UofL Hospital Nurse Midwives

01/28/2025

2024 was filled with many beautiful beginnings. We can’t wait to help even more families in 2025!

04/18/2024

Mary & Elizabeth is working on organizing a patient and family advisory counsel. PFACs serve as a valuable resource for health care facilities and providers to modify practices and services to best meet patients needs. It allows the "powers that be" to hear from the actual communities they serve.

Are you interested in serving on the PFAC for MEH? You would be a voice for our future birth services there and wants new and expectant parents want vs. what decision makers think they want.

If this sounds appealing to you, please sign up here.

Thank you for your interest in serving on the Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) at UofL Health. We appreciate your time and desire in helping UofL Health improve patient care. We do not expect you to have experience working in health care; we are interested in your experiences as a consumer...

03/12/2024

N2O2?!

We've got it!

03/06/2024

Choosing natural pain relief during labor can offer you and the baby a range of benefits. They can also promote a more active role for the birthing experience, empowering you throughout the process.

Check out these 5 Natural Pain Relief options to help with discomfort in labor:

👉 Shower/Tub
👉 Massage
👉 Meditation
👉 Stress Ball
👉 Aroma Therapy

Comment Below with what helped you or share with a friend!

#502

03/01/2024

Apparently it's world compliment day.

A recent survey comment/compliment from a lovely patient:
"This visit was to give birth to our son. Our nurses were Tanya and Kristin and our midwives were Jessica Deis and Katana Ratcliff. Our care was absolutely amazing and one of the best medical experiences I've ever had. Our nurses were outstandingly kind, attentive, helpful and patient with myself and my family throughout the entire process of admission, labor, and recovery care. Thank you so much for such amazing care and an experience we will always remember."

To the individual that wrote this, thank you for trusting us with your care!! We don't take that responsibility lightly.

We have the very best patients that make this job easy and enjoyable.

Who can you compliment today?

02/29/2024

We made it to the final day of black history month 2024 (but I hope these posts help to serve as a reminder that every month is black history month) and there's just no way we could recognize and honor all of the black birth workers pouring their heart and souls into improving care and outcomes for everyone.

So todays post will not be on anyone in particular, but a photo essay that is worth reading, viewing and sharing.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/24/black-midwives-photo-essay?fbclid=IwAR2r79ujwfsW4Fs2NfyTj1jX7UdecJc9VZQnHrBSZ53ykm82buIjTkOhvHQ

To all the black midwives and birth workers out there, thank you so much for your dedication and sacrifice. We love and appreciate you.

African American babies in Minnesota are twice as likely to die in their first years as white babies. A birth center is trying to change that through culturally focused care for women of color

02/28/2024

Nicole Deggins, CNM, MSN, MPH

"Nicole Deggins is one of the country’s leading birth advocacy experts named “The Midwife Shifting the Narrative” by ESSENCE Magazine. She is a sought-after trainer, public speaker and community educator working to eliminate perinatal disparities and bring transparency to prenatal education and the medical obstetrical system. Nicole provides education, training and consultations for communities, birth workers and organizations that work with childbearing families. She is a dedicated leader, mentor, and consultant and actively supports efforts to increase the numbers of African American midwives, doulas, and birth advocates. She believes that this is a critical step in eliminating the perinatal disparities that plague the African American community.

As Chief Visionary Officer (CVO) of SMP, Nicole is the creator of the Sista Midwife Birth Sister training, the Louisiana Healthy Birth Ambassador perinatal community health worker training, and the creator of the largest online Black Midwife and Doula Directories. In addition to her training and community work, Nicole is a founding member of the Louisiana Doula Registry Board and has spent time as a member of the Louisiana Pregnancy Associated Mortality Review Committee, the Louisiana Healthy Moms Healthy Babies Council, and as faculty for the Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative.

With nearly thirty years of experience working inside the medical obstetrical system, Nicole’s views and style of training are radically different. Her combination of real life experiences, combined with her vivid storytelling, her willingness to share “insider secrets” and her unprecedented passion, allow her to connect with her students and her speaking audiences in a full and unique way. Nicole uses a powerful delivery style to inspire individuals toward a paradigm shift about birth and birth justice. She believes that Birth is the Revolution and if we collectively begin to change how we birth, and how we support each other during childbearing, we can literally heal ourselves and our communities.

Nicole has provided guest lectures at Tulane, Xavier and Columbia Universities and the University of Texas at Austin. She has presented numerous key notes and customized trainings and has provided consultation to many local and national agencies and institutions including the New Orleans Maternal Child Health Coalition, AMCHP, the Global Infant Safe Sleep Center, the Louisiana Department of Health, Baby 1st Network, NICHQ, AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana, Humana Healthy Horizons, Birthmark Doula Collective, Healthy Start and more.

Nicole has received numerous awards and recognition including Emory University’s Alumni Association’s Distinguished Nursing Achievement Award, the New Orleans Young Leadership Council’s Role Model Award, The ACAP Supporting the Safety Net Award and the Distinguished 400 Award.

Prior to starting her work with Sista Midwife Productions, Nicole received her BS in Nursing from Georgetown University, and completed a dual degree program at Emory University where she fulfilled the requirements for the MS in Nursing with a concentration in midwifery, and an MPH with a concentration in Health Policy and Management. During her clinical career, Nicole practiced as a midwife in Washington DC, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and has worked as a labor and delivery, postpartum and well-baby/newborn nurse in numerous public and private settings throughout the country."

02/27/2024

Anayah Sangodele-Ayoka

"Anayah Sangodele-Ayoka, CNM, MSN, MSEd is a nurse-midwife and reproductive health strategist who specializes in equitable health care provision and leveraging digital media to impact health and parenting.

Anayah writes, speaks and consults with organizations on integrating culturally congruent midwifery care into clinical practice and using social media to deepen community building and leverage social change.

Anayah is a co-founder of Black Breastfeeding Week, co-editor of Free to Breastfeed: Voices from Black Mothers (Praeclarus Press), and consultant with MomsRising. Her work has been featured on Salon.com, HuffPost, Ms. Magazine, mater mea, MyBrownBaby, and Think Progress."

02/27/2024

I got busy and am a little late with todays post, but it's still happening!!

Aiyana Davidson

"Aiyana Davison (pronouns: she/her/hers) is a Certified Nurse Midwife and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner-BC currently practicing in Southern California. A passionate professional, some of her most pressing priorities include: shedding light on and aiding to eradicate the inequalities that exist within healthcare, addressing the crisis that Black womxn (people) face in the U.S., the provision of quality care for all individuals and families, and the preservation of the legacy of Black midwives and birth work.

With this in mind, Aiyana uses her business and social media platforms under the name The Va**na Chronicles to educate, engage, and create safe space for those interested in all things birth work, empowerment, and overall obstetric and gynecologic health. She has been featured on a variety of podcasts and in discussions with companies such as Mama Glow, Peanut, Elive, Black Moms Blog, and more. Aiyana encourages healing through sharing and vocalizing stories (as opposed to the long-standing historical traumatic secrecy) to aid with the advancement and success of vulnerable communities."

02/25/2024

While I wish we had enough black midwives locally to talk about for the rest of the month, we aren't there yet.

So let's talk about black midwives doing big things, wherever they are.

Dr. Nikia Grayson, DNP, MSN, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C
"Dr. Nikia Grayson is a public health activist, anthropologist, and nurse who has devoted her life to serving and empowering people in underserved and marginalized communities for more than 20 years. Working interdisciplinary in the areas of culture, health, and education, Nikia’s work has explored the associations between power, culture, and gender. Dr. Grayson received her Bachelor degree in Communications and a Master of Public Health degree from Howard University. She earned a Master of Art in Medical Anthropology from University of Memphis, a Master of Science in Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and her midwifery education at Frontier Nursing University. Dr. Grayson is currently the Director of Clinical Services at CHOICES: Memphis Center for Reproductive Health.

In addition to her work at CHOICES, Nikia also serves as a Adjunct Professor and Women’s Clinical Instructor with the Midwives College of Utah where she teaches midwifery, obstetrics and women’s health courses in the midwifery program as well as online lecture-based instruction to Bachelors and Masters students.

Some of Nikia’s awards and honors include the Aspen Fellow, Rockwood Leadership Fellow, Duke Johnson and Johnson Nurse Leaders Fellow, SisterReach Bisola Marignay Award, UTHSC Chancellor’s Scholarship Award, Core Align Generative Fellow, and many more recognitions."

02/24/2024

Today I want to recognize Amanda Chandler of Momma Bear Midwifery

She is a community midwife serving Southern Indiana as well as the Louisville area since 2005. National Black Midwives Alliance quotes her as saying "In our country, being a pregnant person of color can be a death sentence. My Midwifery journey has opened my eyes to the racism I experienced in my own births. As a Midwife and Mother of color, I work to provide a safe space for families to grow/heal where they are seen and heard."