Milk and Honey Birth Services

01/01/2026

07/02/2025

Well, I’ve attended 7 births since my last post in February. If you’re looking for a midwife who is on top of her social media and marketing game, you should not hire me 😬

One of my most recent births was a repeat client of mine who had the most beautiful birth photos the first time around and has just given me her blessing to share her photos once more 😍

Geneva, Thomas, and their oldest daughter, Eleanor, welcomed their new baby boy, Edward, into their family on April 21st. I had my dream team with me…Desi Lang from .midwifery and Natalie Broders from .photo. We even called in a special favor from Sara Holt from ❤️❤️

Geneva and her family had re-located to Eugene, OR before this baby was conceived and made the decision that they’d like to birth, a second time, in their parents Airbnb in PDX. I was thrilled and oh so thankful that Geneva made the trek, monthly, for prenatal care with me and then packed the essentials to come live locally for the birth and some time postpartum.

What an absolute joy it is to care for a family once and then again. It is truly an honor. Thank you Geneva and Thomas for choosing me as your midwife again ❤️❤️

Photos by the brilliant .photo

02/12/2025

I’m wayyyy behind on birth announcements from last year but in preparing my taxes I am reminded of all of the beautiful families I had the pleasure of serving last year.

This is Cassian. He is his mom’s first baby.

All too often I hear the notion that first time mothers “should” birth in the hospital since they’ve never experienced birth before…”better safe than sorry”. I hate this so much! Our first births can have the potential to impact our future pregnancies and births in more ways than we could ever imagine. They can bring empowerment, disappointment, shame, joy, bliss, and definitely have the potential to shape how we mother and who we are AFTER having a baby. Regardless of HOW your baby is born, it is important that you feel strong, capable, and in CONTROL during your birth. All too often women are led down a path in the hospital …frequently it starts with induction (postdates, protocol, gestational diabetes, etc) and commonly ends with a medicated birth either vaginally, restricted to being flat on her back with a nurse coaching the mother on how to push (val salva) or a cesarean section.

I challenge you to trust your body. Drown out the noise of what you’ve been told your whole life regarding your body’s ability to birth your baby without medical professionals “saving” you. You can do it! Be it God or whomever you believe to be our creator, they designed an intricate and beautiful system to create life and YOU are at its center. It’s not a flawed design. Surround yourself with people who believe in you and who will encourage you to trust your body.

Cassian’s mom fully trusted her body’s abilities to birth her baby AND surrendered to the element of the unknown that is inherent in birth. She knew I’d step in if her or her baby’s health was at risk but otherwise she was just going to have a baby at home, in a tub. From start to finish her labor lasted about 3.5 hours. We aren’t all so lucky to have such a swift and straightforward first birth but when the stars align things just work ✨

01/24/2025

The first Milk & Honey babe of 2025 is here!!! 🎉

Please help me welcome Jylani to the world. You may recognize this beautiful mama from a post in 2023…after she delivered her sweet girl Jyrni. This is Jazmyn’s 2nd VBAC home delivery. Her oldest son was born via cesarean section, a very traumatic experience for this family. Jazmyn came to me during her pregnancy with Jyrni wanting something different. She absolutely rocked her first home birth then and did it once again early Tuesday morning. It’s always such a treat to work with families more than once and watch them grow, evolve, and take back their power. My goal is never to be the star of the show. I don’t want my clients saying “I couldn’t have done it without you”…I really want them saying “I did it!!”

Fun fact: this family actually relocated to Colorado and came back to the Portland area short term so we could work together again 😍😍🙏🏼🙏🏼😘😘

01/02/2025

Thank you to all of the families who chose to walk this path with me in 2024. I always feel truly honored and blessed to be invited into this intimate space with you. Thank you all for your grace and patience as I continue to navigate what it means to be a working mom, juggling school drop offs and pick ups and meeting you all in between. How lucky I am to know such kind and loving families who understand that, I too, have a life outside of work. To the families I couldn’t serve because of time off or my personal boundaries, I hope you got excellent care and had the birth you had always hoped for ❤️

Birth work is hardly work for me, it feeds my soul and restores my faith in humanity. Each and every time I attend a birth, the world stops for a moment and I am reminded of what truly matters in this life, family. Don’t let the noise of the world distract you from that.

My whole job is to work with families and help THEM make decisions for theirselves and their babies. Would I always make the same choice for myself or my kiddo, definitely not, but my job is to support and understand things from their lens. My job is not to coerce or talk them out of or into what I would do. And this is what I love about midwifery, at least the kind of midwifery I was taught. I have hope for the new year and what it could bring in terms of healthcare. Our system is broken and I pray we can turn things around with a focus on root cause healthcare.

After a great time off call, traveling and being with my family, I am excited and ready to attend another birth at the end of the month. ❤️

12/18/2024

Twas’ a busy fall for babies here at Milk & Honey. One would never know it unless you are a client of mine because social media just isn’t a top priority over here 🤪

We welcomed 6 new humans from Sept 30-Nov 11 and will hopefully get around to sharing a bit about each one, in due time.

Today’s post is about my beautiful client Gretchen. She birthed her second baby, Alfie, in mid October in her quaint and cozy cottage. After what felt, to her, like eternity (41+6 days) her body and her baby decided it was time. For moms who’ve experienced an on time or early baby for your first delivery followed by a subsequent baby who just takes their time, I’m sure you can relate to the feelings Gretchen was enduring those final 2 weeks. And let me tell you…we tried ALL the things! Acupuncture, herbs, castor oil, membrane sweeps, ni**le stimulation, you name it, we tried it. There was nothing medically occurring that was encouraging us to pry, aside from Gretchen’s extreme discomfort those final few weeks, eventually an inability to really care for her other kiddo and an unfair threshold put in place by the lovely OHP.

…to be continued in comments!

11/01/2024

20 bucks if you can spy the thing that doesn’t belong….or does it absolutely belong??!

Beef liver is a superfood y’all! Brought a little surprise to a postpartum client who lost a grip of blood during her delivery and who could really use a nutritional boost! Postpartum hemorrhage can contribute to low or delayed milk supply/production, postpartum depression, and overall slower healing and recovery time.

Check out my favorite pregnancy dietician blog on iron absorption! Clams, chicken liver, oysters, beef liver, and beef heart are the top 5 best absorbed forms of heme iron. heme iron comes from animal sources and absorbs at a rate of 25-40% while non heme iron (think plants, nuts/seeds, legumes, tofu) absorbs at a rate of 2-13%.
https://lilynicholsrdn.com/iron-absorption/

08/08/2024

This post is wayyyy overdue but as the saying goes…better late than never ❤️

Please help me welcome sweet baby Ezra to the world. She was born at home on June 12th. .midwifery and myself spent the evening sipping tea, snacking, and chatting with the proud papa’s mama while did her thing upstairs. She listened to her body and knew exactly what she needed, and when.

Getting to know this sweet family has been such a pleasure and joy!! It is always so hard saying goodbye 🥹

Until next time 😘

06/15/2024

Meet baby Eden 💕
Eden was this mama’s third birth, second home birth, and second unintentional unassisted birth (spoiler alert)🚨 . Dare I confess I missed both Eden AND her big sister’s births, by just a few minutes each?
As much as we think we may know the typical progression of labor sometimes life just throws us a giant curveball. After missing her big sister’s birth there was NO WAY I was going to let that happen again! Lyndsay was having 10 minute apart contractions for much of the day and had laid down to take a nap mid day and reached out letting me know things had really slowed down. She was feeling defeated and confused as to why labor was following such an atypical pattern, much like her last labor. We talked about perhaps her body needed a break and assumed things would pick up when the sun set and her older kiddos were tucked into bed.
At about 4:20 in the afternoon she messaged saying the last 5 contractions had been 5-6 minutes apart. I readied my crew and packed the car, prepared to jet any minute. At 5 I headed her way. I arrived 40 minutes later, calmly and quietly unloaded my car. I assumed I had done it…arrived BEFORE baby was born. It wasn’t 30 seconds after I closed the front door that I heard a clear newborn cry emanating from upstairs. I couldn’t help but smile as I ran up the stairs to make sure everyone was safe.

My favorite birth photographer .photo and I were both on Lyndsay’s birth team before and she had made the birth and I missed it. This time we both missed it …Natalie had wandered the aisles of target for hours that day just to be nearby and wound up heading home in the afternoon when things weren’t progressing, only to have to return, in a rush, and miss the main event. Fortunately she was still able to capture the most beautiful photos, during sunset 🌅

Fun fact: Eden’s mom, Lyndsay, can be found facilitating the lactation lounge at !! She’s going to take some time to be home with her babe(s) but look out for her in the future! She’s a wealth of knowledge and such a kind,warm,beautiful woman.

Photos courtesy of the lovely .photo ❤️❤️❤️

05/17/2024

It’s hard to believe that it has been more than two weeks since this cutie joined us on earth! They’re callin’ him Rudy and he has no idea how lucky he is to be joining this awesome family! Rudy was born is his own bathtub into his papas hands after a quick suggestion for mom to move into a lunging position to help his shoulders emerge. Intuitively his mom gave him some mouth to nose suction as he was a little quieter than she would have liked right off the bat. He came into his body real quick and has been such a gift ❤️

What a joy it has been spending time with this family during their last two pregnancies! 😘

05/04/2024

✨ Meet baby Ori ✨

Ori was the second milk and honey babe born just a few hours after baby Maverick, shown in my last post. As a solo practicing midwife I often have inquiring families ask me about how I would juggle being in two places at once. I feel oh so fortunate to work within a community of super supportive midwives who will drop everything to help a friend in need. ( .midwifery I’m looking at you) Luckily, I was able to tuck baby Maverick and his mama in before jetting to help Ori and his mama.

This was Hannah’s second birth, first home birth, and she absolutely rocked it. Hannah changed delivery plans mid pregnancy with our first visit together being at 29 weeks! This is a great reminder that you are never stuck with a care provider. If your provider or original birth plans no longer fit with your vision, please reach out to other providers in your area and find someone who will support you the way you want.

Thrilled to have been a part of this sweet family’s journey ❤️

04/23/2024

✨Meet Maverick Lincoln✨
Maverick was the first of two Milk & Honey babies born last weekend, within just a few hours of each other! Maverick’s mama, Kristin is a warrior in every way.
On Easter Sunday Kristin was leading a service at her church and began feeling intense back pains. We talked and thought it best she go home to rest. Things intensified to a point where we both thought she should head to the hospital. After a few days there, lots of tests, and many drugs she had never imagined taking, she was sent home with a “clean” bill of health. We chalked it up to a terrible back spasm potentially triggered by a change in fetal position from head down to breech.
Kristin was able to cope with the pains at home for a couple of weeks and things seemed to be much more manageable than before. We discussed options for helping her baby turn but unfortunately her amniotic fluid levels were too low for an ECV or external cephalic version to be successful. She began the spinning babies exercises, continued seeing her acupuncturist and drank about a gallon of water a day in an attempt at increasing her amniotic fluid levels.
Unfortunately, we got news on Friday that her levels were essentially the same. Kristin was coming to terms with the fact that a cesarean section might be the safest mode of delivery for her baby. Friday evening, at 36+4 weeks, Kristin called and reported her water bag had ruptured. She confirmed with an amnicator and we prepared for transfer to the hospital, but not without one more less than ideal shift in the story!
Kristin’s husband had left town Thursday, and driven to Idaho for a long planned business retreat. Kristin was planning to go but with everything that was happening we decided she’d be best served staying home.
We were so well received at Providence Portland by their OB hospitalist staff. They walked Kristin through the procedure, verified her water bag was ruptured and her baby was still breech. Kristin was a rockstar through her delivery and recovery and is ready to bust out of the hospital. Her story is one of surrender to Gods plan and self-sacrifice in every way imaginable❤️
Congratulations to the new parents Kristin and Zach