Connection is at the heart of VCM.
We learned birth by witnessing it. By grasping straining hands and wiping sweaty brows. By celebrating first cries and labor songs with those who sing them. By holding tiny bottoms and meeting brand new eyes. Each labor is a ritual all its own.
We mingle wisdom and knowledge, spirit and truth into this journey to serve your family with the best care our midwives can provide. To watch and truly see. To honor and cherish the gritty mystery of birth and honor it as sacred. To hold. Not only the birth of the baby but the birth of the family.
With Master of Science degrees in Midwifery, VCM weaves modern, evidence based knowledge with the traditional roots of this ancient profession. With up-to-date and evidence based information, we hold true that it is mothers/pregnant people and babies who teach us the true focus and breadth of pregnancy, labor, and birth.
We are Midwives: With woman.
Emilie, Naomi & Serenity: Vancouver Community Midwives
Meet the Midwives & Team
These are the things I hold dear:
- Collaboration, Community, Independence and Autonomy
- Courage to be vulnerable, willingness to learn
- Birth, the smell of amniotic fluid in the morning, strong birth songs, midnight magic
- Plant medicine, botanical gardens, forest magic
- Reproductive justice
Naomi O'Callaghan
MSM, LM, CPM (she/her)
Licensed Midwife, Clinical Herbalist
My story began a long time ago in the Deep South. Growing up there, I learned the meaning of family, community, duty, the importance of sweet tea and how to live with the land and not just on it. My journey to midwifery began with the home birth of my third baby. That experience with midwifery care was so profound that it inspired me to serve families in the same loving capacity that I was served, as were the millions of other women since the dawn of time.
I received an undergraduate degree in Liberal Arts from Clark College in Las Vegas, NV and Masters of Science in Midwifery from Bastyr University in Kenmore, WA. There, I also earned a certificate in Botanical Medicine for Midwifery Care through a specialized track through the Department of Midwifery. I am a Licensed Midwife (LM) in Washington and a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM). I also serve as Adjunct Faculty at Bastyr University and teach the Botanical Medicine for Midwifery track.
Immediately following graduation, Serenity and I created Vancouver Community Midwives and have been serving our community since 2018.
I am a homebody at heart and when not midwifing, I enjoy home remodeling projects with my husband of 27 years, watching our 3 kiddos grow, tending to my garden, creating plant medicine and giving belly-rubs to my Golden Doodles.
Serenity Quiggle
MSM, LM (she/they)
Licensed Midwife, Clinical Herbalist
I started my path toward midwifery after having two home water births with a Midwife. I moved from the Las Vegas desert to Vancouver, WA in 2013 where I’ve deeply taken root. After earning my Master of Science in Midwifery from Bastyr University in 2020, I became a Licensed Midwife in Washington.
VCM has always been my planned home as a Midwife, where I partner with my dear friends Mila and Naomi. There is such joy, passion, heartache and love in this work, and our friendship just enhances this epic experience.
I have a beautifully blended family; A supportive partner and five kiddos in my world, ranging from ages 5 to 27. I have a toddler granddaughter whose giggles make me melt. Our home is complete with a snuggly dog, two cats who think they own the place, and a ball python who likes to just chill in her little tree.
My favorite sound is the music of a fetal heartbeat, and greeting new humans into this world is pretty amazing! Outside of midwifery, I enjoy spending time with my loved ones, getting artsy-crafty, gaming and enjoying a good podcast.
These are the things I hold dear:
- The musical rhythm of a baby's heartbeat
- Equality for LGBTQIA & BIPOC families
- Being present during a new human's first breath
- Encouraging accessibility of botanical medicine
- Continual education and self-growth
These are the things I hold dear:
- The unique labor song of each new parent
- Reproductive and racial justice and community support
- The beauty of earth's gifts through plant medicine
- Continuous nerdy learning
- That sacred space of still nights and brand new life
Emilie Jenkins
MSM, LM (she/her)
Licensed Midwife
After pursuing some alternate paths, I finally latched on to my high school dream of becoming a midwife after the births of my own two children who were born under the caring watch of midwives. Drawn to the aspects of relationship building, trust, healthcare reform, and reproductive justice, as well as empowering families to find their voices in their birth stories, I applied to Bastyr University where I graduated with a Master's in Midwifery and a passion for community support in the childbearing years. As a Licensed Midwife, I have the privilege and joy of joining with Washington families through pregnancy, childbirth, and early parenting.
A lover of big green gardens and all things plant medicine, I elected to pursue the Botanical Medicine track at Bastyr and loved it so much, I now teach it to upcoming midwives in the program.
VCM has always been my home, it just took me a little while to get here. I'm so excited to join with VCM and see what magic we can make together.
When I'm not midwifing I'm hanging with my two little home-birth babies who are now great big kids, and my husband of 14 years, playing with our two cats, our sleepy dog, and tending to bees and chickens, or snuggled up with a good book and a strong cup of coffee. You might also find me sewing period accurate fourteenth century French cotehardies, but that's another story.