kitchen cabinets and doors, wood furniture and floors, laundry flying in the wind on the porch, blue glass and blue flowered canisters all throughout. Sometimes doing our work by the light of the kerosene lamps, blood pressure sounds and baby heart beats are mixed in with cow moos and horses clopping. New mamas are found relaxing or nursing while a young maiden is found cooking, ironing or cleaning for her. It is the same in almost every Amish home. All midiwfery is done behind closed doors so children dont see, mothers magically control the time of birth so as to be done before the children wake and so papa can milk the cows on time or get the other chores done. The midwife is helping with babies but also helps make connection for these families when more is needed, spending countless hours on the phone looking for resources or referring out to other professionals when necessary, all while keeping in mind this is a low resource community with no health insurance, no phones and no vehicles of their own. She knows her families well and even when new families come into care, she knows some of their extended family by now and what genetic history they are bringing in with them. She is showing me what community midwifery looks like, though my community is worlds apart from this one, all humans can benefit from the personalized, humanized care that I am witnessing.