The Midwife

Olivia found midwifery through a winding path after graduating from college. She was working in a national arts non-profit but found herself spending more and more time volunteering at women’s clinics. Childless and idealistic Olivia and her husband, Teddy, quit their jobs in Minneapolis and drove out to start a new adventure in women’s health and tech in Seattle, WA.

While volunteering in a homeless youth clinic in Seattle, Olivia discovered one of the pregnant teens was working with a doula. From that moment on Olivia worked diligently to learn the art of labor support so that she could support and accompany families during a miraculous moment in their lives. Working as a doula for military families, she realized she needed to outgrow the doula role and become the leader in the room. It was also in WA that she attended her first home birth — a small and quiet event in a 1-bedroom apartment attended by a Somalian midwife. Compared to military birth in a hospital the home birth with a midwife felt like the right way to lead and support a family through birth.

Under the guidance and training of notable doulas and strong midwives, Olivia studied at Bastyr University to receive her Master’s in Science in Midwifery, with a focus on pelvic floor health in pregnancy. Beyond providing routine care, Olivia strives to enlist the client’s own skillset and motivation to embrace the changes and goals of pregnancy to prepare for a successful, empowered birth at home. She has also traveled and trained widely to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to safely support vaginal breech birth.

Olivia welcomed both of her babes at home under the care of midwives. Both her son and daughter are now skilled at labor triage after years of listening to phone calls from laboring families and are always eager to know if the baby born was a boy or girl and their new name! Her family also lives and works on an organically grown market garden vegetable farm, Pine Island Free Farm. You can find her and the whole family at the Rochester farmer’s market on most Saturdays!