Meet the Nest Midwives
Welcome to Nest Midwifery!
Please take a tour and learn about our model of care, our midwives, the services we provide, and what we are striving for as your birth team. We understand that this is an intimate chapter in your life where you will learn and grow and find the duality of your strength and your vulnerability.
We would love to hear from you and set up a time to answer your questions, and see if we seem like we might be able to serve you throughout this exciting time.
Meet The Team
After earning my B.A. from the University of Vermont, I discovered a dusty copy of Spiritual Midwifery (by Ina May Gaskin) on the shelves of the bookstore where I was working, and decided that midwifery was my career path. In 1996 I became a certified doula, and have attended hundreds of births since then. A few years later I became an Internationally Certified Childbirth Educator (ICCE) through ICEA. I attended Birthingway College of Midwifery and graduated with a Certificate of Midwifery, and in 2008 I became certified by NARM (the North American Registry of Midwives) as a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM).
I currently teach childbirth education, breastfeeding and infant care classes through Legacy Medical Center, where I have taught since 2003. In 2015 I co-authored and published Homebirth Cesarean: Stories and Support for Families and Healthcare Providers.
I am the mother of 3 inspiring sons who were born at home with CPMs. In my spare time I enjoy tending the plants and animals on my small farm in Ridgefield, Washington.
I'm Laurie Perron Mednick, Nest Midwife
I believe that women hold deep within themselves a wealth of instinctive knowledge about their own bodies and the babies that they grow and birth. As a passionate advocate for women’s ability to birth without intervention and fear, I believe in fostering an environment which allows women to have safe, spontaneous, and transformative birth experiences.I believe that midwives are truly the guardians of birth, and strive to honor the natural unfolding of the birthing process while also using time-honored hands-on skills and technology judiciously, with respect to the safety and well-being of both mother and baby.
I'm Brittany Berger, Nest Midwife
I believe that pregnant people deserve individualized care throughout the childbearing cycle. I believe that every pregnant person has the innate knowledge to take charge of their own experience and with the support and encouragement of a midwife they can have peace of mind that when they need more hands-on support, someone is there. Midwives are trained in the broad scope of normal and how to recognize when something goes outside of those bounds, while also recognizing that “normal” can be different in all people as unique individuals.
I believe in minimizing technological interventions by protecting the normal physiological process of pregnancy and childbirth. Midwifery is a science and an intuition that together tell the midwife when and how to intervene to prevent problems and promote safety. I believe that the birthing experience belongs to the family I am serving, it is a time of bonding, and it should be protected, along with the pregnant person’s autonomy, as much as possible with the least amount of interference.I have been serving people during their childbearing year for over 15 years, including many years as a breastfeeding peer counselor and lactation educator before starting my midwifery education. I have been attending births since 2018 and recently completed a Bachelor of Science at Midwives College of Utah. I have a passion for providing the highest quality of care to my clients through building a relationship and trust throughout their pregnancy. I discovered that I wanted to be a midwife after choosing midwifery care for my pregnancy with my fourth baby and previous hospital births. The education provided to me was life changing, and my personal experience with community birth was empowering.
I spend my time outside of midwifery with my four kiddos, my husband, and our fur-babies. We moved to Portland from Alaska a few years ago and we are enjoying all that the Portland metro and SW Washington area has to offer. I have a love for wildcrafting, foraging, cooking, fishing, hiking, and gardening.
