I have been continuously involved with childbirth since the birth of my first child in 1970. The births of my own children, the many births I have been privileged to attend, along with the greatest of teachers, have taught me the miracle of birth and the power of women. Trusting in our own capacity to birth and creating the support we need, we are enabled to give birth naturally. 

I began attending births in the Woodstock, NY area in 1972, while working with a family practice doctor. I was initiated into this work through home birth and after 28 yrs of practice and the birth of two of my three children at home, I continue to believe that homebirth is the safest place for most women to birth www.sheilakitzinger.com/Homebirth.htm,Midwife Info.

I attended hundreds of home births before attending nursing school (1978) and years later midwifery school (1987). From the early childbirth reform movement I learned from the work of Raven Lange, Gail Peterson, Suzanne Arms, Ina May Gaskin (and the other FARM midwives), as well as the various childbirth methods (Dick Read, Lamaze, Bradley, Bing, LeBoyer). I have studied and practiced yoga and pranayama  (specifically the use of the breath), becoming intimately attuned to the energies. I studied massage and am a certified Kripalu bodyworker. I am a certified hynotherapist and studied NLP (the study of language and it's effects on the nervous system and body/mind connection) and developed a relaxation/visualization experience in a CD called Journeying Through Pregnancy & Birth that has been used by thousands of women.

I worked with homebirth doctors in Chicago for years in a very busy practice (70 home births a month) and in a high risk medical center as an Ob/Gyn nurse. I have also worked in free standing birth centers and community hospitals. The majority of the births I have attended have been out of hospital.  I introduced midwifery services to our local hospital (Columbia Memorial Hospital, Hudson, NY) and worked with Larry Perl (Ob/Gyn doctor) in a practice that offered women home, hospital or a birth center birth.

I founded and directed a free standing women's health and birth center in Antigua, Guatemala for nine years that provided 24/7 care to women from diverse populations including women that the local traditional midwives brought to us. I started a non-profit organization Midwives for Midwives & developed a training program that trained over 250 midwives over a 7 year period. This provided a midwifery model for training midwives internationally.

I am certified by the American College of Nurse Midwives and am NY State licensed.

WomanWay@aol.com  518-678-3154

"When women accept responsibility for their own birth experience and choose home birth as an alternative to the rigid institutional environment of hospital birth, they have a greater chance of having a natural birth."

"Birth is best supported in the safe circle of other women and with the skilled attention

of an expericenced birth attendant."

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