Welcome to Beginnings- Whole Body Nourishment, which has been a dream of mine for many years! After spending over a decade caring for pregnant families and attending births as a midwife in Oregon and Washington, I was caught off guard by the number of physical and emotional struggles I experienced as a new mother, and was most challenged to know how and where I could go to piece myself back together. One would think that a midwife working in the field would know exactly where to turn for support, and yet it was only through trial and error that I found the resources I needed that helped me move forward. My experience shed a light on the gap I saw in maternity services that often lose sight of the mother and father when focusing solely on fetal and infant growth and development. Many resources for support do exist, but often in a fragmented way, unable to address the whole person, and missing a piece of the puzzle for mothers and fathers at a time when they may be desperately in need of a multi-faceted approach to help and healing.
After several years of slowly creating a foundation for myself as a new parent, I began to envision a landing space for families in the childbearing years, one that would offer a variety of resources to address what I, as a midwife and a mother, saw as the unique challenges of pregnancy, birth, postpartum and child-rearing. Beginnings uses a functional and holistic approach to health, viewing the individual as the expert with regard to his or her body wisdom. Beginnings is a place to turn to for resources to optimize your pregnancy and birth and give your family a healthy start, a place to find healing after birth that is available long after the “final 6 week visit”, a place to help you manage the often overwhelming transitions (both physically, mentally, and emotionally) in life. It is my passion to help soften life's challenges, empower families to find their path to nourishment, and help you to live these treasured years with tools for self care and lasting health.
I am a Certified Professional Midwife and a Licensed Midwife with experience attending births since 2005. I have had the pleasure of working as a midwife with the families at Vivante Midwifery and Women's Health since 2009. In addition to being a midwife, I am also a Certified Holistic Nutritionist, a Holistic Pelvic Care™ provider, a TRE® (Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises) provider, a P2i® (Preconception to Infancy) provider, and have training and a personal interest in movement therapies for stress reduction, pelvic floor support and diastitis recti care, including Mamalates, Fascial Flow Method™, and Nutritious Movement. An educator at heart, I also have the pleasure of serving as adjunct faculty at Bastyr University teaching Perinatal Nutrition in the Department of Midwifery. Born and raised in Portland Oregon, I am still in love with this beautiful city and in between births and wellness counseling, I spend my free moments on nature outings with my husband and three kids, exploring new foods, playing music, moving and finding quiet moments as a parent to breathe.