Hi, I'm Morgan! I'm thankful to have called WNC my home for 12 years. I have been learning, witnessing and tending birth in various roles for the last 8 years. I love walking alongside families through pregnancy, labor and birth, and into the postpartum time. I dream of the day when birth options are plenty, home-births are the norm, and families are deeply resourced by their community from pregnancy into parenthood. Passionate about helping families find the perfect care team, I believe there is a midwife for every family. Reach out to connect and learn more.

My journey into women’s health and birth work was slow and winding. I remember being enthralled with the mystery and magic of pregnancy and motherhood from a very young age. My little sister was born when I was five, and I loved helping my mom care for her. Long-term breastfeeding and co-sleeping were the norm in my family, and the seed of one day working with mothers and babies was planted. 

In college I was fascinated by the female body in anatomy and physiology courses. My spark was really lit when my favorite teacher's wife was expecting their first baby— I remember him weaving in bits of pregnancy information into the course curriculum, and I knew I needed to seek out some more specific birth training soon. I graduated UNC Asheville with a BS in Health and Wellness and wrote my thesis on paid maternal leave in the United States (and how we are the only developed country in the world that doesn’t offer it).

The first time I heard the word “midwife” I was almost twenty.  I immediately felt drawn to the idea of birthing options outside of the hospital. This was around the time that New Dawn Midwifery, Asheville's only 24/7 midwifery practice announced its closing and WNC Birth Center was about to open— I was already learning the impact and importance of having (or not having) out-of-hospital midwifery birth options for the community.  I have spent the last 9 years discovering what community midwifery means to me and how I can center mothers and babies through holistic care while weaving webs of community support. 

Unsure where to begin my more formal birth education, I used the local birth doula training as a stepping stone. After devouring my first taste of birth education, I immediately signed up for the postpartum doula training and then the breastfeeding support class for birth workers.  Interested in learning about cross-cultural birth knowledge, I had the honor of traveling to do birth work abroad with the organization Wombs of the World.  I spent two January’s in a row in Karatu, Tanzania partnering with the local midwives in a birth clinic to help start a doula program for the local community.

 In the majestic Andes Mountains of Cotacachi, Ecuador, I learned herbal wisdom for the childbearing year from indigenous midwives. Their midwifery wisdom has been preserved and passed down their matrilineal lines for dozens of generations, and it was there that I unlocked a reverence for community herbalism and rites of passage witnessing. I am grateful to have received the “closing of the bones” ritual from them and a blessing to offer it to postpartum mothers in my own community. 

While working as a postpartum doula, I realized there was more to postpartum care than only meal-trains and help around the house— I wanted to know how to support mothers and babies in orienting towards long-term thriving life, healing and bonding. I am thankful to have invested in INNATE Postpartum Care Certification Training with my teacher Rachelle Seliga. It is through this wisdom I have come to know and understand what is required in the postpartum time both cross-culturally and physiologically for healing and nourishment: an extended resting period, warmth and nourishing foods, specific bodywork and community support. 

After working as a birth doula in the hospital for many years, I became disenchanted with the system and model of care— the standardization, the pressure for interventions, the impersonalized care, the all-too-common birth trauma and lack of postpartum support. I began being invited to births at the birth center and home births and could instantly feel the difference. I have continued to apprentice with out-of-hospital birth more formally through multiple schools, workshops, conferences and apprenticeships over the last 6 years. I hold immense gratitude for my preceptor who invited me in to learn from the home birth world, and for many other dear friends and community midwives for encouraging and guiding my path. I am especially thankful to Nicole Morales, Kristine Lauria and Rachelle Seliga for their teachings and mentorship. They taught me foundational birth and postpartum physiology, the hormonal blueprints of labor and birth, and countless pieces of midwifery wisdom via story telling and hands-on training. But the most important teaching has been about the importance of grace and humility in this work and the power families receive when they have many options and are trusted to make decisions.

I have a special love for breech, VBAC and twin births and seek out conferences and trainings across the country to continue my learning. I love supporting families in knowing their options for care providers and birth so that they can make an informed choice. I also have a tender spot in my heart for families experiencing the deep heart-ache of pregnancy loss and stillbirth, and am always honored to walk with families as they write their own birth and healing stories amidst the grief. 

I dream of the day when birth options are plenty, home-births are the norm, and families are deeply supported by community from pregnancy into parenthood. I support families in the Asheville area in-person in many ways, but my passion lies in educating families on the many home-birth options and offering consultations to help them find the best birth support that aligns with their values. We are so lucky in WNC to have many home-birth options, but because most of them are “underground,” many people don’t know about all of the home birth midwifery options in our area. I have a gift of being a birth-world networking mastermind and love to weave webs of connection through the many different women’s health providers in WNC— and I love sharing this resource web with those around me!

When I’m not spending time with moms and babies, you can find me tending my home, contra dancing, growing and sharing food with my dear neighbor and friends, trying something new in the kitchen with my beautiful writer wife, singing in choir, and going on walks in the woods with our Golden Retriever, Peaches. 

Reach out if you'd like to connect or learn more about me and my work.