Midwife / Owner

Alexandra Wyatt, LM, CPM

“I first became interested in the birthing process and becoming a midwife while I was still in high school (which made my mom nervous to be sure!).  I used to be obsessed with watching ‘A Baby Story’ and ‘Maternity Ward’ on TV, and would even set the VCR (oh goodness, now I’m dating myself here) to record episodes for me while I was at school so that I could watch them when I got home. As much as I enjoyed watching each episode and seeing the hospital birth process, I felt that something was missing.  It seemed odd to me that even though the families and their stories were different, each one was the same once they got to the hospital (epidural, pitocin, pushing on their backs with legs in the stirrups, cord cut right away, etc). One day, there was an episode of a home birth with a midwife and doula present, and suddenly everything made sense!  It was as if God was saying, "See, THIS is what I have intended for you!" and I knew what I was meant to do. As a teenager though, I thought that all midwives were ‘grandmas’ (my apologies to my fellow midwives), and I would have to find a normal job to do in the meantime until I was done having kids and they were grown.

'“So, I set off to college and proceeded to change my major from Psychology to Education to Nursing, never quite finding the right fit, but loving aspects of each profession. Along the way I found my future husband Jeff while we were working together at a private airport. I worked the night shift since it allowed me to go to school during the day, and once I was done with my work, I could do homework at my desk. Well, this plan didn’t last for very long since once we met, Jeff and I would spend each evening talking, and not very much homework got done. One of these nights, he asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I told him that I knew I wanted to be a midwife some day, but until that time came, I might be a psychologist or a teacher or a nurse in the meantime, I couldn’t really decide. He seemed confused (which I learned later was due to the fact that he didn’t know what a midwife was—see his bio for more on that story), and then asked me why I couldn’t go ahead and just be a midwife now. That stopped me in my tracks and made me realize how silly I had been to put my dreams on hold, and that I had been wasting years not pursuing my calling. I had always been fascinated with the process of how a child develops in the womb and how a woman’s body is perfectly designed to bring that child into this world, so I started figuring out how to get started. 

“I began my journey by becoming a Birth Doula through Doulas of North America (DONA) in 2004, as I thought this would be a good way of getting some experience with birth, before I became a midwife.  After getting married to my wonderful husband Jeff in 2005, we welcomed our daughter Keira the following year at a local birthing center with a Nurse Midwife.  At the time, I thought that all midwives were the same, and I never noticed that my midwife never gave me all the information I needed to make an informed decision, or that I was not really allowed to make my own choices. She simply pushed me along the same path as her other clients, coercing me into making choices that would be beneficial to her (like forcing me to push my baby out in a way that was convenient for her, even though it exponentially increased pain for me). She never let me know that I had choices, never encouraging me to find my own voice. I was young and naive, and I blindly trusted her; never asking questions or taking the initiative to educate myself about important decisions. It was only years later, once I started my midwifery training and I saw how the midwife/client relationship should be, did I realize what had been taken from me with that first birth. This experience helped shape me into the midwife that I am today for my own clients.

“After Keira’s birth, I continued my doula work and attended a birth that forever changed me. The care provider at my client’s birth was inexperienced and fearful, which resulted in her making choices that completely ruined my client’s birth experience. The provider both physically and emotionally traumatized this mom…all while I stood by helpless to stop it. This further confirmed for me that I was not supposed to remain in a doula role long term, but that God was encouraging me to have an even larger impact on pregnant women and their families, so that I would not be a helpless bystander and I could try to prevent the things that I had witnessed before from ever occurring again.  So I began my training toward becoming a midwife in 2008. 

“While I was training to become a midwife, in 2010 we became pregnant with our son. Jeff and I knew that we wanted another out-of-hospital birth, but with a different type of midwife. Luckily the Nurse Midwife that I was training with for my own apprenticeship was exactly the type of midwife that we wanted. She had taught me the importance of knowing when to use medical knowledge and tools to ensure a mom and baby’s safety, while not losing touch with the natural intuition and instincts that are the foundation of our profession. I wanted this birth to be different and to be able to make my own decisions and trust that my body knew how to birth this baby, but I also knew that I wouldn’t be in my right frame of mind to be a safe medical provider for myself and my son. So we asked her to attend our birth so that if medical help was needed, she would be there to step in and keep us safe. She honored my wishes and protected my birth space, allowing my midwifery training and my natural instincts to guide the process. When the time came, she stood back and watched while I birthed my son Hunter into my own hands, with my wonderfully supportive husband in the tub by my side, and our daughter looking on in amazement. 

“After five very long and challenging years of juggling multiple jobs (being a wife, mom of 2 young children, birth doula, academic student and midwife apprentice), in 2013 I graduated from the National College of Midwifery and became a Certified Professional Midwife and a Licensed Midwife in the state of Texas!  I could not have done all of my schooling and midwifery training without the support of my amazing husband, and the sacrifices that he and my children made for me. I am so grateful everyday that God has blessed me with such an incredible family who understand just how important this work is, and who support me, so that I can continue supporting my clients.

“When I am not busy supporting my clients as they bring new life into the world (a blessing I’ve been able to witness over 475 times!), I love to read books while snuggling with my five cats, sit around the fire pit watching the stars while eating s’mores and listening to music, and our "Family Movie/Game Nights" with my husband and kids.  It might be a crazy life that I live, but I would not have it any other way!”