Birth by Design Students

Leigh Ann Nitz

I first received my "calling" to be a midwife in the Fall of 2002. I had been seeking God, asking Him what He wanted from me. Specifically, "what was I supposed to do with my life?"  The answer came and it was "midwife". I actually was taken by surprise with this response as I am not sure I completely expected an answer, at least not one so specific.  It was immediate; my devotion, my interest and my wholehearted passion for this new thing in my life called "midwifery".

I trained as a Doula with DONA in 2003 and graduated from Lee University with a B.A. in 2001. I started on the path to becoming a certified nurse midwife, all the while knowing that my heart was wishing I could follow the path of becoming a certified professional midwife.  We set off on that journey with many speed-bumps and detours to date!  During that time I gave birth to two precious sons. Tobias (4) and Nigel (1). I had the privilege of Peggy being my midwife with my second pregnancy and birth.

Two days after I had officially started nursing school, in the summer of 2004, my husband informed me that God had spoken to him. That I was to follow my heart's desire of becoming a CPM, while he followed me to Idaho and to the Philippines (with a  few pit-stops in Florida) to make this happen.  My birth experiences during this time were in a free-standing birth center in Tampa, FL and in Puerto Galera, Philippines.

I began my apprenticeship with Peggy in June of 2009 in order to reach my goal of becoming a CPM. I am enjoying working in a busy home birth practice. I am getting a lot of valuable experience.

Celeste Youngblood

My path towards midwifery has been long and slow in coming. I remember as a child being afraid to approach my cousin's labor room at the hospital, after having heard her during what must have been a particularly difficult contraction. I remember the first time I touched a pregnant belly—my aunt's—and was surprised at its firmness. I remember as a candy striper holding a laboring mother's hand as she labored alone. I stayed with her all day and there was nowhere I'd have rather been. I was as grateful to sit there with her as she was to have someone with her. Then there was the high school classmate who labored and delivered without pain medication—and swore she would never do that again! I was intrigued.

It was not long after that that I met my husband and we began tending our little garden of souls. Maddy, our miracle 27-weeker, was born in early 1997. Every odd year after that has seen a new addition to our family: Margaret, David, Karol, Isabel, Nayfe, and Michael. How blessed we are! It was my own experiences in birthing my children that led to my becoming a doula and childbirth educator. I have felt a birth being completely out of my control, I have been through an induction with a posterior baby and had a nurse sit with me for hours and doula me so that I might have the birth I wanted, I have also been mistreated by medical professionals for not doing things their way. Through these births I found my voice and learned to advocate for myself. Although my first birth was difficult due to her prematurity, I have to say that all things considered, my births have been good. I wanted other mothers to have good births, too, and to not have to wait until the second, third or fourth babies to “find their voices”. I wanted to help support women both physically and emotionally, and to be there to provide them information they might otherwise not have. I began attending births in 2006 and completed my DONA certification in 2008. I became certified as a childbirth educator through Childbirth International in 2009.

What I have seen as a doula in the last few years has convinced me that we need more care providers who treat expecting mothers as individuals and as women capable of making informed decisions for themselves and their babies. I see too many mothers seeking a natural childbirth experience only to be derailed by unnecessary interventions and because they were laboring in a foreign environment, surrounded by people they had never met. Even with information and support, women birthing in hospitals are having difficult times achieving the births they have dreamed of. This should not be.

I met Peggy while working on my doula certification, observing a series of Bradley childbirth classes. I knew from the moment I laid eyes on her that she was “it”. She assisted me through my last two pregnancies and births and those experiences far eclipse even the best of what the medical model of care had to offer me. Midwifery care needs to be more prevalent, more accessible to women. I want to provide the better option of personalized care to the women of the Shenandoah Valley, and that is why I have begun to study midwifery with Peggy and the midwives of Birth by Design. Because I homeschool my children, I cannot say that I will be on the “fast track” towards becoming a CPM, but that is okay. This is one ride on the journey of life that I'm really going to enjoy!