A MIDWIFERY PARTNERSHIP
The model of care at Foothills Midwifery includes many different team members, including you! You are the most important part of our partnership. Midwifery care emphasizes the importance of client-centered care and client-informed choices, you get to decide what's best for you and your family.
In addition to you as the primary team member, we have found that having a team of professionals offers more sustainable care and more services to meet the needs of our clients. Instead of a solo midwife practice, you have the opportunity of having a few birth midwives, which ensures that whoever ends up at your birth, will be someone you already know.
Other team members include our wellness provider who offers wellness care to clients outside of pregnancy, which includes gynecological care, annual exams, laboratory testing, contraceptive care, and more. There is also have an ultrasound technologist who comes on Saturday afternoons offering ultrasounds for pregnancy and non-pregnancy. And finally, we have birth assistants and advanced students training to be midwives, you can read about everyone's bios below!
When I had my first daughter at 16 years old, I later learned how fortunate I was to be treated with respect and dignity, and to have had an empowering experience. Midwifery care changed my life. As a single, teen parent, I set off on a journey to support my daughter and I. I worked as a medical assistant while attending midwifery school and now I have attended somewhere around 1000+ births as a midwife. I feel so fortunate to have been a part of midwifery for the last 15 years and in healthcare for the last 20 years. I have gone on to have five children who were all born with midwives! I am also proud to identify as Latina and Diné (Navajo). In addition to catching babies, I am a board certified lactation consultant, a professor at the Center for Indigenous Midwifery School, have degrees in Spanish/Latin American Studies, Psychology and am currently attending the University of Washington Physician Assistant Program in order to offer continuity of care to clients in the future. I have personally been impacted by how important midwifery work is and I am truly honored to walk beside you on this journey into parenthood. Terah is a licensed and certified professional midwife. In order to become a licensed and certified professional midwife, she attended midwifery school, went through several preceptorships, attended greater than 100 deliveries, attended thousands of hours of prenatal and postpartum care visits and underwent the state licensing exam as well as an extensive national licensing exam.
Hi! My name is Mercedes. I have been a community midwife for four years and counting And before that I was a doula, birth assistant, and student midwife for six years. I have had the pleasure of caring and supporting families from all walks of life and enjoy working with each one of them. When families come to me seeking a supportive environment. I try my best to be as present, safe, and compassionate as I can, with a little bit of a jovial twist.
Hi there! I'm Elke, and I've spent the last 20+ years working with moms and babies in all kinds of settings -from birth centers, hospital and home births. My work has taken me from remote Alaskan towns, posh destination births in Mexico, mission work in Haiti to research work in Santiago, Chile. I'm a mom of 3 grown kids myself. My first was born by c-section, and I had my other two at home as VBAC births. This personal experience, along with my professional background, has shown me how important it is for you to have informed choices about your care. I truly believe birth is your journey, and my job is to support you along the way. I can't wait to help you have the birth experience that is best for you and your family!
Hello, I’m Amanda! I started birth work in 2017 as a doula and I attended my first birth in 2008! A friend from church heard I was thinking about pursuing midwifery, so she invited me to her home waterbirth. It was the most beautiful, empowering and magical experience! I knew at that moment that midwifery was what I wanted to do. And now I am actually doing it! My husband, Paul, and I have two beautiful children; Petra who is 2 ½ and Theodore who is 15 months. We also have two Australian shepherds and we dream of having an urban homestead at our home in Kent. We started with a small vegetable garden this past year and are working on making space for a larger garden this coming year. I look forward to meeting you all and walking alongside you during this journey!
Tinneca has been a midwife for over a decade and has worked closely with midwife Terah throughout their midwifery careers. While Tinneca no longer attends birth, she is still immersed in the birth community by offering somatic therapy services, craniosacral therapy to infants and adults and runs an outdoor nature school (in addition to doing our home visits!)
Brooke is our wellness provider. She provides health needs to clients beyond the 6-8 week postpartum period and to other community members who are looking for care for an array of healthcare needs. "The spark that ignited my passion for midwifery began 26 years ago sitting in a sacred women’s circle where a midwife shared the magic of assisting new life onto this planet. This was soon after my son was born and the midwife’s words of empowerment spoke to me. Although I did not have a challenging birth experience, it was not what I wanted and I did not feel empowered. I clearly knew, listening to the midwife that night, that I had found my vocation to support others during this great transition. I lived in Maryland at the time, where nurse-midwifery was much more prevalent than certified professional midwifery, and so I began my journey to become a nurse. In 1999, I became a RN and also became a single mom. I worked many years as a labor nurse, going to school part time, and finally graduated in 2011 with my Master’s Degree from Shenandoah University/Johns Hopkins University and became a Certified Nurse-Midwife. My training included both in and out of hospital birth. After graduation, I began a midwifery practice within a OB group in a rural part of MD which quickly grew to have 3 midwives and 25-30 births per month. It was very difficult to move on from my Maryland birthing community, but I was feeling the call to move west and to work with the First Peoples of the US. I was offered a position on the great Navajo Nation, where it has been a privilege to provide midwifery services for the last 6 years. I have attended over 1000 births in my 11 years, caring for both high and low risk clients. I am now heeding the call to the Pacific Northwest and am grateful for the opportunity to get back to my roots of out of hospital birth. I am honored to join the Foothills Midwifery group and support your family during your journey. " "Outside of my part time work at Foothills Midwifery, I am launching my Energy Healing Business called Journey with Brooke, offering spiritual and energetic support for all your reproductive needs, including conception, pregnancy, labor, birth, and beyond, as well as offering support to those experiencing transition in their lives. The work is offered in person or virtually. I am so appreciative of you perusing the site and feel free to take advantage of the FREE 30 min consultation."
At every birth, we bring two assistants, who are typically students actively enrolled in a midwifery program . Our students & assistants are professionally trained to offer some labor support, although their primary responsibility is to be a second set of hands for the midwife. Nearly all of the time, you will meet your birth assistant(s) before your birth.
Greetings! My name is Yael Woods (prn. Ya-el) I am a third year midwifery student at Southwest Wisconsin Technical College. I relocated to WA from Houston, TX with my 17 year old son, Evan in February of 2024 and have been a student midwife with Mercedes Snyder LM, CPM of Something Beautiful Midwifery Care since July 2024 learning and growing in my midwifery journey. I am also a certified Full Spectrum Doula specializing in Fertility, Birth, Postpartum and Bereavement for the last 6 years and running my own business Purple Lotus Fertility & Birth Services supporting many moms, babies and families. I've been deeply passionate about birth since watching my first episode of TLC's "A Baby Story" back in the 90's and have known that I always wanted to be apart of the birthworld, but it wasn't until I had my own experience with infertility and complex pregnancies that I knew I had discovered my purpose and my goal was to support as many women as I could through the process of pregnancy and birth. I became a full spectrum doula and holistic reproductive practitioner in 2019 and as I continued that journey, I realized that physically and emotionally supporting women wasn't going to be enough. I wanted to be part of the change in reducing the maternal and infant mortality rate for all women but especially black, brown and indigenous women. I began researching ways that I could advocate for women who looked like me. Being able to serve my community and provide a voice for those that are often not seen, heard or valued became the cornerstone of the work that I do. With each client I served, the pull to do more grew stronger and stronger and I realized it was time to answer the call and follow my heart's desire to become a midwife. Providing compassionate, heart centered, holistic care for women through all facets of the reproductive journey is what lights my soul on fire and why I am honored and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of your birth story. As we get to know one another you will likely learn that purple is my favorite color, I am a die hard Prince fan and that I love all kinds of music and writing. In my spare time I love to go to concerts, broadway shows, the beach and anywhere I can immerse myself in nature.
"The Midwives Model of Care is based on the fact that pregnancy and birth are normal life processes.
The Midwives Model of Care includes:
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Monitoring the physical, psychological, and social well-being of the mother throughout the childbearing cycle
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Providing the mother with individualized education, counseling, and prenatal care, continuous hands-on assistance during labor and delivery, and postpartum support
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Minimizing technological interventions
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Identifying and referring women who require obstetrical attention
The application of this woman-centered model of care has been proven to reduce the incidence of birth injury, trauma, and cesarean section."
MIDWIVES MODEL OF CARE
WHY MIDWIFERY?
Families choose out-of-hospital birth for a wide variety of reasons. Among those reasons include: safety, the desire for decreased intervention, and to have more control of their birth.
When women and their babies are screened well and “low-risk” is established, they are candidates for midwifery care. Midwives spend a tremendous amount of time with their clients, increasing safety for their client and their baby with thorough screening as well as developing a relationship that leads to a compatible and cohesive team for a woman’s birth.
MIDWIVES ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON STATE
The Midwives Association of Washington State has set up guidelines for Licensed Midwives of Washington to reference. I agree with these standards and under nearly all circumstances, will adhere to their guidelines. I also support The Midwives Association of Washington State through my annual membership.
