Strathcona Midwifery Collective
236 E Georgia St, 207 V6A1Z7 Vancouver, BC, Canada

Big hugs and hellos to our beautiful December and January babies

We are hiring another medical office administrator! Curious about joining our team? See our job posting and be in touch! Also, please help us spread the word amongst your networks.

We are hiring! Curious about joining our team? See our job posting and be in touch! Also, please help us spread the word amongst your networks.

There are so many ways to birth our babies! This incredible birther is pushing using a squatting bar in the hospital as Midwife Cora and the maternity nurse are watching and waiting! @themayasnestbirth

Great resource for sharing! Created by Midwives Association of British Columbia

Coming up this Sunday! Looking forward to our first 2021 group! Help spread the word :)

Midwives Carolyn and Jael rocking out in these (leftover) Movember masks sent to our team from our distributor

Spreading the Light Holiday Cuteness 2020! All 3 of our littles were caught by Strathcona Midwives and we are eternally grateful! Hooray for Carolyn, Andrea and Steph!

Midwife Carolyn’s tree is extra special this year! Who loves these mini mask ornaments?!

"Midwives across the country are having that experience of managing COVID on every level of our personal and professional life," says MABC President Lehe Spiegelman in an interview by Matt Galloway from CBC Radio: The Current, alongside Ontario Midwives Remi Ejiwunmim, about the struggles faced by midwives across the country both pre- and post-pandemic. Listen to the full episode: https://www.cbc.ca//it-s-quite-demoralizing-midwives-feeli

All this rain is perfect for cozying up with a good book (or three!). Here’s our second installation of Whatcha Reading?!

Check out this beautiful placenta shared with us from a client last week! Did you know that the placenta provides your baby with 100% of the oxygen it needs? Its an amazing organ indeed!

Today is the last day to donate! We’ve just about reached our goal help us get there so we can support as many families as possible! Thank you

To wrap up our introductions, we are thrilled to feature Jane, one of our fantastic office managers! I am absolutely thrilled to have the chance to work in an environment like Strathcona Midwifery Collective. I so appreciate the openness, kindness, and dedication to well-being in this space. I am committed to providing a warm and welcoming environment to clients and families coming through our doors. I graduated from the Medical Office Administration program at Douglas Coll...ege in 2013, and since then I have been working in different health care facilities to gain experience in Canada’s vast health care system. My educational goals vary drastically from midwife to psychiatric nurse to forensic scientist, so I'm taking a break from my studies to mature, get to know myself, and work under other healthcare professionals until I know which degree I'd like to pursue. In my spare time, I’m a heels dancer and perform in shows around Vancouver. I also take care of my own baby my cat, Maggie! I volunteer with VOKRA on the medical team when possible. I administer medicine to the kitties, monitor their health status, and give them lots of cuddles.

Even in the midst of a pandemic, our midwives are doing postpartum home visits They love meeting families in their homes and helping to keep those early days as cozy as possible (regardless of whether a baby is born in the hospital or at home). Sending a huge thank you to all our midwives for their exceptional care! Pictured here is Midwife Jael from Team Red during a day 3 home visit this week

Our friends at @redcommunitymidwives are hosting their weekly (free!) online breast/chest feeding drop in group. Check it out if you’re looking for some friendly and helpful information from a lactation consultant!

Spreading the Light Holiday Cuteness 2020! Max and his Mama & Mutti are counting their lucky stars to be spending the holidays being cared for by the incredible Red Team. Sending so much love to all the Strathcona midwives and families this season!

Thank you Tia for this work you do!

It’s Meet the Midwife Monday and we are happy to be introducing Michelle Turner (locus Midwife) on Turquoise Team! My journey to midwifery in some ways started with me attending the birth of my half brother at home into the hands of midwives when I was in my early 20s. In other ways it started before then, myself having had the opportunity to live in remote communities in Australia and having an anthropologist for a father, which opened me to different community configurati...ons, understandings of health and ways of being in the world. As an adult, my background in community work and maternal child health research took me to working in Jamaica with midwives, where I started to think of midwifery as a perfect career for me: working with growing communities, applying research and supporting pregnant people through significant transitions. It was the right decision! Alongside my midwifery degree, I have a degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Guelph and also a strong background in Theatre and Creative Writing. I’ve had the opportunity to learn from midwives and families in Ottawa, rural southwestern Ontario, Jamaica, Attawapiskat, Penticton and Vancouver, at home and in birth centres, from small rural hospitals to large tertiary centres. I have advanced skills in French and dabble in Spanish and Arabic. I’m currently working towards a PhD, exploring ways of bringing pregnancy and childbirth education into the lives of children and youth. In my spare time I enjoy bicycling, yoga, writing, film, theatre and exploring the outdoors. I look forward to working with you!

Midwife Quinn, pager and all, headed to the polls and voted! There’s still just over two hours to vote!

Public service announcement from Midwife Jael: Every vote counts!

Have you voted yet?! Our team is casting their ballots and voting for a strong future for families. Tag us in a photo of you and your babe (and big kids too) voting! We’d love to see you :)

Coming up this Sunday! Email to get the zoom link. See you soon

Hello from Midwife Stephanie and Benjamin! Just popping in to say hi and show you our placenta print!! I’ve already told Ben that when he moves out I’ll be sending this print along with him to keep forever . Thanks to Cora and Natalie (my other midwife) for remembering to make this for me at my birth Who thinks Ben will be a red head?!

It’s Meet the Midwife Monday and we’re thrilled to introduce Andrea Barth from Turquoise Team! I started being interested in maternity and childbirth when I was in my late teens, however I did not pursue midwifery until later on in my life. I had the privilege of living and working in a few countries before moving to Canada. My jobs included working as a nanny, IT jobs, maternity care assistant, and teaching young disadvantaged women to help them get their basic school degre...e. I believe it was then when I realized that working with women is something I really enjoy and treasure. I am originally from Germany but have lived in the UK for some time where I fell pregnant with my son. During my pregnancy I received some care in the UK but also took up some care in Germany. For my son’s birth we went to Colombia where I lived for five months. Having received care in three different countries with partial language barriers and cultural differences made me realise how important a holistic approach is during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. I recently had the experience of having a surrogate baby here in Canada for a lovely couple in Israel. In 2012 I graduated with a BSc in midwifery from Surrey University in the UK. I worked predominantly in hospital and community settings in London and was attached to a hospital with approximately 60000 births per year. After leaving the UK in the fall of 2015 we moved back to Germany for a little more than one year where I worked as an independent midwife in cooperation with a stand-alone birth centre. I also hold a pregnancy massage diploma and I am happy to have many clients in the Vancouver area. This allows me to connect with pregnant people on a different level. This lead me to start a infant massage instructor course and I am currently studying to get a diploma in Herbalism. In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my teenage son, walking and spending time on Gambier Island, cultural events such as concerts and theatre and connecting with friends. I also have a passion for animation, watching and producing.

Check out this new photo and story piece about midwives and birthing in a pandemic. There are some amazing photographs. Extreme Pain, but Also Extreme Joy - Powerful images of midwives in Los Angeles, as demand for their services rose during the pandemic.

It may be a grey and rainy Friday morning but look at how warm and bright Midwives Jael and Sarah are! (Photo taken on a sunny day at a home birth).

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Each one of us at Strathcona Midwifery honour, remember, and send love to all the families who have lost a baby and to those who didn’t get the chance to know their little ones. Thank you to our past client @tiny_vice for this beautiful artwork and for sharing her artistic process: It was so hard to create that piece, I wanted to do something to include everyone. So many drafts and in the end, nature. Staring at the moon and the stars has always brought me comfort. Reminding me that the universe is vast and can hold space for our grief as well as our joy.

Thank you to our client for sharing this beautiful birth story I’ve tried to put into words what Strathcona midwifery means to me and I keep coming back to a memory of being in the operating room before my husband was allowed in. I was scared, nervous and Cora came in smiled, took my hand and reassured me. She was a friend when I needed one. While the Surgeon was doing her work, I told my husband how sorry I was that his Dad wasn’t around to watch him become a dad (he had ...passed a few months before our son was born) and I looked over and Cora had tears in her eyes. I know my pregnancy, our baby, his birth and our experience mattered to her. Strathcona Midwifery is beyond special, they are a beautiful, peaceful part of our birth story. I regret not having a photo with her as my son was born. She was a very big part of it but she took these photos of us and they still make me cry tears of joy I imagine they will forever

We’d love to introduce you to one of our admin extrodinaires - Wyatt Dahl! Wyatt works remotely so though you won’t meet them in clinic, you’ll likely connect with them during your pregnancy journey I’m delighted to be the newest addition to Strathcona Midwifery. I first heard of the clinic through queer and trans communities and have followed them for years. I have always had a huge love of babies and kiddos and have nannied off and on since I was about 12. I also come f...rom a long history of working within sexual health of many varieties: working as an MOA and receptionist in sexual health clinics, managing and buying for a sex toy boutique in Portland, starting a sex positive non- profit, organizing queer bdsm events and much more. I’m delighted to bring my diverse background into the world of midwifery. My most favourite way to spend my time off work is with my partner; travelling out of the city, cooking and enjoying good food, working on Teal Pansy Jewelry (our craft business) and introverting. We hope to grow our family one day.

Thank you to our client for sharing this powerful testimonial (photos, by @makingfaces www.kristierobin.com) My first birth was a home birth with another midwifery. In retrospect, there were so many interventions during my labour and many tests during pregnancy were done without informed consent. I felt I was told to just do it, or only told about the benefits without being told all the risks. So when I was pregnant the second time, I chose a different midwifery. It w...as slightly better, but still, when I said I wanted to decline ultrasound and the standard glucose test, I could feel the mistrust from the midwives. And I was told that even though my diet and my lifestyle completely changed since the last pregnancy, I would still be high risk for gestational diabetes. It made no sense to me! Several doulas I spoke to recommended I switch to Strathcona Midwifery. They told me if I want true informed consent and hands-off birthing, that's the place to go. I went in for an appointment with Tia when I was halfway through my pregnancy. The difference was night and day! I felt listened to, and was given some alternatives to drinking the chemical drink for the standard glucose test. And I felt respected and trusted when I declined tests, and I never felt the pressure to justify myself. At the end, I decided to free birth, and I felt trusted and respected for my decision. I had the birth of my dreams and wonderful postpartum care. I can't recommend Strathcona Midwifery enough! If you want true informed consent, feel respected, treated as an equal, and trusted in your ability to make the best decisions for yourself and your baby, and a team who support you in realizing your dream birth, Strathcona Midwifery is the place to go!

It’s Meet the Midwives Monday and we’d love to introduce you to Carolyn Saunders of Turquoise Team! My path to midwifery began in my teenage years when I was exposed to the homebirth movement in Ottawa, Ontario. Ina May Gaskin's "Spiritual Midwifery" was an eye-opening journey into family-centered pregnancy care, and natural birth outside of the hospital. It was a book I passed onto my older sister during her first pregnancy. Sharing in her pregnancies and births and seeing ...her approach each experience with such amazing strength and courage made a lasting impression on me. We both went on to pursue careers in Midwifery. She now practices in Stittsville, Ontario. My formal training in Midwifery began in 2003 when I was accepted into the University of British Columbia Midwifery Program. Since graduating in 2007 I often remark how fortunate I have been to work with such amazing families who continually teach me more about the complexities of this work and the importance of respecting the beauty and uniqueness of each experience. In addition to my midwifery training, I have completed a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology and Biology. Anthropology has given me an understanding of the cultural diversity of our province and an appreciation of the rewards of working with people from different social, economic and cultural backgrounds. Summers spent studying birds in northern Canada in 2002 and 2003 gave me a deep respect and appreciation for biological processes, in particular the miracle of reproduction and the creation of new life. Over the years I have been involved in a number of research projects in the field of midwifery and reproductive health including publishing papers in the Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research & Practice as well as the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Canada. As part of the clinical faculty of the Department of Family Practice at UBC I enjoy numerous opportunities to contribute to the education of midwifery students. It is work I really enjoy and hope will help expand excess to midwifery care across the province.