The gentlebirth.org website is provided courtesy of
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS, a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA

South Peninsula Midwives

aka Silicon Valley Peer Review Midwives

These midwives practice in accordance with community midwifery standards and agree
to participate in Peer Review.

For women who are giving birth to second or subsequent babies, it is particularly important to make sure your midwife can get to you
within thirty minutes or so as the baby may come very quickly when you are laboring in the safety and comfort of your home.
Be mindful that babies often come in the morning hours, so if the morning commute routinely blocks the highway
from a particular midwife to your home, she may miss the birth.
You can find a midwife's residential address from their license registration, although some list an office address.

Please note that there are other Licensed Midwives who come from other areas to attend births
on the Peninsula and South Bay, and they may not practice in accordance with our community standards.

Please use good judgment in choosing your midwife, as you would with any healthcare provider.
If it is important to you that your midwife conform to local standards of midwifery practice, ask prospective midwives about their participation in a Peer Review group, including how many meetings they've attended in the past year. It's important that they attend the group in the area where you live, so that they will have the smoothest possible interaction with your nearest medical facility, if necessary.

Listing by Provider
Listing by Services

Listing by Provider

In this area, homebirth midwives are qualified to provide comprehensive prenatal and postpartum care and support as well as lactation assistance. All the midwives listed here are happy to support women who choose to labor in water. A few are also enthusiastic about waterbirth.

In California, LM's and CNM's have similar legal status. (The CPM designation is not recognized in California.)

As independent, solo practititioners, it is important for homebirth midwives to participate in some kind of peer review process, where difficult cases are presented for feedback from other midwives. This provides a level of accountability that maintains professional standards of midwifery care and ethical practice.

Midwives Who Participate in the South Bay Midwives Peer Review Group

Ronnie Falcao, LM, MS, CHT, Mountain View, 650-961-9728 (since 1990)
Homebirth midwifery services specializing in waterbirth and older, first-time mothers; well-woman GYN care; European-style in-home postpartum care and lactation assistance for both mother and baby; Private-duty midwifery care as doula; Prenatal hypnotherapist. I offer a tub for both my homebirth and labor coach clients, for labor and/or waterbirth. [COVID-19 Update: Ronnie will consider taking new homebirth clients close to Mountain View who have Apple's UHC plan. I am happy to be generally available for in-home prenatal care and in-home postpartum care for mothers and newborns and lactation assistance. I wear an N95 mask during our entire time of contact.]

Renee Anker, LM, Half Moon Bay, 650-851-6833 (since 1996) - Home birth midwifery services & well-woman GYN

Faith Gibson, LM, CPM, community midwife, Palo Alto, 650-328-8491 (since 1981)
Home-based midwifery services, Birth preparation classes, Hospital labor support for people with special needs, e.g. twins, breeches, VBAC, first-time mothers [COVID-19 Update: Faith is happy to get inquiries for mothers wishing to avoid hospitals at this time.]

Firen Jones, LM, CPM, will be closing the Nightingale Birth Center, San Mateo, shortly after September, 2021. 650-731-5191(since 2014) - pre-conception, well-woman, and pregnancy & birth care at the birth center.

Carol Knight, MD, CPM, CLE, CHT, Palo Alto - Carol retired as of May, 2006. Thank you, Carol, for your many years of caring for women, babies, and other midwives!

Harriet Palmer, CNM, Los Altos- Harriet retired as of March, 2009. Thank you, Harriet, for your many years of caring for women, babies, and other midwives, and especially for training the midwife who trained me!

Jasmine A. Marotta-Jaenecke, LM, CPM, moved to Tucson, AZ, in spring, 2021. 650-393-9690, bayareanaturalbirth@gmail.com (since 2013)

Maeve Sundstrom, LM, CPM, Redwood City, 650-313-5530 - Homebirth, Monitrice and Well Person Care, Village Care group prenatal and postpartum care, Birthing From Within Mentoring. [COVID-19 Update: Maeve is happy to get inquiries for mothers wishing to avoid hospitals at this time.]

Veronica Wagner, CNM, has moved out of state.

Rosanna M. Davis, LM, CPM has moved to San Leandro. 650-964-2229 [COVID-19 Update: Rosanna is happy to get inquiries for mothers wishing to avoid hospitals at this time. And even though she's living in San Leandro now, she has had offices in Los Altos and Palo Alto in the past, and she knows the area well. We do not need to worry so much about traffic these days, so she could probably get to most parts of the Peninsula and South Bay pretty quickly.]

Sharon Craig Economides LM, CPM, MMid, IBCLC has moved out of state.

Emily Ruth Deckenback, LM CPM, has moved to southern California as of Nov., 2018, 415-649-6262

I also maintain a referral list of California Licensed Midwives.

The California Association of Midwives maintains a referral list for Region 3 (San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, and Marin Counties) and for all of California.

Unfortunately, there are people who call themselves midwives who are untrained, unlicensed or may practice as renegades, without regard to local standards of care and professional ethics. Please use good judgment in choosing your midwife, as you would with any healthcare provider. If it is important to you that your midwife conform to local standards of midwifery practice, ask prospective midwives about their participation in a local peer review process, including how many meetings they've attended in the past year.

More information about How to Find Midwives

CPM - Certified Professional Midwife	CLE Certified Lactation Educator
LM – Licensed Midwife	CHT Certified Hypnotherapist
CNM – Certified Nurse Midwife

Listing by Services

Many local midwives offer services beyond the local standard for homebirth midwifery care. Their midwifery skills enhance the quality of these other services.

Waterbirth
Ronnie Falcao, LM, MS, CHT, Mountain View

Medi-Cal Providers
Kathryn Newburn, CNM, Burlingame, 650-347-6943, accepts Medi-Cal. However, she is working at the birth center in Santa Rosa as of Aug., 2013.

Well-Woman GYN Care – Pap Smears – Family Planning
Ronnie Falcao, LM, MS, CHT, Mountain View

Birth Preparation Classes
Faith Gibson, LM, CPM, Palo Alto

Monitrice / Labor Support – Doula Services – Labor Midwifery Services
Ronnie Falcao, LM, MS, CHT, Mountain View
Rosanna M. Davis, LM, CPM
Faith Gibson, LM, CPM, Palo Alto
Sharon Craig Economides LM, CPM, MMid, IBCLC

Waterbirth Tub Rentals
Ronnie Falcao, LM, MS, CHT, Mountain View

In Memoriam

Donna L Driscoll, LM, CPM, passed away on Nov. 29, 2008.
We miss you, Donna!

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