Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Atherton.
Jennifer, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up with a mother that was an L&D nurse and who later became a midwife when we lived in Australia. I was always around birth and medical discussions. After having my first child, I knew I wanted to follow this independent pathway and support women in their birth choices. I worked as a doula first and was encouraged to enter midwifery school which I did a year later. (A doula provides emotional support for mom and dad, can help with position changes and basically doesn’t perform any medical functions, while a midwife is similar to an OB in an out-of-hospital setting.)
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Becoming a midwife is definitely not a smooth road. I found myself a divorced and single mom with a 1-year old while performing prenatal appointments and being on-call for births 24/7 with the uncertainty of when the birth would be over. I am eternally grateful for very supportive parents who drove in at all hours from East Texas to watch my daughter when I was called to births. Additionally, it is challenging to provide income with a 24/7 on-call schedule and midwifery school is expensive, so I also had to take out personal loans and be on welfare to complete my schooling.
I also believe in continual learning, researching and challenging routine procedures if not in the mother’s immediate benefit. This made it challenging for me, personally, to find midwives that were willing to teach me and be questioned and pushed to learn with me, along the way.
Serenity Midwifery – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My business is called Serenity Midwifery. I care for women during their pregnancy, birth and six weeks postpartum. I specialize in educating mothers in all the pro’s and con’s of subjects and procedures relating to their pregnancy and then supporting their decisions. I’ve put in literally thousands of hours of research and I love sharing my knowledge.
I also enjoy working with non-traditional families, from single mom’s to the LGBTQ parents to differing beliefs. Having grown up traveling and living around the world, I love working with other cultures!
I also form close relationships with my clients and many of them become friends during the time we work together. I love building a close tribe!
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
When a client tells me how much I contributed to making her birth special, or how much I’ve taught her, that makes all the difference to me.
Pricing:
- I am one of the few providers that offers a sliding scale, from $3500 to $6500. I reserve the lowest amount for Medicaid patients, and the higher amounts allow me to help lower-income women.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.serenitymidwifery.net
- Phone: 469-583-7951
- Email: serenitymidwifery@yahoo.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/serenitymidwife
- Other: www.ourbirthinghome.com
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