Meet the Ladies of Mazzara Midwifery

Kate Mazzara, Lead Midwife

My journey began on July 12th, 1993 when I had a baby and fell in love with birth. I was convinced that this new feeling was just a part of being a new mom and would soon come to pass. Well, it has been almost 18 years and that passion and love for birth has only grown. With the help and support of my husband, I began my training as a doula and attended my first birth 7 months later. I was in my element and knew I had uncovered my passion. After becoming a doula, there was a natural progression for me to become a childbirth educator. I taught expecting families about: their changing bodies, what they might expect during labor, delivery, and postpartum and the adjustment to parenthood. I was helping them to discover different ways that they progress through labor and encouraging them to find their own path in the process of becoming parents. I not only taught for birth and parenting educators but also worked with Providence Hospital.

My own family was growing and in 1997 I became pregnant with our second child. I wound up with a c-section after many hours of labor because my son was in a face presentation. It never occurred to me that I would have a c-section for my second birth since my first was an un-medicated vaginal delivery. At that time I could not have predicted that within a few years many hospitals would have outright bans on vaginal deliveries after cesareans. In 1999 my husband was moved out of the company he was working for and was hired by General Motors. The company relocated us to Maryland and I continued to do doula work, but in my heart I knew I wanted to be a midwife. I called on a midwife in Pennsylvania that worked closely with the Amish and Mennonite community, and asked her if she was taking on any new apprentices. She invited me to come to her office and meet with her on a clinic day. As I sat in the office and watched the Amish and Mennonite come in; my heart leaped for joy. I had such a strong desire to work in this population but thought maybe later in life when my children were grown and gone, but here I was on my way to serving them. Working with this busy rural clinic was a great experience. The clinic saw approximately a hundred births a year. I learned a great deal from my senior midwife and the women that we were privileged to provide care for.

In 2002 our family was relocated to Tennessee. We were there only twenty months, but this is where I took my North American Registry of Midwives exams to become a Certified Professional Midwife. I also gave birth to our third son at home in a lovely water birth with my husband catching him and my older sons present. After that I moved back home to Michigan in 2005. (So if you are counting, yes that is three moves in 5 years) I now live in Hartland Township with my husband and our three boys. I set up my own Midwifery practice and have been happily serving growing families. I have a great working relationship with other Midwives in the area and I am on the board of directors for the Michigan Midwives Association. Some of my other interests include gardening, canning, swimming, and embroidery.

Well that just about sums up my journey, but the most important thing I want to relay is my heart. I have a love for new life and coming along side women and truly caring for them as they walk through their journey into motherhood for the first time or the twentieth time. I desire to make each one of my clients feel supported, well informed and most of all empowered to do the work that their bodies were created to do. This is my passion and purpose and I am truly grateful to know what I have been called to do.

Connie Perkins, Midwife Under Supervision

connie perkins weighing a baby during a newborn examination

I have always known I wanted to be a midwife. I spent my childhood caring for sick animals and many little babies with my mother in a home daycare. As I grew older I was fascinated to study nutrition, herbal remedies and wild medicinals. I spent several years in a large scale intentional community, serving in a women's shelter and working and living along side families and single folks from every imaginable walk of life. It was there that I solidified my desire to serve women, children and families during the most delicate times of life.

In 2007 I rooted in Michigan trained to become a birth doula. I spent the next two years in a whirl wind practice serving homeless women in the Lansing area. I loved working with these women, being able to show them tenderness and respect during a tumultuous and frightening time in their lives. They had a beautiful strength and resilience that I have found unmatched.

In 2009 I became pregnant and took a long maternity leave from doula work. 43 weeks later, my daughter was born at home, into the loving arms of her Papa. I stayed tucked in bed for a lovely 3 week baby moon and have never felt so pampered, and cared for by our community. Just a few short months later I joined Kate. Sometimes in life you meet a person that your heart just resonates with. It was like that with Kate and I. From the very first meeting, I knew we had something special between us, and that bond has just continued to grow. I am excited to be learning with her, and I hope to continue working with her long after my training is complete.

I started catching babies in November of 2010 , and I have found that the assisting with a tiny person, newly earthside, is an honor so profound that it changes one's perspective, permanently. I live in lansing with my running jumping flying little girl, a tiny urban homestead, my farmer husband, radical housemates and about a zillion animals. I currently serve on the Michigan Midwives Association Board of Directors and I like to be outside, as much as humanly possible.

Kristina Murray, Student Midwife

I have five children, three born in hospitals and two born at home. I became interested in doula work after the birth of my second child. With her birth I hired a doula in order to have a much more natural birth than my first. I was amazed at my doula's ability to support and ease my discomforts with position changes, pressure points, and aromatherapy.

In December 2009, I delivered my fifth child at home in the water. He was a big boy weighing 9lbs 14oz. My midwife and her apprentice worked with me through my labor and provided invaluable support and tools for easing back labor. It was at this birth that I knew my calling in life was to work with laboring women; to provide support emotionally, physically, and otherwise during the most empowering experience of their lives.

In summer of 2010 I started training as a doula with to Labor and that September I began to research paths into Midwifery. I am excited to join the Mazzara Midwifery team and am very happy to be making my dream of becoming a midwife a reality.