Hey there, I’m Pam! I started my journey to midwifery early on, though I didn’t know it at the time. In high school, I read books like Dr. Sears’ Birth Book and Baby Catcher by Peggy Vincent (still one of my favorite books) and I was absolutely enamored with the ideas and information presented there. On a deep level, they spoke to me. In those days (it doesn’t feel like that long ago!), the internet was barely a thing, and while I knew that midwifery was still practiced in a hospital setting, that didn’t feel right to me. However, I was unable to find any information on out-of-hospital midwives, so off I went to college, where I attended 3 semesters, having no real idea what I wanted to do with my life. I decided that it would be best to leave college to enter the job market and get some real-world experience, so I took a job at a veterinary hospital. I went back to college in 2002 to earn a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and during that time, I was pregnant with my first child.
I very much wanted to have a home birth, but my husband wasn’t on board and I wasn’t able to find anyone who would attend one. So I started care with a CNM practice that had a freestanding birth center that had closed just before I got pregnant. My birth and postpartum experience was not at all what I had hoped and worked for. I ended up with a cesarean due to malposition (posterior baby). We struggled with breastfeeding, with that relationship ending at 10 months, well before I had planned, and I suffered from postpartum depression and anxiety. I didn’t feel I had received the information I had needed to make a fully informed decisions during my birth, and I felt a huge empty chasm where I needed support in the postpartum period. As difficult as it was, it turned out that this experience was the catalyst for a new direction in my life.
In the fall of 2006, I saw a flyer for a doula training workshop. I was immediately drawn to the idea and signed up. That workshop was a turning point in my life. That weekend, I realized that this was where I was meant to be. I attended my first doula birth in December of 2006 and was hooked. I knew this was a good fit for what I had to offer and it was incredibly fulfilling and challenging. In early 2007, I told my husband I was ready to have a second baby, and that I was having it at home so he better get ok with that. 😉 In March of 2007, I became pregnant with my second child and started planning my first home birth. I received thorough, personal care from my midwife, who attended my short, straightforward and successful home birth in December. I was absolutely thrilled.
I continued to attend births as a doula, while still working at my veterinary hospital job, until the summer of 2008, when I was invited to assist a local midwife at a twin homebirth. I then attended a few more births as an assistant over the next year. I began to realize that I was no longer happy staying in the role of labor support only, and wanted to expand what I could offer to clients during their births to include primary care. I sought out a local midwife and volunteered to assist her in any way she needed, just to get my foot in the door. After seeing what I could offer, in the fall of 2009, I began my apprenticeship with Sora Colvin, CPM, observing and assisting where I could, and moving into a primary midwife under supervision role in 2011. I passed NARM’s Certified Professional Midwife exam in the spring of 2013, while pregnant with my third baby, who was born at home that June. I opened my own practice that fall and have served this community ever since.
My experiences up to now have given me a unique perspective and I truly value the opportunity to support families through pregnancy, birth and postpartum. This journey we take together is special and unique. Seeing the transformation that happens when a new baby enters a family is absolutely magical and I’m blessed to be able to walk this path with so many special people.