Bay Area Midwifery Center

During my first pregnancy I devoured everything I could find about pregnancy, labor and birth.  I found Ina Mae Gaskin's "Spiritual Midwifery" and was hooked.  I sought care from an MD who attended home births and worked with midwives.  A difficult labor, transfer to hospital, pitocin and vacuum assisted birth did nothing to dampen my belief in the natural process and women's ability to give birth.  The personal knowledge of the potential for transformation and empowerment through the natural processes of pregnancy, labor and birth stayed with me through careers in business, catering and early childhood education and I was eventually called to join with women in that unique journey. I received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and was inducted into Sigma Theta Tau, the nursing honor society, in 1992.  After working in high risk obstetrics and labor and delivery I received my certificate in midwifery from the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing, passed my boards and began practicing in 1996, later receiving my Master's of Science in Nursing from Case Western Reserve University.  When I'm not working or catching up on sleep, I enjoy the company of my 2 daughters and my grandson, being outdoors, and salsa dancing with my fiance

Anna Grizzard CNM

 

The desire to make sure that women have choices in childbirth sparked my journey to becoming a midwife. It was a mid-life career change for me, coming after graduating from the University of California in Berkeley, and practicing as a landscape architect. In 1989, with the support of a good friend, a great Bradley instructor, and my family, I gave birth to my daughter at home, attended by a midwife. Four years later, my son was born into the hands of that same midwife, who remains a lifelong friend and who inspired me to follow in her footsteps. I became a doula, childbirth educator, and eventually an apprentice to a home-birth practice in New Orleans, where I lived for five years. This excellent training was followed by nursing school and midwifery training at the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing, where I received my midwifery certification and a master's degree in nursing. Along the way,  I continue to learn from other midwives, nurses, obstetricians, acupuncturists and practitioners of homeopathcy, but I learn the most from the women I meet. Whether I am talking to women about nutrition or contraception,  or attending them in labor, it is a privilege to practice as a midwife.

Kimla McDonald CNM