ANDREA MEYER LM, CPM
Andrea Meyer, midwife, mother, wife, friend, gardener, walker, avid reader and a happy woman who wants to live in a world where every woman can acknowledge with confidence that her journey to motherhood was just right because it was hers!
Andrea is a well-known and dedicated midwife in her community for over 15 years. Her straightforward communication style paired with her Holistic Healing Training (HHP)and her many years in the Hospitality Industry brings a loving, conscientious and competent midwife to work each day. She has been supporting women in the birthing community since 1991 through a myriad of pathways to motherhood. You can find her being asked to speak at engagements and panels often. Advocacy for woman’s birth choices in provider, location, and procedure are her passion second only to her voice for the newborn!
Her love of the newborn and foundation for her midwifery career began with her own birth experience, October 3, 1962. She believes that a baby’s needs are best met when mothers’ are educated, listened to, supported and trusted. She hopes this will bring that new person into a loving world and many healthy relationships. Andrea has seen that helping a mom be who she is, coupled with the help and love of her midwives, family, and community can set that child on its best path!
Having had three children of her own at home, she knows the challenges and the joys! They say life is a journey and that is true of motherhood and parenting. Andrea believes your journey through pregnancy, and birth will show women their unlimited capacity to be there for her child. Then after the birth and what seems like too much unknown and many mistakes the right path of actions as a parent will open before her. Fathers, this is also true for you. Birth and parenting are growth opportunities for us and the framework from which humans begin to express their essence. This is where the fun begins!
Midwifery has been a joy in Andrea’s life both as a mother giving birth and as a profession. Call Ocean Midwives soon and share some of your story with her!
Education
1967 Montessori student through 4th grade
1980 Graduated from Darien High School, CT
1984 Graduated from University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, with a Bachelor of Arts
General Studies major, focus areas in; business, psychology, computer science, art, French
1993 Completed the academic course & passed the exam for the Massachusetts Association of Midwives
Licenses, Certifications and Training, still current
1998 Licensed Midwife, CA medical board, LM 93
1998 Certified Professional Midwife, NARM the North American Registry of Midwives, CPM 99090007
1994 NRP Provider, American Heart Association
1994 BLS for Healthcare Provider, American Heart Association
BFW, Birthing From Within Mentor
Massage Therapist, over 1000 hours of Holistic Health Care training (HHP)
ALACE, Association of Labor Assistants and Childbirth Educators
IAIM Certified, International Association of Infant Massage, dba WINC
PADI, Scuba diving certification
DONNA IRWIN LM, CPM
What is the significance of birth? Birth creates a shift in the universe. Pregnancy and birth are the most transformative moments of your life, they change everything
Midwives: Donna Irwin with Ina May Gaskin, author of Spiritual Midwifery, Birth Matters, & Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
Donna Irwin is a Licensed Midwife, through the Medical Board of California. and is a Certified Professional Midwife with the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM). She services San Diego and surrounding areas. Donna has 5 children, 4 born at home and has attended Nizhoni Institute of Midwifery. Donna has also been trained by toLABOR for Doula Care and is certified in Neonatal Resuscitation, and Basic Life Support. She has attended births since 2010, and has had the honor of attending home and birth center births under the apprenticeship model with 7 midwives, and two birth centers.
Birth changes your life, the life of your family, and your partner in ways you may not even realize for years to come. The very process of pregnancy demands you to devote your energy and vibrations toward a new life, a soul with a purpose in a new body. This creates mothers and a bond between two souls. You experience vibrancy, emotions you never knew you were cable of experiencing, thoughts you never expected to have, overwhelming sensations that are both positive and negative.
Creating and welcoming a new life takes you down a rabbit hole you had not known existed. You go through the gates alone and come out on the other side completely transformed.
Donna realized this after having her first homebirth. The process of pregnancy and birth drew her into the world of midwifery. She had her first experience with the birth of new life at the age of 14 while attending to her older sister’s birth. She knew then that she was destined to be around birthing women.
Now, as a midwife, Donna currently attends births in the clients home, or attends to them as a monitrice (similar to a doula) but additional skills to perform care such as vaginal exams to check for dilation, and monitoring of mother and baby before heading to the hospital for then continued doula support.
After the birth of Donna’s first child in the hospital, she knew there had to be a different way. The experience was not what she wanted. Donna lacked support, knowledge, and trust in her body’s ability to welcome her child- Without these Donna was put through the typical hospital experience. When she was expecting her second baby she quickly did research and desperately sought another way. She went on to birth 4 babies at home, in birthing tubs, with midwives. Her experiences inspired the need to come to understand the birth process, our culture’s way of birth, and how it could be different.
This journey of attaining knowledge and understanding of the sanctity of birth lit a flame in her. This flame is what drives her to be a support person for women during their pregnancies, births, and postpartum.