About

I grew up in England, where birth is seen as a normal part of life rather than the medical event it is usually portrayed as in the United States. Midwives attend most deliveries, and homebirth is actively encouraged by the government.

I moved to the United States with my husband in 1989 to work in the software industry, and was pregnant within 3 months. I have given birth four times since then: twice at Group Health Eastside with the great midwives who worked there, once with the fabulous midwives at the Puget Sound Birth Center, and once in my tub at home, attended by Heike Doyle and Valerie Sasson. Each experience was unique and each fundamentally changed me.

After several years, I realized I was getting little fulfillment from working with computers, so I changed tack. In 2003, I apprenticed as a midwife at Puget Sound Birth Center. I was privileged to attend 50 deliveries during that exhilarating and exhausting year. I came to realize that when the team of midwives, childbirth educators, partners, and doulas provides the empowerment and confidence ahead of time to offset the negative messages around birth in our culture, most women can and do birth entirely with their own strength and innate birth wisdom.

So why am I not a midwife? Because a midwife's lifestyle is very difficult for her family. My husband and young children found it hard to adjust to my being gone from the moment the pager beeped until the baby was safely born, which was anywhere from 4 hours to 64 hours! So I have put my love for midwifery on hold until my children are older. In the meantime, teaching childbirth classes gives me the opportunity to share my confidence and enthusiasm for birth with expectant parents.

Although I am very done having babies myself, I envy you the experience of birth that lies ahead.

Liz Chalmers
Childbirth Educator,
Former Midwifery Student,
and Mom to Steven, Chris, Michael, and Katie