I moved to Fayetteville in 1993 to attend college at the University of Arkansas where I received aBachelors of Science degree in Zoology. I fell in love with the Fayetteville community and decided to stay and make this town my home.

After the birth of my first daughter Greenley in April of 1995, I began my journey toward midwifery. Greenley’s birth was a typical hospital birth filled with interventions and minimal loving support from the hospital staff. Although I loved my baby, I was left with feelings of confusion and frustration that were accompanied with breastfeeding problems. I assumed that breastfeeding was a natural process and would be easy. That was not entirely the case. My mother had been an avid La Leche League attendee and she recognized that I needed help. I began attending La Leche League meetings and not only learned about breastfeeding, but also met other mothers. Many of these mothers had given birth at home. When the homebirth moms described their experiences, there was one common denominator to their stories – empowerment. I immediately found out more about homebirth. I was astounded to learn of the safety, loving compassion and the continuity of care associated with the Midwifery Model of Care. As I discovered more about midwifery, I felt positive that I wanted to help women and families experience the control and empowerment a drug free homebirth provides.

Then in 1997 I nervously contacted Kate Conway, a local midwife starting a midwifery school. I spoke with Kate and soon began apprenticing and attending births with her, Teresa Elder and Bonnie Bowen. I also attended the Arkansas Midwives School and Services to acquire the academic portion of my training. While in school, I experienced my first homebirth with my daughter Elleya. It was fantastic. I felt so strong and loved having my baby with me from the moment she was born. My husband Curt loved being the first person to hold and touch our baby.

In 2000 I received my degree in Midwifery and received my midwifery license allowing me to found Birthroot Midwifery. In 2001 I gave birth to my first son Huxley, at home of course.

Over the past twelve years of participating in midwifery, I have loved serving families and the community in such an intimate and passionate way. In the past three years, I have been so grateful to the community for loving and supporting me and my family after the sudden and unexpected death of our daughter Elleya in July of 2005. The Fayetteville community and birth community supported and loved my family in every possible way. One way in which help and comfort arrived was in the construction efforts on the Birthroot Midwifery office. My husband, along with many talented homebirth dads, created the beautiful space where we now care for families and babies. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! It has helped me tremendously to come back to work. It is fantastic to be a part of each family’s joy. At this point in time, I have had the privilege of helping with over 200 births and look forward to many more years as a community midwife.