Meet Your Midwife
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As a midwife dedicated to supporting people in having meaningful birth experiences, Jasmine focuses her practice on education and individualized care so that all of her clients can create the best plan of care that meets their unique desires and needs for their own birth experience. Specializing in natural homebirth and waterbirth, Jasmine attended her first birth in 2006, and shortly after started Midwifery school. She graduated with a degree in Midwifery from Birthingway College of Midwifery, and has now been a NARM Certified Professional Midwife for over 10 years.
Jasmine recently moved to the South suburbs of Illinois in order to be closer to family after having her own baby last summer. While on a sabbatical from attending births as a primary |
midwife, she continues to support growing families in various roles and is looking forward to obtaining her Illinois license. Jasmine has been licensed in multiple states including Arizona, California, Washington and Oregon. In addition, she has been lucky enough to have attended births in Senegal, where she volunteered with the African Birth Collective, and in Alaska, where she spent two cold winters working at a busy small-town birth center.
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Jasmine has always had an interest in human and women's rights. She first discovered her passion for working with new families in 1997 when, while living in a rural town in Southern Ecuador, she helped organize and facilitate a mother's group. After this experience she gained an interest in women's reproductive health. She strongly believes that all people should have the freedom to choose what to do with their bodies including being able to freely give birth in the location that suits them best. As Jasmine began talking to other women about their different life experiences, she realized that in many ways, people are often stripped of their own voice and power within our healthcare system. As she discovered the midwifery model of care, she became enthralled with its ability to facilitate self-empowerment.
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Now, Jasmine can't imagine doing anything else. For her, being a midwife is not just a job, it is a part of her identity. When 18 and in college, Jasmine began looking into becoming a midwife but could not find an avenue for how to accomplish this without first becoming a nurse. While Jasmine was not interested in nursing, her desire to be a midwife stuck with her. Almost 10 years later, after moving to Portland, she discovered that there were resources for attaining this dream, and with a fierce determination, immediately set out to make it happen. She loves participating in a model of care that stems from and facilitates choice and personal autonomy.
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Before attending Midwifery School, Jasmine attended the University of California in Santa Cruz, where she double majored in Latin American Studies with a focus in Women’s Studies, and Fine Art with a focus in Photography. She applies a creative touch to her practice and enjoys photography, painting, sculpting, fused-glass, scratchboard and leatherwork on the side. Jasmine loves traveling and spending time really getting to know the people and places that she travels to. She has spent a total of two years living and traveling in South America. Because of her studies and experiences abroad, she speaks Spanish and some Portuguese. When not traveling or doing art, Jasmine loves spending time with her wife and their beautiful baby, and being out in nature. Jasmine is passionate about working with growing families and supporting new parents and babies in having peaceful and safe homebirth experiences. |
Our Philosophy
Here at Natural Birth Services, we trust in a person’s own intuition and ingrained knowledge about what their body and baby need. We view pregnancy and birth as normal. We trust in the natural process of birth and in our body’s innate ability to birth. The care that we offer reflects this trust. We practice what is called the “biodynamic model of care.” This model of midwifery care is based on a deep respect and trust in our own bodies. It is a holistic, wellness based model which involves facilitating reproductive health and intervening in the birth process as little as possible while maintaining your and your baby’s well-being.
The biodynamic model is based on trust. As such, here at Natural Birth Services, we form relationships with our clients. We listen to your needs, desires and fears. Spending time getting to know you allows us to develop an understanding of mutual trust and respect during this deeply intimate time of professional collaboration. Throughout your care, we act as a resource, offering you information and support to ensure that you are the one making the final decisions about your care. We hope to create an atmosphere where you feel completely comfortable with your birth team so that you can feel confident about your care, certain about your decisions, and at ease during your birthing process.
Natural Birth Services offers all available testing, but we do so only after presenting unbiased and evidence based information and resources. We review all of the risks and benefits of every test, procedure, or treatment options available. We focus on education so that you can make truly informed choices about your and your baby’s health care.
As we know, all people are different, and all pregnancies are different. By getting to know you and by focusing on informed choice, we are able to offer individualized care to all of our clients. We want to make sure that you are receiving the most appropriate care for you. It is our goal to support you and your family in whatever way you need in order to foster the creation of a strong and healthy family.
The biodynamic model is based on trust. As such, here at Natural Birth Services, we form relationships with our clients. We listen to your needs, desires and fears. Spending time getting to know you allows us to develop an understanding of mutual trust and respect during this deeply intimate time of professional collaboration. Throughout your care, we act as a resource, offering you information and support to ensure that you are the one making the final decisions about your care. We hope to create an atmosphere where you feel completely comfortable with your birth team so that you can feel confident about your care, certain about your decisions, and at ease during your birthing process.
Natural Birth Services offers all available testing, but we do so only after presenting unbiased and evidence based information and resources. We review all of the risks and benefits of every test, procedure, or treatment options available. We focus on education so that you can make truly informed choices about your and your baby’s health care.
As we know, all people are different, and all pregnancies are different. By getting to know you and by focusing on informed choice, we are able to offer individualized care to all of our clients. We want to make sure that you are receiving the most appropriate care for you. It is our goal to support you and your family in whatever way you need in order to foster the creation of a strong and healthy family.
Safety Comes First
The biodynamic model of Midwifery care is defined as intervening as little as possible while maintaining safety and well-being. As midwives, we specialize in normal pregnancy and birth. We are trained to facilitate this, recognize when things are abnormal, and act quickly and appropriately should complications arise. If anything unusual should occur we always talk to you about what is going on. Most often, if complications occur, we are able to manage and rectify them safely at home. If complications arise at any time during your pregnancy, labor, birth or postpartum period that we are unable to resolve, we talk to you about the situation and explain all of your options. When unresolvable complications do arise we can sometimes provide co-care with a specialist, or if necessary we will refer you or transport you to a more appropriate healthcare provider.