VASHON ISLAND MIDWIFERY

Awakening Fertility & Preconception
Prenatal health begins prior to conception. This offering is intended for singles and couples at every stage of the preconception journey. In an age of lower levels of nutrition and higher levels of toxicity—and anxiety— I invite you to join our midwife for the dreaming, preparing, clearing, fortifying, and conceiving of your future pregnancy. For couples, both partners are encouraged to join their sessions together.


Home Birth Midwifery Care
Full-spectrum, home birth midwifery care for low-risk birthing people who feel called to give birth at home. A nourishing birthing space, facilitated by our licensed midwife and accompanying trained birth attendants. Services include highly personalized prenatal care, nutritional guidance, physiological & psychological postpartum wellness, and newborn care. Additionally, labor and delivery are attended at home with a licensed midwifery provider and other qualified health professionals who assist in a gentle and safe physiological birth, and proper facilitation of a transfer to higher-level facilities (ie hospital) should the need arise. This type of care is oriented towards education, preventative health, nutritional and lifestyle guidance, and the wisdom that our clients have ultimate authority and governance over their bodies during pregnancy and birth. 
 

Collaborative Midwifery Care
Our “Co-Care” services are available to all families, regardless of where they plan to give birth (hospital, birth center, etc). Offered as a bundle of services, excluding the birth itself. Services include prenatal care (conception-approx. 36 weeks), physiological and psychological postpartum wellness, and newborn care. We collaborate with a number of off-island providers, including but not limited to the UW - Maternal Infant Care Clinic. 


Monitrice Labor Support
For many birthing families on Vashon planning an off-island birth, wondering about getting off the island timely in labor, or arranging a back-up option in the unforeseen event that they cannot get off the island before birth, is a source of tension in their birth planning process. Most hospitals cannot admit a laboring client until they are approx. 6 cm dilated and/or their amniotic membranes have ruptured. Our Monitrice is a licensed midwife who will meet you at your house to monitor your vitals, listen to fetal heart tones, and even assess your cervical dilation to help you time an appropriate ferry departure to your delivery destination. Your Monitrice is a licensed midwife who will host a meet and greet with you prior to your labor, and also help you obtain a priority ferry boarding pass from WSDOT (needs to be done through a healthcare provider).


Physiological & Psychological Postpartum Wellness 
This is a unified offering with our midwife, bodyworkers, and our postpartum doula who know that nurturing the birthing person's health and well-being after birth is foundational to humanity's health. This important service of centering the birthing person is instrumental to the epidemic levels of maternal dis-ease in our nation. Includes specific, hands-on, facilitated prescriptions for rest, warmth, food, bodywork, and community support in the postpartum period. 


Lactation Support​
In-depth, one-on-one lactation support from the comfort of one's home. These lactation services are available to all island families. Lactation support is included in our midwifery services or it can be purchased as a one-time or recurring session independent of where you may be receiving your postpartum care. Our midwife and IBCLC practitioner work together to provide as many visits as a family may need, supporting all new parents to feel successful in meeting their breastfeeding goals. 


Holistic Cesarean Recovery
Physical, mental, and emotional support following a cesarean delivery, whether planned or unplanned. Join our midwife for postpartum preparations following a cesarean and hands-on healing and recovery support. Once discharged from the hospital, families are sent home without thorough instruction for caring for themselves post-surgery.  This offering explores systems of support around the home, nutritional guidance, functional movement and posture support, pain management, and emotional processing in additional to the standard incision care instructions you receive in the hospital. 


Sexual Wellness Session
Gentle & confidential health screenings and education for people of all ages (teenagers welcome). May include Pap Smears, STI testing, birth control education, and more. Breast health assessments are also available which can include a breast exam, education about self-breast examination and massage, and lymphatic drainage.Add on a breast mask from the neighboring spa for a truly comprehensive session.
*A wonderful bundled offering after weaning your child from breastfeeding!