Our Team ...

It has been my honor to assist Atlanta families at their births for over 28 years.  My students and I feel strongly that prenatal care, birth and postpartum care are a family event if that is what the family chooses.  Children are always welcome and are encouraged to participate.  Over 50% of our mothers choose water for their labors and/or birth.  

I am a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) and hold a midwifery license in Tennessee.  Unfortunately, at this time, neither are recognized in this state. Through the years I have become more active in both state and national midwifery politics.  I am president of the GA Midwifery Association and serve on the board of the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM).                                     

Don and I married in 1973.  We have two adult children, one son-in-law and three wonderful grandchildren.

I grew up in Hong Kong where I volunteered at the local hospital.  I started in pediatrics at the age of 13.  Our school nurse saw that there were several of us that had a nursing bend and spent six months teaching us a nurses aide program.  We did our clinicals at the hospital. On my 16th birthday I saw my first birth and continued to work in L&D until I returned to the States in 1972.  I finished my senior year of high school while working prn/weekends at the hospital.  There were no openings in pediatrics or L&D so I was placed in geriatrics.  In the meantime, I was accepted into the nursing school.  After a short period of time I realized that geriatrics was not my gift.  I left the hospital and nursing school, became a medical assistant, and started working for a pediatrician. 

Friends started having unassisted homebirths and ask me to attend.  I realized that it was important that there be someone there who had a clue and was fortunate enough to find a midwife in 1981 who was willing to train me.  I have been learning ever since.

Debi Thomas is the second midwife in our practice.  We practice independently but cover for each other when necessary.  For more information on Debi click here.

My name is Deborah Thomas, Debi for short.  We all believe birthing where, how, and with whom you choose is a right as inalienable as free speech. Nothing about it should be neglected.  That's why we are here...to serve as needed, to birth as you want, in the safety of you own home, with trained help to advise and assist quietly, and with gentle loving care! 
 

Ruth Cox is our junior partner.  She has been attending birth in the Atlanta area for over five years.  Ruth will be sitting her national boards in February 2010.

I have been married since 2002.  Jeremy and I have a beautiful daughter.  Since I’ve been a child I have had a heart for people, and loved being with them. Recovering from a childhood injury (which was a long process) I discovered that my hands both desired to give to others and had some gifts in healing. I started researching ideas that would fit my gifts and heart-desire, and explored different avenues—I think almost everything but midwifery. I thought about being a doctor of some kind—homeopathy, chiropractic, naturopath--or a massage therapist, and not one quite fit who I was. But I focused on the sciences in high school, thinking “medicine” in some form would be where I headed..

To give you my background on normal childbirth you need to know a little history about my family. I was the last, and favorite of my mom’s births: after years of reading about childbirth, fighting with doctors to get their natural births, and having natural births in hospitals, my parents were living in California when they became pregnant with me, and found a doctor who was doing homebirths near them. They were ecstatic, and enjoyed their 1^st homebirth immensely. That experience apparently started a trend in my family, since most of my nieces and nephews were also born at home. Thus I have always considered pregnancy and birth to be normal, natural, empowering events in a woman’s life.

I spent several months just reading and immersing myself in birth stories and philosophy, and a midwifery textbook. When we moved to Arizona (for 8 months) I easily found a (legal, state-certified!) midwife to apprentice with. She had a very low birth rate, but it was a gentle introduction to the world of midwifery. Arriving back in Atlanta, I found the GA midwifery community, and was excited to realize there was an opening for an apprentice! As I began to be invited to births in those first few months Jeremy and I made a lot of adjustments to the “real” midwifery lifestyle. It has been very rewarding as my training has gotten more intense, to realize that midwifery is indeed where my heart is, and a part of who I am.

I’m excited to be involved with you during your pregnancy.  Birth certainly keeps me humble!
 

Apprentices:

Corrinna Edwards started apprenticing in early 2009.  She has been a doula for several years and also teaches childbirth classes and hypnobirthing for those who are interested.

Rachael Cail helped us during the summer of 2009 as a doula and assistant. She has just come back in November 2009 to begin apprenticing full time.