Midwife is what the members I serve call me; still, I am foremost a disciple of Yeshua (Jesus).  As a Founding MOV Birth member, I offer my services to other members through the Mid-Ohio Valley region as an Appalachian Traditional Birth Attendant.  In this private member-to-member relationship I offer knowledge and skills for preventative maternity care with perinatal education, support, and breastfeeding guidance. Optimally healthy mothers and babies that surrender to the birth transformation don’t need medical care during the childbearing year and I believe home is the ideal place to support non-medical psychophysiologic childbirth.  I believe this transformational journey should be protected and held as the Sacred Rite of Passage it was created to be.  I’ve witnessed that most births don’t need direction, though a calm, experienced presence can help a mother and her family confidently surrender to the birth transformation by providing guidance through the wide range of birth variations of our modern culture.

I surrendered to my Christian faith through my first birth in 2008 and I have been called to share Jesus’ work in my life ever since: midwifery being a humbling manifestation of this transformation.  I have been with my husband for over 25 years.  We have two home-birthed and home-schooled children (which I breastfed for over 2.5 years each while fluctuating between working full-time, part-time, and being a SAHM & WAHM).  I am a bit of an opinionated empath; strong-minded and will serve you fiercely.  I feel hard.  I play some. Born in autumn, I have an analytical motherly personality that thrives on philosophical conversation with spirit swirled all around.  I love cooking on a crackling fire on a cold snowy day and staring at the starry sky on a warm summer night.  I love tasty wholesome healthy food that nourishes me and occasionally will indulge in fudgy brownies, homemade sausage + pepper sourdough pizza, and sparkling seltzer.  I have my stuff like everyone.  Jesus is helping me work that out and guiding me to help you work your stuff out, too… or just embrace it with surrender and grace.  I am a lover of smiles, logic, and rabbit holes and you can find me occasionally on IG & FB, but I’d rather lose these worldly signals by being outside immersed in God’s creation.  If you want to venture to my house in the country, we can cozy up by a bonfire, hike the paths behind my house learning about wild edibles and medicinal herbs, or I’ll make you a cup of tea and chat about all things faith, wellness, birth, breastfeeding, and life!

Midwifery is with-woman in whatever way that needs to be, and it stretches me beyond my limits where I can only trust in Jesus for His sovereign peace.  I’m here to help you prepare for this spiritual transformation, if you’re interested, and to remind you that “professionals” don’t know everything, science and evidence are flawed and ever-changing, but creation is incredible when we accept the responsibility we’ve been given of nourishing our temple and caring for the world around us.  I’m here to encourage you to surrender, and listen, to the Holy Spirit… if you’re willing.  I LOVE sharing what I know. Telling my story. Passing on wisdom.  It was through prenatal education that my life was flipped right-side-up and it is through educating that I serve and help support you through the childbearing years.

Serving families in the childbearing years continuously humbles my soul.  My skill-set is in seeing the woven connections between all aspects of our lives and supporting healthy mothers and babies through birth, while guiding families to optimal health between pregnancies.  I hope this site helps you understand the kind of care I desire to provide and what care with me may look like before choosing me to serve you.  While we can’t control birth and have to be ready for the twists and turns this journey may take, I believe it is my responsibility to share with you some of the expectations you can have when asking me into your sacred birth space.  Every practitioner, every midwife, practices quite differently.  We all have different journeys and skill sets that have led us here.  Here is just a little about me:

• Spirit-led Midwife, domiciliary
• Advocate for maternal and midwifery rights to choose however, wherever, and with whomever they want to birth/support and am fundamentally supportive of autonomous midwifery (rather than mandatory regulated midwifery – because a title or license does not guarantee quality of care, healthy births don’t require medication or a medical attendant – you have options for these tools already, and telling a provider what they can’t do never made quality care more accessible to anyone… the majority of home birthing families have been disrespected and not provided with “evidence-based” care from licensed practitioners or licensed practitioners that are not even capable of utilizing their own expertise to support a mother’s informed decisions, and licensed providers also get sued so it doesn’t offer protection for the birth attendant, either).  I firmly believe midwifery service is first about supporting spiritual growth and psychophysiology, and secondly about clinical care or management – and the more optimally balanced you and your baby are, the less you will need clinical observation or treatment
• Guide of Happy Healthy Birth in all ways, for all people, in all birth locations and thankful for medical backup in the moments it could be beneficial
• Educator of Long-Term-Health, Relationship-centered, wellness
• Doula from 2016-2022 (midwifery in physiology-supportive environments, is my soul-focus now)
• Breastfeeding & Babywearing Guide – Leading the Mid-Ohio Valley Breastfeeding, Birth, & Parenting Social since 2010 and assessing Oral Restrictions including Tongue & Lip Ties
• Perinatal Mentor & Educator/Developer of Esali Birth Perinatal Education since 2009
• Rebozo is an extension of my arms and I love drawing on bellies
• Herbalist, Nutritional & Functional Wellness Counselor (including Functional Lab Assessments for whole families, TTC, and fertility) & Member of the WV Herb Association
• Nutritious Movement Aware
• Trauma-Informed with Logical Faith-Based Emotional & Wellness support to help prevent and care for perinatal mood disorders
• Photographer (Commercial & Journalistic)
• Mainstream-turned-mostly-Back-to-Basics
• Although I have learned from some medical midwives, offer some clinical skills, and have access to obstetric resources, I have no desire to be a medical midwife or provide medical care.  Most modern midwifery has an education that is fear-based and falls in line more with obstetrics than holistic midwifery and there is so much fear surrounding birth that many families planning home birth are looking for a medical provider that will support there fear with a hospital-birth-at-home approach.  People can use tools, like labwork, on occasion to have a more full picture when there are imbalances or to prevent complications, but midwifery care does not need to encompass these tools or mimic obstetrics.  If you are hoping for a medical provider that carries and administers medications, and practically does everything except a c-section at home, I’m not the best midwife for you.  If you desire to have the kind of midwife that believes we should not tell women how to birth but offers skills for the common variations of labor, teaches you about living a healthy life and preventing complications, brings skills and tools to manage variations and complications for healthy mothers and babies, and refers to medical practitioners when medical needs arise, then my approach and beliefs probably align more with what you’re looking for and I’d love to chat.

In the region I serve, there is a midwifery style that suits every desire of care, and mothers that are optimally nourished, reduce fear to trust in her body’s creation, and seek care from someone that meets their needs usually have more pleasant memories of their experience. If my style resonates with you, reach out!

I believe midwifery encompasses spiritual gifts that no formal midwifery education can replace for the Spirit-led skills and ancient wisdom passed down through generations of experienced midwives.  The Spiritual Art of Midwifery is being lost, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to learn alongside Christian Elder Traditional Midwives to obtain wisdom impossible to gather otherwise. I am forever thankful for their prayers, energy and wisdom that they were (and still are) willing to share with me, and feel so blessed to have them in this journey of service.  I am also thankful to live in a time where access to information helps us to refine our skills and information shared.  I have been educating & supporting childbearing families of the MOV area (and virtually) since 2009 through Esali Birth. I now offer Traditional Midwifery support and wellness counseling with a holistic and herbal approach including parallel care for families planning birth center or hospital birth.

• Midwifery care to 300+ families (including 150+ births as the Primary Midwife since 2020) throughout the Mid-Ohio Valley and many more for prenatal and postpartum care including support within multiple Plain Communities
• Lead virtual & local hands-on Midwifery study groups on a regular basis
• 2-Year Apprenticeship with 10+ years of Self-Study & Workshop-Based Education, learning from multiple Direct Entry Midwives (including Christian Traditional Appalachian Midwives with an herbal approach to care), CPMs, and CNM senior midwives – My style is a blend of Traditional Birth Attendant and Functional Wellness
• Midwife Assistant & Primary Midwife Back-Up at the Rio Care Plain Community Birth Center in Rio Grande, OH – 2019 to 2021
• Hands-On Suturing I – HIVE CE – 2026
• Practical Pharmacology – HIVE CE – 2026
• IV for Shock w/ Pitocin – HIVE CE – 2026
• Completed Breech Without Borders Breech Pro Hybrid course – 2022
• Completed The Art of Birth course by Naoli Vinaver – 2020-2022
• Spinning Babies Trained – 2016
• Observed at the Dr. Jack Newman International Breastfeeding Centre – 2018
• Neonatal Resuscitation Certified via AAP NRP & Biodynamic Resuscitation of the Newborn – since 2018
• Basic Life Support Trained – since 2020
• Certified Level III Forest School Practitioner – 2018
• Graduate of Science & Art of Herbalism 3-Year Study – 2017
• Creative Designer with a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design – 2006
• Licensed Nail Technician – 2003 (I know, so random, but you’re probably not surprised to know that washing feet teaches us much about wellness and serving others)

I am a strong advocate of educated decisions with a focus in maternal birth rights and rites and changing the systematic cultural influences on maternity care in our modern world by providing an alternative to care (rather than just dealing with the current system). It is my humbling goal to respectfully counteract the mainstream approach by helping to build confidence and awareness in childbearing families and help you to obtain information and resources to make respected informed decision.

My prayer is that you experience this journey as the spiritual transformation it is meant to be while allowing space for the Holy Spirit to guide you so that you may birth in the way that you desire and need.  It’s not about can or can’t – it’s that something is going to happen somehow, some way, and you’re there to experience it one way or another.  THAT is our ONLY guarantee.  I hope that I demonstrate the peace I have found in Jesus with our time together.

I am like a trail-buddy.  I’m happy to join you on your journey, and am blessed when you are a part of mine.  I can walk alongside you and remind you that the path is fairly straightforward, and while birth matters, birth is not the purpose of our journey in our time on earth.  All of us experience this life journey differently.  Some take a side trail now and then, even eat a wild mushroom, and sometimes God takes us through a wilderness of raging rivers to get us back.  I’m here to share wisdom and comfort in those times, to share knowledge for making informed decisions, how to read a map even if I’ve never seen your map before, and ways you can cross a creek even though your current is a bit different.

No one else can birth for you. I can help you be aware of all the equipment available to you and to remind you that everyone packs something different in their pack, and everyone will need or want to use a different tool.  Some will find that their journey leads them to medical support, though most moms will continue the path to birth at home with a traditional style of care.  The passage ahead might only be big enough for one person so you might have to go ahead at times or may take a short cut; yet you can, and will, take the first step as you surrender to your transformational journey.

I am a person, with a family, on a journey of God’s will.  Nature is our peaceful place.  The Appalachian forests and hills in simple mountain seclusion are our playground.  We are thankful to live in a modern culture and be able to blend ancient wisdom into our daily lifestyle. We enjoy wildcrafting, chilling in the hammock, picnicking under the trees and being immersed in the forest hiking on a trail or our backyard when I’m not anticipating the birth season of a client.

I feel led by the Holy Spirit to support mothers and their families through the childbearing years and love sharing my personal experience of pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, postpartum, parenting, and life and how my personal birth and support journey continues to grow my faith in, and relationship with, the LORD/Yahweh our God through Jesus/Yeshua the Savior. Stories shared are how we have connected with people and passed on wisdom throughout history, and I believe sharing our testimony, including birth and breastfeeding stories, is one of the most impactful ways of gaining knowledge for life.  I feel truly blessed to live this life of caring for families in the joys and challenges of the childbearing years. I support families of all backgrounds, beliefs, faiths, and daily lifestyles and support the journey that every family member experiences during this time of their life.

I’ve walked this path like so many women and families before and would be happy to support you through your journey, too, if you discover that my presence is an enriching addition to your space. I look forward to meeting you and provide free phone or web-based consultations.