I graduated from the Ohio State University in 2007 with a B.S. in environmental science and a minor in French. I focused my undergraduate studies on environmental health, as I was planning to attend a school of public health to continue my studies. Instead of going directly to graduate school, I decided to take a year to intern in Francophone West Africa, enhancing my knowledge of environmental health and solidifying my French. I interned with three different organizations during that year in Togo and Benin. The second organization was Clinique Fifadji, a maternity clinic just north of Porto Novo, the capital of Benin. During those months, I was able to witness and participate in many births. At the time, my drive for public health took a turn to medicine, specifically focusing on women’s health.
Upon reentering the United States, I explored different avenues in pursuing women’s health, and when I researched midwifery, my whole self said, “Yes.” Midwifery best models my personal ideas about women’s care by emphasizing the natural process of labor, birth, and mother-child bonding, recognizing the power and ability of the woman in this process, and giving a woman the time, space, and her choice of environment in which this process takes place.
I decided that an excellent step in pursuing midwifery would be to serve women as a labor and postpartum doula. I am a trained labor doula through toLABOR (formerly ALACE) and a trained postpartum doula through ICEA. I am currently in the process of fulfilling the requirements for certification through these two organizations. I will begin an accelerated BSN/MSN program to become a certified nurse-midwife in June 2010.
