Education and Training
Masters
Michigan State University, MI, M.S. Entomology
University of Missouri-Columbia, MO, M.S.N./C.N.M.
Provider Philosophy
Like many of my sister midwives, I did not start out knowing midwifery was my calling. A summer job on the Cape working with gypsy moths introduced entomology to me as I was finishing my bachelors at Mount Holyoke, but while I was working on my master’s at Michigan State, the epiphany came. Acting as a doula for a fellow grad student in labor, complete with a week-long induction and eventual c-section, convinced me that I should stop thinking about bugs and start thinking about babies. It took ten years from that point to become a midwife. Every step of the way, I knew I was on the right track. I loved nursing school at Rockhurst University in Kansas City. Grad school (U. of MO-Columbia) for the second time, was not easy as a single mom. But I’m a bit of a geek so I happily wallowed in data between diaper changes and day care runs.
Now that I’ve been a midwife for over ten years, I’ve discovered that the learning never stops. Midwifery has so many side avenues and parkways to explore. I became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in 2002. I coordinate the Alternative Insemination program of Greater Boston, AICGB, started by Megan MacInnes and housed in our Arlington office (where I also see patients). I love research and even went so far as to enter a PhD program, but I’ve found I can scratch that itch quite well by investigating the questions my inquisitive clients pose to me. Midwives teach every day so I have the professor’s life without finishing that doctorate.
When I’m not catching babies or teaching or doing all the fun things midwives do, I spend time with my three girls and my husband and our constantly remodeled house. We build an ice rink in the backyard and skate every winter and bike all over eastern Massachusetts every summer.
