Meet
Emily & Tiffany
CB&W Director of Administrative AND CB&W Clinical Director & Midwife
When did you first meet Tiffany?
“Tiffany was one of the midwives who cared for me and my family during my prenatal and postpartum journey with my daughter. I secretly really hoped she would be on call when Lou was born-and I think I missed her by like 8 hours! Tiffany's compassionate and highly skilled care was evident in how she connected with my husband and I and after both my daughter and I were transferred postpartum due to complications she was an incredibly reassuring and compassionate presence. I always tell people that even though my postpartum experience and Lou's time in the NICU was a challenge, the power of support from the CB&W team and Tiffany in particular was life changing.I have been able to use my experience to center our work on supporting each individual family and their hopes with a strong evidence based lens. Our recent growth with the addition of our staff mental health therapist, lactation support groups, and community workshops reflect my commitment to supporting the full perinatal journey and doing so within the strong network that exists here in Denver.”
When did you first meet Emily?
“I first met Emily during her pregnancy with Louisa. I didn't get to attend her birth but got the privilege to care for her and her amazing family during their pregnancy and postpartum care.
My next encounter with Emily was with her supporting a family as a doula. She brings such an amazing, calming support to the birth room. When I found out she was coming on with Colorado Birth and Wellness to build a doula team for our clients I was really excited to have her join the team. It has been incredible to work with her over these past couple years. She brings wonderful ideas to the table on how we can improve the care we provide for our clients. She is motivated and helps to see those ideas come to fruition. She leads with kindness which motivates others around her to strive to be their best.”
What do you love about working together and about CB&W?
“Working alongside Tiffany to lead the work that we do at CB&W is incredible. I have an opportunity daily to learn from her years of experience in the birth center world, to share our journeys as working mothers committed to making the birth world and medical field as a whole better for our kiddos, to laugh after a sleepless night supporting families in the center, and to focus on who we are and what we provide as Colorado Birth & Wellness. I am grateful for Tiffany's wisdom and compassionate approach and am excited to step into this leadership role with her by my side.
All of the teams and people that I get to work with at CB&W are inspiring. The amount of care that goes into cleaning a room, rescheduling an appointment, or a weekly phone check in with a doula client reminds me of how change is visible in all facets of the work we do. Our clinical staff provide exceptional care and I am so honored to uplift and support their work through my focus on our administrative work and programs at the birth center.”
What do you love about working together and about CB&W?
“Emily is passionate about this work. She strives to make CB&W the best it can be. Her vision and drive keeps us moving forward. She is thoughtful in how she interacts with others, whether it be families looking for a place to birth or team members of CB&W. She is an incredible doula for our clients but she also ensures that each team member has what they need to be successful, sometimes that is in the form of policy and procedure and others it can be a cup of coffee (or hot chocolate in my case). CB&W is an incredible place where we approach care in a manner that encourages clients to expect more than the status quo in healthcare. To be listened to, to be the decision makers about their care, and to be supported in a comfortable environment. The CB&W team is full of incredible people who are also passionate about this work! I have been so blessed to lead this team and I am ecstatic to have Emily join me! We both have many great ideas to continue to learn and grow and I am excited to see what the future holds.”
How did you get into the birth world/birth center work?
“My interest in the birth world was created by the supportive and empowered experience I had birthing my son almost 7 years ago at an independent free standing birth center in Minnesota supported by a doula and midwives. I moved to Colorado shortly after that and took a DONA doula training as a way to continue to explore this world that was calling to me. I have a background in Higher Education Administration and Counseling and found that much of my former professional experiences as a Residential Hall Director and Crisis Response professional were applicable in this work-it’s about connection and believing in the best version of each person you encounter.
As a private doula, I supported over 100 families in the Denver metro-birthing in all kinds of ways and places. I used my understanding of breath and movement as a yoga instructor to guide my work as a doula and my firm belief that birth should change all individuals for the better to guide my activism in the birth world. Birth work can be incredible, the opportunity to witness birthing people as they find power and strength and the opportunity to support desires and empower clients to find their voice in working with providers illuminated a passion for birth work in me.
I birthed my daughter with the support of the amazing CB&W (Hygge Birth & Baby at the time) family just over three years ago. Upon touring the place and meeting Miki and Tara, the founders, for the first time, my family felt welcomed and our desire for a low intervention birth was honored in all aspects of our care. I will share more about Tiffany’s role in my Lou’s birth in the next question!
As I worked to navigate two young kiddos, a world of uncertainty about COVID and so much societal inequality, I knew that there was more calling to me in the birth world. Pretty soon after that Miki reached out to me to gauge my interest in working as a staff doula with CB&W. I joined the team with excitement and found a place where I could thrive and share my ideas and passion for birth. Over the past two years I have been able to grow into my role as Administrative Director and guide incredible teams of humans to provide skilled birth doula support in a unique team based approach for our clients and the greater community. I also oversee our education programs working to empower and prepare humans and their families to birth and for parenthood, prioritizing connections with local experts and holistic care. My passion for creating birthing experiences that center equitable and empowered care is one that drives all the support of clients and sharing of the potential for birth center care. One of my favorite parts of my job is walking with prospective families through our beautiful space and creating an opportunity for them to believe in a different way to birth-a supported and empowered way. Our hospitality and postpartum doula programs, community outreach, and administrative management through purposeful learning from birth outcomes round out my day to day work. I get to learn with and from our teams each day and it keeps me excited and eager for more change and more opportunity for growth.”
How did you get into the birth world/birth center work?
“My journey to midwifery was influenced by several life experiences that culminated with me choosing this path to support and care for families in a way that honors the individuality of each person/family and allows me autonomy to provide care in a way that I am proud of.
As a child I grew up with quite a bit of fear surrounding birth. My mom was young when I was born and she was treated poorly by the medical system. She didn't mean to instill fear but when she talked about my birth you could feel the fear, she didn't know what was going on, no one told her what to expect, she was left alone to figure it out on her own. She felt like they were trying to teach her a lesson and they accomplished that goal as she said she never wanted to go through childbirth again. Even as a child I knew this was wrong and wished for better for other teen moms.
It took many years, 18 in fact, for my mom to be willing to have more children and I finally got that long awaited brother. 3 years later, when I was 21, she invited me to be at the birth of my sister. It was her birth that sparked my interest in healthcare and I started nursing school that next fall.
Now, the icing on the cake, the birth of my daughters. For my first child, I had taken childbirth education classes and was prepared for an unmedicated birth. My nursing journey had not yet taken me to the birth world so I trusted my birth team to make decisions that I assumed would be in the best interest of myself and baby but in hindsight they were made for their convenience. Our desires and self advocacy were met with kind resistance, the kind that undermines your self confidence and knowledge but you don't recognize it as that in the moment. I did go on to have a healthy, beautiful baby girl but other than the fact that I had a vaginal birth, the rest of my birth plan had been thrown out the window, not out of necessity for safety but for the pure convenience of others.
When I became pregnant with my second I knew that I wanted things to go differently. I felt this deep awareness that it should not be so hard for families to give birth in a way that they desire. We took a HypnoBabies childbirth class which helped me to reenvision the birth I hoped for. It helped me to build confidence in myself and husband to advocate for ourselves and our baby. My second came in her own time, unmedicated, and just the way we had hoped. Her birth was redeeming and empowering, something that will forever be with me! This gave me the final nudge I needed to start looking at how I could be a part of the movement to improve healthcare, especially for birthing families. I first became a childbirth educator teaching HypnoBabies and started looking into certified nurse midwives. I came across Mountain Midwifery birth center, the only birth center in Colorado at the time which had just opened. In 2007 I reached out to the midwife/owner there to open the conversation to see if midwifery was a path I wanted to pursue. She invited me to tour the center and then we talked for some time after. When I left I was the newest birth center nurse and the rest is history. I was blown away by the stark contrast of care provided to clients at the birth center and I knew this was where I was meant to be!”