My lifelong love of babies is what drove me to midwifery. I want families to have choices about their care during pregnancy, for birth, for their babies, and in postpartum care. I want you to feel empowered through the process of care with me, and this is constantly reflected in my practice.
I acquired my training through the time-honored tradition of apprenticeship. I first started attending births as a labor support person in 2006. I was busy raising my own family at that time, so I studied slowly, going to a few births a year to help out, reading texts, taking midwifery courses when I could, attending workshops, skills labs, and conferences until my kids were old enough for me to begin a formal full-time apprenticeship. I spent two years apprenticing with a homebirth midwife in Vermont. During this time I studied all aspects of client care, pregnancy, labor, birth, postpartum, and newborn care formally on my own to meet the detailed didactic requirements of the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) to complete their Portfolio Evaluation Process (PEP)--an alternative route to licensure for those who excel at self-motivated study. During my apprenticeship at home I practiced all clinical aspects of client care under my preceptor's supervision, and from her I learned the true art of caring for families. Because Vermont is a small state, I supplemented my clinical study with 3 month-long trips to freestanding high-volume birth centers in Utah. At these centers I was part of the care for 20-30 births each month (first trip as the assistant and in subsequent trips as the primary midwife under supervision). The hands-on experience in the more clinical atmosphere of the high volume birth centers was the perfect compliment to my more organic, artful, and personal education here in Vermont.
I have three of my own children, all born at home, and I gave birth to three babies at Fletcher Allen as a gestational carrier (twins then a singleton). I earned my Bachelor's degree in Motherhood and Sustainable Living from Goddard College in 1998 and received my Master's in Radical Alternative Pedagogy from Goddard College in 2003. I received my CPM (Certified Professional Midwife--the national credential given by NARM) in October 2014, and my LM (Licensed Midwife--the Vermont credential) in November 2014. I regularly pursue continuing education above and beyond my licensing requirements and have a real passion for evidence-based care.