ABOUT – Origins Midwifery

About Origins Midwifery

Origins Midwifery provide compassionate client-centered care with a focus on prevention and health-promotion. Origins Midwifery respect our client’s uniqueness, providing individualized care for all we serve. We pride ourselves with informed choice, continuity of care, choice of birthplace and evidence-based practice. As primary health providers we collaborative with other health professionals if needed, to offer safe and effective care for the client and the family. Origins Midwifery believe parents are empowered through their experience of pregnancy and birth.

The Team

Midwifery has been an important part of my life ever since I could remember. I was born at home through the gentle hands of a midwife in Ghana, West Africa and have always had a fondness for the emotional, spiritual and physical components of childbirth. I’ve been a Registered Midwife in the Province of Alberta since 2004 and have travelled with hundreds of women on their birthing journey. I started my education at the U of C obtaining a Bio Science Degree; I then began my midwifery education at the University of Brighton in the UK and finally graduated from the Seattle Midwifery School in Washington State. I completed my international practicum on the beautiful island of St. Lucia in the Caribbean.

The diverse cultural, ethnic and social background of my clients has allowed me to gain great appreciation for the women I have cared for and is the basis for my strong conviction in completely individualized care. It also re-affirms my belief that birth is one of the most wonderful and natural parts of life.

I am a mother of 2 wonderful boys with an amazing husband who has been with me through my wonderful journey of Midwifery and more. I look forward to meeting you and being part of your wonderful birth journey.

Twenty-eight years ago, I observed my first birth; an extraordinary midwife attended waterbirth in London, England. Now after 22 years of practising midwifery, I continue to be awed by the power and beauty of birth, as well as observing families grow deeply during this life transition.

I recognize the important role midwives play in health care, and actively accept the responsibilities and joys that come with this important work. I am passionate about providing informed choice, family centered care and I strongly promote bodily autonomy.

I have had the privilege of working in Oregon, Miami, and Jamaica as a student midwife. Upon returning to Canada, I relocated to Central Alberta where I completed my education as an apprentice midwife. I am grateful for my rural midwifery experience as a student and newly practicing midwife.

I have birthed 2 wonderful boys into this world, who bring me great joy.

“You are a midwife. You are assisting at someone else’s birth. Do good without show or fuss. Facilitate what is happening, not what you think is happening. If you must take the lead, lead so that the mother is helped, yet still free and in charge. When the baby is born, the mother will rightly say, we did it ourselves.” Lao Tzu

The spark of midwifery came to me while travelling in Belize where I spent time with a traditional healer and midwife. Yet it was not until I experienced the birth of my first child, with the support of loving midwifery care, that I recognized midwifery as my vocational calling. I studied midwifery at Mount Royal University and enjoyed many varied practicum placements, but the most impactful was my time in Cardston county where I was immersed in the beauty of rural home birth. I graduated with my Bachelor of Midwifery degree in 2018 and completed my New Registrant year working in Medicine Hat and Brooks area before moving back to join Okotoks’ new practice, Origins Midwifery. Having lived on my family’s land near De Winton for most of my life, it is a joy to be able to serve my home community.

I am gratefully blessed to be wife to a wonderful husband and mother of three beautiful homeschooled children. Together we live on our acreage along with my lovely parents, a small flock of fibre sheep, heritage chickens, and a few other critters.

It is my belief that every family should be given the option of a maternity care provider that aligns with their values and meets their unique needs. My offering as a midwife is rooted in a deep respect for natural childbirth along with the recognition of the special blessing it is to be able to witness and protect it. Additionally, as the daughter of an herbalist, I am familiar with natural remedies and I enjoy including this traditional wisdom in my practice. With my background, I also have knowledge of the unique challenges and rewards of rural and small-town life, so I am passionate about providing quality maternity care in these homes and communities. Overall, I strive to provide the families I serve with compassionate, respectful care that is based in mutual trust and supportive of choice within their birthing process.

The birth of a child is such a precious gift! Thank you for the opportunity to be involved in this special time of your life, I am honoured to be your midwife.

My Canadian midwifery journey took off after graduation in 2005. I was born and raised in Germany where I took my training in the city Ingolstadt, Bavaria.

Since then, I have caught babies in Uganda, Pakistan and in Canada, where I call home.

In 2009 I was hired full time by Prairie Mountain Health in Brandon Manitoba and shortly after that I moved to Steinbach, Manitoba and worked for Southern health-Santé Sud, for thirteen years. In this wonderful community of the southeast of the province of Manitoba, the natural approach to perinatal care was embraced not only by the community at large but also among midwifery practice, clients and other medical professionals. Home-births and natural deliveries were an integral part of our care. Every pregnancy, every labour and delivery is different. Some take longer, others are shorter, some need no intervention and, yes, there are those that require just a little bit of help.

I am a blessed mother of 4. We consider family as a special gift from God.

I could not do this line of work without the support of my wonderful husband and children.

Every delivery of my own and the raising of our children has added to my experience as a midwife.

Midwifery for me is beyond a profession; some might call it lifestyle; others say it is a calling.

It is my great joy to see a woman transformed into a Mom and a partner into a dad. The awe of the miracle of a baby’s first cry is unparalleled.

During my care you will see me emphasize that you are the primary decision maker of your health choices. I see it as my duty to give you informed choice discussions and honor your personal health care choices.

Pregnancy and delivery are a natural process and so are many aspects of your care.

These quotes made me chuckle and I found them to be so true:

” I still deliver like a midwife” Drake

” Midwives do it in every position”

The midwife considers the miracle of childbirth as normal, and leaves it alone unless there’s trouble. The obstetrician normally sees childbirth as trouble; if he leaves it alone, it’s a miracle.”

― Sheila Stubbs

About Origins Midwifery

The Team

Theresa Barrett

Janna Miller

Carissa Murray

Sabrina Mahamba