Midwife


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Midwives

 

Note: I do realize that the plural of midwife is midwives but for linkage reasons I have to make it be midwifes on this site.


If you are a midwife in Louisiana and would like to be listed please contact Annie at BirthingNaturally*at*gmail*dot*com.


Want to check on the license status of someone licensed by the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners? If so, click here.


(Arranged in alphabetical order by last name)

See also Hospital Obs and MWs

 

Check with the midwives in the areas around you as many will travel to surrounding areas for homebirths.


 

* Kathy Acree, BA, LM, CPM (Lafayette Area)

Gentle Choices, Lafayette

Also does homebirths.

 

(337) 942-6161

www.GentleChoicesBirth.com

 

Kathy has over 25 years’ experience in public health and midwifery settings. She founded the Louisiana Midwives Assn. in 1980 and was the first to receive midwife license in Louisiana. Chairman of Louisiana Advisory Council on Midwifery.

 

In 1986 she was the first person to receive her license under the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners. She received her certification as a Certified Professional Midwife in 1997 with the North American Registry of Midwives. She has practiced in a variety of settings including home and birth center deliveries and has served as a staff midwife with Savoy Medical Center in Mamou from 1995-2005.

 

Kathy has served as a board member at the local, state, and national level with public health and midwifery related organizations. She has lectured on out of hospital births at nursing schools and has been a presenter on midwifery related topics for midwifery programs. She has served since 2003 as the chairman of the Louisiana Advisory Council on Midwifery; having been appointed by both Louisiana Governors Mike Foster and Kathleen Blanco. That work continues to the present day in the form of seeking to protect the rights of midwives and mothers in health care choices in childbirth, and in insuring the public safety for those families choosing out of hospital births.

 

Her experiences have helped shape her belief in the sanctity of natural childbirth and the importance of the midwifery model of care. Kathy believes that pregnancy and birth are normal functions and that this delicate time in a woman’s life should be treated with care and respect. She believes that patient education, good prenatal care, and good nutrition allow women to have healthy natural births without unnecessary interventions. She feels that one on one labor support and quality of care create an environment that is both personal and safe.

 

 

 


 

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* Dr. Kami Dehler (Covington Area)

Natural Family Care, Covington

Totus Tuss Center of Life, Covington (scheduled to open in 2007)

Also does homebirths.

 

985-867-9933

www.NaturalFamilyCare.com

 

 

Dr. Kami is a Naturopathic Physician and Licensed Midwife. She received her undergraduate training in Nutrition Science at Oregon State University and her Doctorate in Medicine at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, OR. She is licensed to practice midwifery by the Louisiana Board of Medicine. Dr. Dehler is a pro-life, Catholic physician and the mother of five.

 

Read the birth story of her fifth child here.

 

 

 


* Ann Lastrapes, RN, LM, CPM (Lafayette Area)

Gentle Choices, Lafayette

Also does homebirths.

 

(337) 278-4354

www.GentleChoicesBirth.com

 

Anne has over 30 years' experience in nursing and prenatal, labor, delivery and postpartum care. She is past President of Louisiana Midwives Assn. and the Advisory Committee of Midwives for State Board of Medical Examiners.

 

In 1985 her nursing career led her into the areas of labor and delivery, and nursery and postpartal care in a hospital. She taught prenatal classes, transported high risk infants, worked in the OR for c-sections as well as the NICU and served as assistant head nurse of the OB Department.

 

In 1994 she became a midwife apprentice and assistant. She was licensed as a midwife practitioner by the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners in 1997 and certified by the North American Registry of Midwives in 1998. She has served as president of the Louisiana Midwives Association for seven years and is currently on the Advisory Committee of Midwives for the State Board of Medical Examiners, appointed by the Governor of Louisiana. She has over twenty years of childbirth experience and has practiced midwifery for nine years specializing in home births.

 

She believes that childbirth is a natural God-given process and not an illness, and out-of-hospital home births or those at birth centers are a safe alternative to childbirth when attended and supervised by a licensed midwife. She feels a responsibility to women to eliminate fear, restore confidence, and give birth back to the family.

 

 

 


* Charlotte Russell (Shreveport Area)

EdenWay Birth and Woman Care, Shreveport

Also does homebirths.

 

www.edenwaybirth.com

 

Charlotte is a Midwife and owner of EdenWay Birth and Woman Care. She has dreamed of providing birth options to women in Louisiana and East Texas for more than 4 years. EdenWay Birth and Woman care is the realization of her dream and the result of a passionate pursuit of knowledge regarding the midwifery model of care and normal pregnancy and birth. She trained to become a midwife under the supervision of Sylyna Kennedy in Tyler, TX and spent one month in the Philippine islands working at a high volume missionary birth center where she was trained to handle emergencies such as hemorrhage, retained placenta and shoulder dystocia. She is the mother of 2 boys, born in March 2001 and July 2003, and has personal experience with induced and medicated hospital birth and natural midwife attended out-of-hospital water birth.