Meet Christina

As you consider inviting me to participate in your journey, I will share with you some of my own. I felt the call to midwifery when I was pregnant with my first child. As I was interviewing midwives for my own planned homebirth, it struck me that I loved everything about the job THEY had— working one-on-one with people, talking about body-stuff all day long, guiding people through the mysterious terrain of pregnancy, birth, and the transformation into parenthood, and the complexity of balancing medical knowledge with the ability to be present with the heart and hands of a healer. Well, I tucked that knowing away while I was busy becoming a mother myself.

My pregnancy was an amazing and mythic journey. And, as fate would have it, my birth didn’t go as I had hoped or expected. I fell into all the traps a first-timer encounters because I didn’t yet know how to fully trust myself nor believe I deserved to ask for exactly what I wanted and needed during labor. I found myself taking care of everyone around me, including my midwife, my mother, my doula, but unable to access the fierceness of heart it would have taken to really take care of myself and my baby in the way that would have reflected my instinctual knowing and core values.

All the lessons from that first birth became the food that grew me into the fierce mother, healer, and midwife I am today (and still work everyday to embody more fully). That how birth is sometimes—an amazing and relentless teacher! Once my new, unbelievably precious daughter had completed her ten months on-the-belly, I was still reviewing my birthing experience and metabolizing and integrating it into the larger story of my life. In all this, I noticed I was still feeling the call to become a midwife— more than ever now,actually, because of my own birth journey! So, I began taking classes in 2009, and the winding way to becoming a licensed midwife had begun.

After 15 months of homebirth apprenticeship spanning two different private homebirth practices with certified professional midwives in Colorado, my beloved mentors Beth Karberg and Elizabeth Moore, I became pregnant with our son. I chose to fully own my journey by claiming an unassisted pregnancy and birth, deepening into the abundant and dynamic support available through my relationship with the natural world, the plants and animals and canyons that I called home at the time, along with a few very special human beings who could fully support my radical autonomous, and mythic approach to pregnancy and birthing.

I knew I was ready for labor once I completed the ceremony where I became simultaneously “bear” and “cave”. The ceremony took place in the center of my home, in front of the woodstove with the support of an elder midwife and a nature-based guide. I was covered in clay, charcoal-drawn blessings, and autumn leaves, and I had found and become the safe den I needed to deliver my baby. I gave birth days later in the dark, peaceful environment of my home, and the simplicity of that labor and birth was immensely beautiful and healing for me and my family.

I came out of my second birthing experience longing to support women to give birth in wild places, autonomous and unassisted, held in the generous and loving arms of the world, and this longing still centers me when difficult decisions need to be made during the course of midwifery care in pregnancy and birth. I am relentlessly committed to supporting the fierce and loving choices my clients make for themselves, and strive to reserve recommendations for an alternative course of care for situations in which I truly believe that the safety and well-being of my clients is at stake. There is a lot of fear surrounding natural birth, and I take it as a worthy challenge to continually base my clinical judgment in a foundation of love and primal trust, while calling on natural and medical solutions as needed.

When I transitioned into my second apprenticeship, I was initiated with a ceremony where I saw an image of myself serving “at the gates”. As I understood it at the time, and still understand it now, the gates swing both ways, as souls pass into this world and also out of it—it is the same gates for birth and death, and both are always present there with us. I felt the immensity of the responsibility that comes with knowing this, and serving women, babies, and families at the threshold between worlds. Life is precious, and every passage through the gates is significant and full of life-giving energy, even when it involves loss and grief.

I feel it is my work to serve families both in greeting new, vigorous little beings and also in helping people as they experience the territory of loss. Whether through miscarriage, stillbirth, or chosen termination, the experience of loss is complex and emotional, whether or not the process requires medical care. Indeed, I have participated in the care of a variety of losses and stillbirths, and in each instance, it is an honor to walk alongside families at this tender time and offer what support I can on every level.

As I continued my education through attending births as the primary midwife under supervision, I experienced many beautiful, spontaneous out-of-hospital births, several of which were for clients who had been turned away by other providers. As a licensed midwife and guardian of natural birth and client autonomy, I am dedicated to maintaining the spectrum of normal pregnancy and birth, a range of what is considered normal that honors variation among healthy women. In Washington state, for example, caring for VBAC clients, twin pregnancies and breech babies, is within the scope of practice of licensed midwives. I am committed to carefully assessing each situation on an individual, case-by-case basis, and helping pregnant people find the most appropriate care for their unique circumstances.

Although homebirth is most often beautifully simple, occasionally there are unexpected complications. Throughout my journey of attending births, I have handled a variety of issues and complications that have arisen, some extremely urgent. I maintain my readiness to deal with these situations through a variety of regular practices, classes, and trainings so that difficulties can be managed with grace and the normal, natural process can be restored as seamlessly as possible.

My family moved to the Methow Valley in 2013, and as I was completing my clinical residency, I heard from so many community members that a local homebirth midwife was sorely needed in Twisp and Winthrop, as well as in Okanogan county in general. As an active midwife in the community now, I am humbled to be able to serve local families who I can watch grow!

My Approach

My approach as a midwife is holistic, integrative, body-centered, systems-oriented, nature-based, and aims to empower and educate.

My Goal

My ultimate goal is to support you to make authentic choices for yourself, your baby, and your family from a place of embodied power, primal trust, and loving support.

I Believe

I believe in your autonomy as an individual.
I value your knowing of your body and your baby's body.
I trust your inherent belonging in the natural world.
I am here for you as you ask the big questions
I believe you will transform into the parent you long to become.