meredith klein CPM, ldm
My call to midwifery came when I was 20, living in upstate New York, studying sustainable agriculture at Cornell University, working on an organic herb and flower farm, and teaching at a cooperative school with many homebirth families. It evolved as a merging of my interests and passions in women’s health, women’s choice issues, and a philosophy of healthcare that includes individualized care, informed choice, and body autonomy at its core. It makes sense that it evolved right alongside my interests in home-grown foods and home-schooled families… lifestyles of sustainability and self-determination.
The integration of complimentary modalities such as herbal medicine, massage/bodywork, and homeopathy along with straight up anatomy/physiology and rigorous clinical skills captured my attention, and I was equally as inspired by the honoring of emotional and spiritual components of health in general and birthing in particular. Living where I did, it also arose as a political issue, as choosing to give birth at home with a professional midwife was not a legal option for families in New York State. I had yet to have children of my own, but a fire was lit in me to be part of this movement.
Although midwifery and obstetrics are quite different models of care, I know that the fact that my dad is an obstetrician had a formative influence in my career path. I remember him leaving at all hours of the day and night to catch babies, often running into friendly former clients and their families in the grocery store and other public places. I have fond memories of accompanying him sometimes in the early mornings when he did “rounds” at the hospital… visiting new moms and babies.
Once I awakened to my midwifery calling, there was no turning back. I moved to Eugene, Oregon in 1996 to attend a 3-year training program at the Oregon School of Midwifery. I was engaged with and fascinated by what I was learning clinically, but once I had the honor of attending my very first birth in person, I was struck by its absolute sacredness. It brought me to me knees… both figuratively and I think literally! And 25 years and over 900 births later, I still tear up sometimes as I get to witness families meeting their babies for the first time- the intimacy and the triumph of birth. It is an honor and undoubtably part of my spiritual practice as a human being on this earth.
After 2 years of primarily didactic training, I moved to Austin, Texas in 1998 to continue my learning through apprenticeship with a seasoned midwife there. I worked with her for a year, attending about 50 births, mostly at home and then I was off to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico to intern at Centro para los Adolescences de San Miguel de Allende (CASA). I spent 4 1/2 months as an intern at their maternity center and working with community educators in the surrounding rural areas. CASA also ran the first professional midwifery school in Mexico and I both attended and assisted in teaching a few classes in their new program.
What intended to be a year or two in Austin became a decade, as I returned from Mexico, obtained my midwifery credentials in 2000, and first worked with my former preceptor as a junior partner and then “spread my wings” with a sister midwife as Full Circle Midwifery. I ‘grew up' as a midwife there, amongst a rich community of midwives…. with regular gatherings, peer reviews, continuing education opportunities, and midwifery activism. For the six years of my private homebirth practice in Austin, I also worked part-time as a health educator at the People’s Community Clinic, a non-profit public health clinic that serves the under-insured members of the community. In the main clinic (as well as satellite clinics for homeless youth) I saw clients for family planning, prenatal education, and sexually transmitted infection information and testing. I designed and taught a series of childbirth classes in Spanish, and taught them for several years at the clinic. Throughout my midwifery career, it has always been important to me to stay involved with the public health sector.
In 2008, I moved to Philadelphia for personal reasons, and while I was there was able to team up with an amazing homebirth practice, as well as work at the Greater Philadelphia Health Action clinics as a Spanish interpreter and a Centering Pregnancy facilitator. My daughter Nora was born in Philly in 2011 under the care of the my dear midwife colleagues and friends - and hospital staff and an operating room for complications in the end. While it was sweet to carry her on my back (and front, and downstairs to hang out with my mom) from age 3 months to homebirths, it was also exhausting, and inspired me to seek out new more balanced ways of being a mom first and a midwife too…. we came full circle and landed back in Oregon. I got to work with an amazing team at Bella Vie birth center for 6 years, and my son Sam was born there with my colleagues and friends. While a birth center environment was perfect for that time in my life, supported me to have an empowering VBAC, and provided a nurturing place for this working mama to do my calling and have my children around with me, my heart rests with homebirth. I found my way back to it with my dear friend Jen in 2018 and Fig Midwifery was born.
My most recent endeavor/accomplishment of note: finishing my Bachelors of Science in nursing and obtaining my RN amidst a global pandemic in 2020! While I hope this is the first step in reaching my goal of obtaining my Family Nurse Practitioner degree, with the ability to serve Fig clients pre-pregnancy and post-childbearing, as well as seeing babies and children beyond the scope of our midwifery licensure, 2021 sees our practice expanding as well as offering a group model with much needed opportunities for rest. For now I am enjoying being less busy, spending more focused time with my own kids and partner, growing a garden and taking root in our little house in McMinnville, and exploring Oregon’s wild places in my off-call time.
The spark of midwifery ignited in me in 1994, and 27 years later it is still burning strong. It has taken me traveling to Mexico and Haiti, showed its face in education and activism, and remains a practice that both engages my thirsty scientific mind and clinical skills AND brings me to me knees in awe and reverence. My daughter’s name means awe-some in Hebrew, after all! It is a changing landscape, rich with opportunity and expression, and I’m all in.
The integration of complimentary modalities such as herbal medicine, massage/bodywork, and homeopathy along with straight up anatomy/physiology and rigorous clinical skills captured my attention, and I was equally as inspired by the honoring of emotional and spiritual components of health in general and birthing in particular. Living where I did, it also arose as a political issue, as choosing to give birth at home with a professional midwife was not a legal option for families in New York State. I had yet to have children of my own, but a fire was lit in me to be part of this movement.
Although midwifery and obstetrics are quite different models of care, I know that the fact that my dad is an obstetrician had a formative influence in my career path. I remember him leaving at all hours of the day and night to catch babies, often running into friendly former clients and their families in the grocery store and other public places. I have fond memories of accompanying him sometimes in the early mornings when he did “rounds” at the hospital… visiting new moms and babies.
Once I awakened to my midwifery calling, there was no turning back. I moved to Eugene, Oregon in 1996 to attend a 3-year training program at the Oregon School of Midwifery. I was engaged with and fascinated by what I was learning clinically, but once I had the honor of attending my very first birth in person, I was struck by its absolute sacredness. It brought me to me knees… both figuratively and I think literally! And 25 years and over 900 births later, I still tear up sometimes as I get to witness families meeting their babies for the first time- the intimacy and the triumph of birth. It is an honor and undoubtably part of my spiritual practice as a human being on this earth.
After 2 years of primarily didactic training, I moved to Austin, Texas in 1998 to continue my learning through apprenticeship with a seasoned midwife there. I worked with her for a year, attending about 50 births, mostly at home and then I was off to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico to intern at Centro para los Adolescences de San Miguel de Allende (CASA). I spent 4 1/2 months as an intern at their maternity center and working with community educators in the surrounding rural areas. CASA also ran the first professional midwifery school in Mexico and I both attended and assisted in teaching a few classes in their new program.
What intended to be a year or two in Austin became a decade, as I returned from Mexico, obtained my midwifery credentials in 2000, and first worked with my former preceptor as a junior partner and then “spread my wings” with a sister midwife as Full Circle Midwifery. I ‘grew up' as a midwife there, amongst a rich community of midwives…. with regular gatherings, peer reviews, continuing education opportunities, and midwifery activism. For the six years of my private homebirth practice in Austin, I also worked part-time as a health educator at the People’s Community Clinic, a non-profit public health clinic that serves the under-insured members of the community. In the main clinic (as well as satellite clinics for homeless youth) I saw clients for family planning, prenatal education, and sexually transmitted infection information and testing. I designed and taught a series of childbirth classes in Spanish, and taught them for several years at the clinic. Throughout my midwifery career, it has always been important to me to stay involved with the public health sector.
In 2008, I moved to Philadelphia for personal reasons, and while I was there was able to team up with an amazing homebirth practice, as well as work at the Greater Philadelphia Health Action clinics as a Spanish interpreter and a Centering Pregnancy facilitator. My daughter Nora was born in Philly in 2011 under the care of the my dear midwife colleagues and friends - and hospital staff and an operating room for complications in the end. While it was sweet to carry her on my back (and front, and downstairs to hang out with my mom) from age 3 months to homebirths, it was also exhausting, and inspired me to seek out new more balanced ways of being a mom first and a midwife too…. we came full circle and landed back in Oregon. I got to work with an amazing team at Bella Vie birth center for 6 years, and my son Sam was born there with my colleagues and friends. While a birth center environment was perfect for that time in my life, supported me to have an empowering VBAC, and provided a nurturing place for this working mama to do my calling and have my children around with me, my heart rests with homebirth. I found my way back to it with my dear friend Jen in 2018 and Fig Midwifery was born.
My most recent endeavor/accomplishment of note: finishing my Bachelors of Science in nursing and obtaining my RN amidst a global pandemic in 2020! While I hope this is the first step in reaching my goal of obtaining my Family Nurse Practitioner degree, with the ability to serve Fig clients pre-pregnancy and post-childbearing, as well as seeing babies and children beyond the scope of our midwifery licensure, 2021 sees our practice expanding as well as offering a group model with much needed opportunities for rest. For now I am enjoying being less busy, spending more focused time with my own kids and partner, growing a garden and taking root in our little house in McMinnville, and exploring Oregon’s wild places in my off-call time.
The spark of midwifery ignited in me in 1994, and 27 years later it is still burning strong. It has taken me traveling to Mexico and Haiti, showed its face in education and activism, and remains a practice that both engages my thirsty scientific mind and clinical skills AND brings me to me knees in awe and reverence. My daughter’s name means awe-some in Hebrew, after all! It is a changing landscape, rich with opportunity and expression, and I’m all in.
