"A midwife must have the eyes of a Hawk, the heart of a Lion, and the hands of a Lady"
About Madison
For me, midwifery is a calling. I've become more and more passionate about birth-work with each year and each family that I've been honored to witness and attend throughout the stunningly beautiful process of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.
Midwifery is the worlds' most ancient work, other than childbirth itself. Only in very recent times have many of us forgotten this intrinsic part of our life-cycles, and thereby come to rely on the influence and manipulation of modern obstetrics. In nearly every culture the midwife has attended the laboring people of their communities with patience, experience, and skill. They often apprenticed for many years with their community midwife before assuming the role themselves when the time came. I’ve been honored to witness over 280 women give birth without pain medication or medical intervention. I am, of course, also deeply grateful for all of the people who have worked to advance technology and for the accessibility of modern medical practitioners. To me, being a birth keeper means to be a guardian of natural birth, and I've been training since early 2011 to do just that.
My first midwifery education was steeped in the deep spirit and rich traditions of traditional midwifery. My teacher at The Matrona seamlessly fused science, practicality, and spirit into an awe-inspiring tapestry, both deeply human and Divine. I emerged transformed and inspired to facilitate families through the transformative process of growing a new life and bringing it into the world. To me, part of being a midwife is guiding people toward harnessing the exceptional opportunity for self-transformation contained within pregnancy. If accessed, this potential holds the keys to navigating one's labor and birth with strength, focus, and purpose.
In 2013 I began an apprenticeship with an amazing midwife in a rural Colorado home birth practice in the high Rockies. During that time, I was blessed to witness several first-time mothers birth. The midwife who was my preceptor also worked within the Mennonite communities, so I found myself present at the births of a 6th and even a 13th baby! I was humbly reminded again and again that often my role is to simply learn from sitting at the feet of birth as a witness. Birthing people are the true birth experts, and it is a privilege to be able to attend them. The midwife I worked with imparted to me a great deal of learning, but bearing witness to birth has always been my greatest teacher.
After my apprenticeship, I moved to El Paso, Texas, to attend one of the highest-volume birth clinics in the country. The birth-center is also an Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC)-Accredited midwifery school, meaning the program provides ample experience with all of the required skills for licensure as a direct-entry midwife, including more than 2,300 hours in the clinic and 120 academic classroom credits. It was at this school that I really got to spread my wings as a primary midwife; conducting prenatals, receiving babies, and doing postpartum check-ups in the primary role. The birth center was an amazing opportunity to experience straightforward births, as well as those with complications. I learned and practiced in depth how to handle emergency situations and how to recognize signs of a problem (and respond to them) long before they become serious. This extremely intense, hands-on experience became the perfect compliment to my earlier training and prepared me to navigate a home birth practice with confidence.
In 2015 I passed the exam administered by the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) and earned the CPM (Certified Professional Midwife) credential. Since then I’ve returned to my ‘home’ community of Boulder and surrounding areas to offer the art and heart of this beautiful work here. I am deeply grateful for each opportunity that has led me to my offering and true work in the world!
Training & Experience:
I hold current certifications in the following:
CPM credential (Certified Professional Midwife through NARM)
Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP)
Adult/Infant CPR training
2016 to Present
Primary practice in the Boulder/Longmont area.
Birth assistant for multiple other midwives practices in the area (most consistently Community Roots midwife collective)
Total attendance at around 280 births. These include home, birth center, and hospital births as a midwife, doula, and midwifery assistant and apprentice midwife.
2015
Graduate of Maternidad La Luz MEAC Accredited Midwifery Program- El Paso, TX
2014
Homebirth Midwifery Apprenticeship (1 year)- Steamboat, CO
Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) Certified- Karen Strange- Colorado Springs (Updated every 2 years)
Suturing Workshop- Louana George- Denver, CO
2013
Homebirth Attendance- Boulder, CO area
Full-Circle Placenta Encapsulation Training- Colorado Springs, CO
SQUATFest Birth Conference-San Francisco, CA
2012
The Matrona: Holistic Midwifery Immersion (400 hours)- Asheville, NC
Volunteer Doula at Mission Hospital- Asheville NC
Member of Asheville Hositic Birth Collective
Herbalism Module of The Matrona
Co-Founder of The Boulder Doula Project Boulder,CO
2011
DONA Birth and Postpartum Doula training- Louisville, CO