Behold Birth

There are a lot of hard things about owning your own business—but this is not one of them.

If you have an appointment in the next few months, you will get an extra boost of oxytocin at no extra charge 💕

Emily reached out to me over a year ago asking if we could meet up. When we were finally able to make it happen I knew she would be a wonderful addition to Behold and the birth community here. I am so thrilled she is harnessing her natural ability to advocate and educate in support of mothers 💎

Welcome, Emily!

If you or anyone you know wants a doula, you won’t regret meeting with Emily!

I went back and forth on whether to post stats. I think the transparency is important but it’s also a breeding ground for comparison—draining energy I don’t have to give. These aren’t just my stats. They belong to each family I had the honor of caring for and guiding. You all did 👏🏼 the 👏🏼 work 👏🏼. I was very intentional and generous in 2023 with myself. I took many chunks of time off to reset and pour back into my family after years of being absent for midwifery school. I don’t know what 2024 has to show us all but I know we can do it together 🌊

🌊 Certified Professional Midwife 🌊

I will start by saying I don’t believe you need official initials after your name to be able to call yourself a midwife. There is so much to piece apart and heal within the community of midwives of all kinds.

However, this is the journey that was right for me—that I INTENTIONALLY chose.

People deserve choices on where to give birth. And let me just tell you…this journey was intense, as it should be for this profession.

I spent the last 4 years driving minimum 10-15hrs/week, taking 18 hours of classes year round to earn my second Bachelor’s degree, working in a full time clinical placement and being on call pretty much constantly, attending close to 200 births, obtaining skills sign offs for All. The. Things., barely keeping a house running, saying goodbye to my whole social life, and doing the majority of my training in the midst of a global pandemic where I ended up ‘homeschooling’ 2 kids for 1.5 years….

Mostly, I am not putting this into writing to tell you how awesome I am (although my therapist says I am apparently allowed to be proud of myself 🙃)—I am however putting this here to say that the training to become a CPM is insane (once again, rightly so) BUT Georgia still refuses to acknowledge this pathway of midwifery.

We can do better. We must do better.

So, while I celebrate my accomplishments, I also mourn the current state of our maternity care and hope that one day Georgia will join the 35ish other states that are makin moves.

📷:

I don’t share a lot about being an apprentice/student midwife because I don’t always know what to say. I witness experiences that don’t belong to me. I witness first breaths, fighting words, tears, screams, strength. It mostly doesn’t feel like mine to share.

But also...I can’t deny that part of each birthing person’s story is becoming a part of mine. With each birth I witness and am a part of, I too am laboring.

You see, the journey and making of a midwife is a labor in itself. It’s a series of getting to the end of yourself, not sure you can go on. It’s saying the words “I can’t” and being surrounded by the strength of laboring people and midwives before me reminding me I can.

It’s filled with transitions and becoming more human and self aware than I ever thought possible. Its constant revision and refining. Of self. Of skill. Of literally every part of my thinking and relating to others and the world. It’s a rebirth. A remaking.