Hi I’m Karly, let me introduce myself!
So many midwives feel a distinct moment calling them to birth work. Me? Well, my path was a little more subtle. It all started with my enormous family.
There was no escaping midwifery growing up in my house. I’m the 4th of 8 kids. The first 6 of us were born in the hospital but my mom gave birth to the 2 youngest in our living room with her midwife, Deanna, and hasn’t stopped raving about it since, so there was never a time I didn’t think every pregnant person wanted a home birth with a midwife. Heavily influenced as I was, I was trying to breastfeed my play-doh at the age of 4, was officially obsessed with babies by age 9 and at 17, when I was considering majoring in art or music, suddenly switched gears and decided to be a midwife at my mom’s casual suggestion. It just seemed to fit!
I dove head first into midwifery school shortly after turning 19, just after returning to the US from teaching English in Taiwan. If I wasn’t studying midwifery, I was spending my nights with my preceptors in awe, watching the magic of birth on repeat.
A lot has happened since I finished Midwifery School!
2004: I passed the NARM exam and became a Certified Professional Midwife
2004: I interned at the very busy Casa de Nacimiento in El Paso TX
2005: I moved to California and became licensed and started assisting with local midwives and at Best Start Birth Center
2008: I started my own practice
2016: Finished my Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Course
2016: Became a Vaginal Steam Therapy Practitioner through Steamy Chick
2017: I started the Birth Kweens podcast with my friend Ali Feroah
2019: I launched Midwifery Finishing School– an online
Today: I’m practicing what I preach and am enjoying a sabbatical in Turkey, truly relaxing and rejuvenating
What pearls of wisdom have I gained from my career?
I’ve seen and experienced a LOT in my years as a midwife which has naturally developed into 2 things. 1: a desire (and an understanding of how) to reduce birth trauma for families in my care and 2: the desire to take care of and mentor new midwives and birth workers. Why? Because we carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. We can work magic, hold space and save lives but we can also be uninformed, burned out and contribute to birth trauma for our clients. I’ve seen both! Being autonomous is great but it also leaves us without needed support, resources and guidance…a LOT. I hope to change that!
My dream now is to make midwifery and birth work easier, better resourced and more sustainable for midwives and doulas.
I believe in midwifery and birth work and I want to see them and the families they serve absolutely thriving. Check out the courses I’ve created to make this happen! They include Miscarriage Management, Thyroid Testing, Interpretation and Management, Self Care for Birth Workers and so much more!