I love working with women and families, which has not changed since semi-retiring from midwifery. Thirty years of assisting several hundred home and birth center families gave me a deep appreciation for the sanctity of life, which started with the birth of my first child in the hospital and my second child at home. My love grew for home birth.
I also had other loves, some fading with time or necessity. I hiked the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, biked along the Boise River in Idaho, gardened everywhere I went and finally fulfilled a lifelong dream of living on a sailboat. My husband and I lived aboard a 43-foot catamaran named Home Berth for 3 1/2 years in the Caribbean, Bahamas, and eastern seaboard—a dream. Now, we have settled in France near the coast of the beautiful Mediterranean waters, surrounded by vineyards, olive trees, and the distant Pyrenees mountains.
My quest for knowledge was also fulfilled. I attained a Master of Arts in History – with an emphasis on women’s history. I’m a bit of a history geek. Before semi-retiring, I owned a birth center in Tennessee for over 14 years, now owned by a remarkable midwife – my youngest daughter. Handing down midwifery skills from mother to daughter is a precious legacy! I left the practice in my daughter’s capable hands and continued my path of writing and teaching.
Birth Social is an evolution that began in my living room in 2010 when I grouped first-time parents for three educational sessions centered on topics that repeatedly came up in my midwifery practice. I gathered handouts on these topics, edited the content, put them in order, and bound them in a small book titled Birth Social: A Complete Prenatal Guide.
When I realized I could teach these sessions to all parents, I began restructuring my entire prenatal system. Everything had to change! Prenatal groups for each due month were scheduled a year in advance, parents were given “due-month” schedules, and an entire curriculum centered on pregnancy care with a midwife blossomed. Birth Social grew from 60 to 90, to 120 pages, and finally to over 200. Prenatal group care, with the book as a guide, was a success!
Before long, I heard from a few midwives nationwide asking about the program. I knew that group care would be a valuable asset to midwifery practices everywhere, so I began the process of trademarking my material and curriculum. Birth Social® was born, along with several midwives using the program in their practices.
As I transitioned from full-time midwifery to semi-retirement, I shifted my focus to reach a wider audience. My book had already been read and loved by hundreds of home birth and birth center families, and I knew mothers everywhere would benefit from the Birth Social® material. I changed the book’s title from Birth Social: A Complete Prenatal Guide to Your Birth Journey: A Holistic Guide for Pregnancy – a Birth Social® Program. Although the book remains a centerpiece for the BirthSocial® model of care, the new name reflects the book’s need to spread its wings in the world. I was delighted to complete this cycle in the growth of Birth Social and the journey it took to get here. Parents everywhere now have a guide they can use alongside their midwife or care provider that correlates with their prenatal care.
We are committed to a midwifery model of care that is sustainable. Our program provides tools to midwives to reach that goal and transform their practices into an equitable experience for both themselves and the parents they serve.
