Joi Brock, LM

I am on the "seasoned" side of life – with 32 years of marriage to the same sweet guy, 3 grown children and working on the second half of my first century of life!  With nurturing being a way of life while raising my children, it became my natural transition to care for women as they traveled their path of bringing their own children into the world.

I am a Licensed Midwife, Licensed Massage Therapist with certification in Prenatal Massage and a Certified Birth Doula.  My experience in nursing school led me to know I always wanted to work with women in their childbearing years.  That desire encouraged me to develop ways to serve women by offering services that would support her experience in pregnancy and birth.

In a world that believes birth is a medical condition, it is important to remember that birth is a normal function of a woman’s body.  The missing link is to return honor, respect and empowerment back to where it has always belonged – to the mother! Remember – your baby, your body, your birth!

It is always such a miracle to watch as a woman and her family work together to bring a new life into the world.  The love, commitment and amazing power can be felt at each birth.  Whether it is a mom birthing her first baby or her 11th  baby, whether this baby is coming alone or with a sibling (multiples), whether entering the world head first or backing in (breech), each birth is unique and a wonder to behold!

Let’s get together.  I would love to visit with you as you share your dreams of your birth.

Stacy Lewis, LM

I love being a midwife! I have so much fun meeting wonderful families that it is almost hard to call it a job. I began my midwifery training in 1991 and became a Certified Professional Midwife in 2001. I believe each birth should be personal, private, and memorable. In a supportive environment, women are amazingly strong and confident in the birth process. I've attended hundreds of births over the years and I enjoy serving families at such a special time in their lives.! I've been blessed with an amazingly rich life; wonderful parents, peace, life-long friendships, and a beautiful family that loves me in spite of the crazy hours this job demands! I have to admit that of all the blessings given me by a merciful God, my family is the greatest.

My husband and I have nine children and all of my births have been very special. I will never forget the explosion of love I felt when I held Erika, our first child, in my arms. She was the most beautiful baby I had ever laid eyes on! She was our only hospital birth. My labor was the usual "when is this kid ever going to get here" labor. Except for all the unnecessary busy work the nurses and doctors did to me, I had a normal hospital delivery. I remember looking around the room and thinking, "Having a baby wasn't so hard, it was trying to fight off all the interventions that took up all my energy!" I don't have a hospital horror story but I decided then that our next child would be born in a different atmosphere. I knew I would never again plan to give birth in a medical environment.

Our son, Jake, was born in 1986 at home and again my heart exploded with an amazing mother's love for a beautiful baby. Jake's birth was everything I had hoped it would be. After an initial exam revealing that I was 6 cm dilated, my husband and I were left to labor, talk, breath and love our baby into our world. Our birth; on our terms. It was wonderful! Just as I was sure I couldn't labor another minute, our midwife softly reminded me that I could do it and she reminded my husband he was going to catch our baby. Jake's head crowned and with the next contraction, his head slid out. He rotated without anyone pulling on his head and with an incredible gush of amniotic fluid and a sigh of relief from me, Jake bounded into our world!

The other seven children have enjoyed a peaceful birth in the security of our home. All of their births were remarkable; they each have very sweet birth days. My husband and I loved working together to give birth to our babies. I enjoyed the security of knowing that at an intimate, beautiful time in our lives we made the choice to be in an environment free of defensiveness and struggles over control. Giving birth to our babies together has made us closer as a couple. I wholeheartedly embrace the saying "Your Baby!" "Your Body!" "Your Birth!"

Monica Garza-Vickery, LM

From the age of five, I have been amazed by birth. Attending childbirth education classes with my parents in the mid-eighties (in the time of expectant parents being encouraged to make a choice in where they birthed), I was able to watch a homebirth video with the rest of the class. Several weeks later, my mother went into labor on my 6th birthday. I begged her to stay at home and have the baby, I cried and said that I knew she could have the baby at home, 'I had seen it on that video!' She did end up going to the hospital for a few hours and was home by that evening.

Eighteen years later I was married to my best friend of eight years and pregnant with our first child. We began with the traditional route of birthing with an OB in the hospital. We studied the Bradley Method of childbirth on our own and decided to visit the hospital for a tour of the labor and delivery suites. As soon as we stepped into the "suite" with the tour group, I whirled around to my husband in the doorway and said with wide eyes "I AM NOT DELIVERING HERE! LET'S GO NOW!". And we left. Several days later we found Stacy and Joi; it was love at first meeting! We had our first baby at home a couple months later. It was the most amazing thing we have ever done. Now three babies later, we will never turn back.

In the months following my first birth, a friend was attended by Stacy and Joi and gave birth to a breech baby at home. I was lucky enough to be at this birth. It was amazing. Over time I was able to attend several more births with Stacy and Joi as a photographer/videographer, but ended up being more of an assistant that had the opportunity to take great photos of the births. Over the many births I have attended with Stacy and Joi, I have learned so much, they really are skilled in every type of variance in birth there is and they are passing those skills on to the midwives they educate.

It has been over 4 years since I began my journey into midwifery; I am licensed and excited to spread the word that women do have choices in birth and they are empowered by questioning everything when it comes to their bodies and the health of the family that they are helping to create. We want to empower you by educating you in the choices you do have in birth!

Sasha Huckaby, Intern

Minutes after the birth of my first child my husband and I turned to each other wide-eyed and amazed, "WOW!" After that empowering experience I felt like I could do anything! I had to know more! I read every book I could find and watched every video. I listened to my friends and families birth stories and shared mine with anyone who would listen.  

Since then my  husband and I  have been blessed with four more beautiful children and one on the way this summer. Each one of their births were so different, yet somehow the same.  My body miraculously remembered everything it needed to do for each birth and now more than ten years later I still find birth incredible.  From the moment of conception to the baby's first breath, I am amazed.  From the delicate ways our bodies change during pregnancy to the powerful ways our bodies work to push our babies into the world.  I still stand amazed. 
                   
Being able to share this experience with other women and their families is a dream come true.  In the past I have supported women and families as a doula.  Many of those births occurred in hospitals where rigorous time restraints, standard protocols and interventions are the norm.  Much of this works to throw off mom’s natural instinctive abilities, causing doubt, undue stress and fear on the new emerging family.

Working with this wonderful group of midwives has taught me so much!  Especially  the importance of personal care and attention that each women and family needs and deserves.  Each woman is different, her body and baby unique, her birth is her own.  I love the supportive and private environment midwives and the homebirth provide.  Where we can be as much or as little as each family needs while always providing the comforting knowledge and skills that assure everyone that baby and mom are doing well.  It is an honor and a blessing to be a part of.  I have attended over 85 births with Stacy and Joi and am looking forward to receiving my license in February of 2009. 

Se habla Espanol!  

Jessica Arno, Intern

My earliest memory is of telling my mom "I am going to bring babies into the world!" My mother tells stories about me running up to pregnant women in the supermarket, patting their bellies and talking to the babies. It's no wonder that as an adult I am acting out my childhood dreams of bringing babies into the world by becoming a midwife.

After high school,  I became an EMT to earn the money to pay for college and medical school. I thought I was going to pursue a medical degree and specialized as an OB/GYN. Yet as I pursued the dream of being an OB, hospital births didn't feel right to me as a woman. As a medical professional, my head told me that hospital birth was safe, but my heart told me that something wasn't right.

I began to read books on "alternative birth" and what I discovered is that hospital birth is the alternative way to birth and that women have been giving birth OUT of the hospital from the beginning of time. When I found midwifery my heart felt a feeling it hadn't in years. It was the same safe feeing I remember feeling as a child when I saw those pregnant mommies in the supermarket.

I knew God had given me a calling: helping mommies bring babies into this world. the difference was now I understood that He meant for me to accomplish my destiny through MIDWFERY!  A midwife understands what real birth is all about and helps each mom to have the safest birth possible with her family as her support system. Birth with a midwife is truly: "  Your BABY, YOUR BABY, YOUR BIRTH!" As an expecting mom, you deserve the best and it is my goal to do all my power to make every birth a perfect birth.