Journey To Midwifery

Silvia Esparza, CNM runs a solo out of hospital birth practice in Texas. She shares her journey to midwifery from active duty Navy corpsman to full scope practicing midwife today!

Laura Denman is a midwife in the Seattle Washington area, who shares her journey and insight over her 36+ years career in midwifery.

Rebecca Feldman is the owner and practices at Brooklyn Parent Support, a practice specializing in pregnant and postpartum mental health. She shares her journey to and through midwifery and how every piece of that journey led to her being prepared for her practice she has today.

https://brooklynparentsupport.com/

If you love research, this is the podcast for you! Judy has had a long, rewarding career with the last 20 years spent doing research, in particular with the benefits of delayed cord clamping. Judy is a brilliant woman with so much going on in her mind, she is fascinating! Here's a link that lists the many articles Judith has published:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Judith-Mercer

Meg, CNM who is currently spending her retired years in North Carolina discusses her long career of over 40+ years as a midwife. She has cared for such a diverse population in the United States. She has done everything from birth, to family planning, to abortion care. She has some beautiful insights looking back at her career that we have the pleasure of hearing from her story. Thank you Meg for sharing your experiences and thoughts with this community! 

Elizabeth "Liz" Munoz, CNM on to the podcast today to share her journey to midwifery from being in theatre as an actress, to feeling a change inside of her after seeing "The Business of Being Born." Liz shares her journey through school, her career past, current and really awesome FUTURE endeavors (yay for new schools of midwifery opening up!!). Finally, we talk about the birth of her own children and how they played a role in her practice as a midwife. 

Christine shares her journey to midwifery from RN to CPM, and now educator along with continuing her home-birth practice. Here are links to the websites she discussed:

http://www.purebirthmidwifery.com/

https://www.carolinabirthjunkies.com/

Kelly and Tiffany from Beautiful One Midwifery, based out of San Diego discuss their journey into midwifery and lots of talk about how they run their business sustainably and have an actual work/life balance as homebirth midwives

FREE Roadmap to Sustainable Midwifery guide: https://beautifulonemidwifery.mykajabi.com/roadmap-to-sustainability

Beautiful One Midwifery Website: 

https://www.beautifulonemidwiferysandiego.com/

Lisa's journey to midwifery started in the 1950's which many turns along the way. She went from an informal "lay" midwife to eventually a CNM in the hills of North Carolina. Lisa shares her story to get her history recorded after several strokes and some memory loss. Her story is amazing and inspiring, and I am honored that she chose this platform to share it with everyone. Happy 76th Birthday on 2/25 to Lisa! 

Link to Lisa's website

https://www.lisasremedies.com/about

Arielle is a CNM in Connecticut and shares her journey of how she got tired of watching women treated in labor "by the rules" and wanted to provide care with autonomy. She is now at a wonderful collaborative practice that is fully supportive of midwifery care and patient choice

This episode is with Angela Lugiano who is a retired CNM with over 40 years of experience in birth work. She shares her journey and many words of wisdom along the way. I hope you will take the time to hear the advice and story of an experienced midwife. (This is an updated and re-recorded version of Angela's journey, if her story sounds familiar to you.) 

This episode is with Pamela, a CNM that has been in practice for 18 years. She shares her journey, her experiences, and resources available to her community for both clients and midwives. Check it out! 

In this episode I get to talk with Heather, who was born and raised on Scotland and has been a practicing registered midwife for over 7 years. She and I talk about her journey, the differences of midwifery pathway and practice in the U.K versus the U.S, and some talk of the massive midwife shortage happening in the U.K. It was super fun to have this chat with Heather! 

Marielle Tomlin is a CNM practicing in rural Lancaster PA. She is the new sole owner of WomanKind Midwifery and is venturing her first year of practice AND business ownership! She shares her journey to midwifery and how she balances life with a busy homebirth practice with upwards of 15-20 births a MONTH! Here are links to her social media pages as well. Marielle is on a mission to spread the word and beauty of physiologic birth. 

https://www.facebook.com/womankindmidwiferyllc

IG: @SimplyMamaLLC

TikTok SImplyMamaLLC

Carolyn is a CNM with a long history of midwifery and birth work, dating back into the 1970. She has part in theicipated writing of Varney's Midwifery, she has been in clinical practice, has taught and led the midwifery program at Georgetown, and is currently the owner and instructor of Ultrasound for Midwives--an excellent course offering both didactic and hands-on skills for midwives. Check out the episode and links below to ultrasound course website.  

https://www.ultrasoundformidwives.com/about-1

Megan Gross is a CNM in Dubuque Iowa that owns her own practice specializing in fertility care, hormone balancing and much more. In this episode, Megan shares her journey and why she loves having her own practice. We chat about midwifery, motherhood, kids and more. This was a super fun "coffee date" chat with Megan and I hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed chatting. 

Sharon shares her Journey to Midwifery that starts in Alabama and will come full circle back to Alabama! What is up with Midwifery care in Alabama?? Take a listen to this episode to hear some insights into that. Sharon is currently the Chief Director of the Midwifery program at Bay State but has some big future plans to improve Midwifery care in Alabama! She also shares some great words of wisdom she has gained from her many years of practice and in Midwifery education. Thank you Sharon! (**Please note the error in my opening statement, Bay State is NOT a University, it would be correctly stated as "Bay State Medical Center") 

Here's a link to more information about Sharon: 

https://www.baystatehealth.org/education-research/education/umms-baystate-campus/academic-departments/obstetrics-gynecology/holley

For those of you who asked me, If you want to donate to the podcast, here's a venmo link:

@amber-wilson-315

Bethany Arrington is a Certified Nurse Midwife and owner of Genesis Birth and Wellness, a home-birth practice in Greenville, South Carolina. She is currently the only black-owned home-birth practice in her area, and very proud of that fact! She shares her Journey to Midwifery and her lessons learned opening a home-birth practice. 

Link to Bethany's website:

https://genesisbirthandwellness.com/

IG: @Genesisbirthandwellness

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Genesis-Birth-and-Wellness-109077667638359

Want to take a trip around the world and practice Midwifery? Take a listen to Kristine's Journey to Midwifery and her amazing career in humanitarian work. She shares stories of traveling with her young son, living the life of a humanitarian midwife and her recent work with Doctors without Boarders. 

A link to Kristine's Blog: https://midwifewithoutboundaries.wordpress.com/

A link to Doctor's Without Boarders to learn more about careers as a midwife with them: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/careers/work-overseas/find-role/midwives

Mari-Carmen Farmer, MSN, CNM, WHNP-BC works in Philadelphia as a midwife. She shares her 22 year long journey to midwifery, entangled with working, motherhood, growing her family and the loss of a child. Mari-Carmen continues her work in anti-racism and inclusion in birth work, and shares her philosophy and perspective on this subject, as well as some projects she is doing to advocate this work within the community. If you are interested in learning more about Mari-Carmen's work you can email her at midwifeymaestra@gmail.com or find her on IG @mc_mama_osa https://www.instagram.com/mc_mama_osa/

Sukey Krause, MSN, CNM, FACNM is the Director of the Midwifery Education Program at Baystate Medical Center and Assistant Professor, UMass Medical School. She shares her journey to midwifery and her thoughts on midwifery education and WHY we need MORE education programs, as well as ideas on how to get that going! If you work for an academic medical center and want to get a midwifery program started, this is a great episode for you! 

Catherine is a retired CNM with a varied career in hospital, home birth, a military career and motherhood. She offers insight and lessons learned through her journey to midwifery and throughout midwifery. Listening to experienced midwives is a great lesson for all of us newer to the career, and I'm so thrilled she was willing to share her story. She also creates some beautiful pregnancy glass art work now and you can find her on @cjonescnm at IG, I will also be sharing some of her artwork on my page as well. 

Have you ever wanted to chat with your ACNM chapter president? Have you ever wanted to chat with a midwife involved in legislative work? Well, on this episode, you get BOTH!! Katie is an experienced CNM with a wealth of knowledge and a giving heart! You will love hearing her speak and tell her story of advocacy work for midwives in Virginia, as well as her own personal journey to midwifery. You can find her on IG at @virginiaacnm 

Yvonne Heavyside, a British trained Health Visitor, lactation consultant and community nurse who has more than 35 years working experience in obstetrics, health visiting, lactation advice, family planning and maternal and child health nursing owns and operates the Family Zone, a home visiting business that supports postpartum families in Hong Kong. In this interview, Yvonne and I talk about how she came to be in Hong Kong and and her many years of stories and experiences with the families of Hong Kong. Wonderful episode packed full of cultural diversity! 

Link to Yvonne's business page:

https://thefamilyzone.hk/about-us/about-us/

THIS INTERVIEW! Augustine opens up to her very emotional and vulnerable path to midwifery and includes all the amazing work she has done along the way. Much of it with deep sacrifices. We can all learn from story's like Augustine and I am deeply thankful she came on to share this journey with all of us. You can check out her links below...

https://www.midwiferywisdom.com/

https://www.facebook.com/MidwiferyWisdomCollective

IG: @MidwiferyWisdom and @artofbirthing 

This episode is with Dr. Rachel Reed, a UK and Australian midwife. She is the host of the podcast "A Midwife's Cauldron" and writes a blog "MIDWIFE THINKING." This is a great episode with Dr Reed who shares her journey, the differences of midwifery in the UK vs Australia, her PhD research (which is AMAZING!!) her blog, her podcast and books. Please listen you will love this! Then hop on over to the Midwife's Cauldron podcast and check that out too!

 https://midwifethinking.com/

This is Lexi's short and sweet story of how she was called to Midwifery! She is currently practicing just outside of Detroit Michigan. Take a listen to her story, and thanks Lexi for sharing it! 

Cassandra Aho, Midwife and owner of Midnight Midwifery discussed her journey to midwifery and her passion for educating others in Intimate partner violence. She brings her past experience into the birth work and how IPV impacts birthing families so greatly. Give this episode a listen and anticipate Cassandra's COURSE coming out very soon! Listen for details and find her at 

https://www.facebook.com/MidnightMidwifery/ 

email: Midnightmidwifery@gmail.com 

Stacy V, a CPM with over 30 years of experience in on the podcast today!! She is the owner of Oak Grove Midwifery in Wisconsin. She shares her journey of being a midwife in the early 90's and how that has shaped her calling today of archiving midwifery records! Here is a link below to her amazing presentation on the this future undertaking! https://www.powtoon.com/online-presentation/e0ylwpia73m/?mode=movie4

and a facebook inforgraphic.... https://www.facebook.com/motherofsalad/posts/10158841923591740

On this special podcast episode of “Journey to Midwifery” we hear from Margarita Rocío Pérez Silva, a Peruvian midwife for over 26 years. She is the National Dean for the College of Obstetrics  and the President of the Peruvian Midwife Association. She is speaking  on the state of midwifery in Peru during the Covid19 pandemic The episode is translated by: Sandra Oyarzo Torres, who is the Vice President of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), and is the first to Represent South America with the ICM. She has been a midwife for over 28 years and is now a professor at the University level. (Of note: this episode is in Spanish and English) 

Taylor, a very recent CNM graduate, shares her journey of moving from Idaho to Ohio to start school to be a midwife with no job or plan! She and her husband and two babies persevered through some tough days to finally make it to graduation, with her dream job on the horizon! She shares the struggles of having a baby during graduate school, pumping as a student and clinicals during COVID-19. 

Here's a link to what Taylor is using to study for boards:

https://deliveredexamprep.com/