Birth Roots
About Us
Sarah and Darynée met in 2005 through the San Diego Midwifery Student Alliance which is a study and support group for aspiring midwives. After several years of sharing time in the student group and at midwifery meetings, we developed a close friendship. In 2008 we began our professional relationship as Birth Roots. We enjoy working together with women during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, as we feel that our styles and personalities complement each other. We are nationally certified as Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) and we are California Licensed Midwives (LMs). We also have additional experience and education in lactation and are International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC).
Darynée Blount was born and raised in San Diego and has many family members residing in the city. She has three children of her own, the last of which was born in the water with midwives. She attended Nizhoni Institute of Midwifery for her direct-entry into midwifery and apprenticed and assisted many of the community midwives for five years.
Sarah Davis was also born and raised in San Diego, and enjoys living in the same city as her large and wonderful extended family. She attended Pomona College in Claremont, CA and earned a BA in Black Studies. She was apprentice trained with a local community midwife for three years and completed the California Challenge Process documenting her education. Sarah is also a Birthing From Within mentor and yoga teacher.
Together we have a combined total of 16 years of birth experience including over 300 births. We have encountered all common complications of labor and delivery, and several uncommon complications as well. We have supported women through home, birth center and hospital births, including vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), breech, twin, and cesarean birth. We maintain certifications in Neonatal Resuscitation and adult, infant and child CPR.
The Birth Roots Women's Health and Maternity Center team also includes our amazing and caring staff. Bios coming soon for Apprentice Midwives Gaby Reza and Sophia Shen, Office Manager Rolinda Blount, Childbirth Preparation Mentor Lisa Ordóñez, and Birth Assistant Lea Adeesa-Smith.
More about Sarah
My path to becoming a midwife began in 2003 when I began attending births as a volunteer doula with the Hearts and Hands Doula Program at UCSD Medical Center. There I witnessed the power of women birthing actively, unmedicated and supported by midwives in the only in-hospital birth center in San Diego. At the time I was attending Pomona College studying Black Studies and focusing on feminism, women’s experiences of health and their bodies, and the ways that the medicalization of women’s bodies impact their self confidence and autonomy in health care decisions and in all aspects of their lives.
I began training as a midwife at a birth center in El Paso, Texas. When I returned to San Diego I began a three and a half year apprenticeship with midwife Andrea Meyer, LM, CPM. During this time I attended prenatal appointments, births and postpartum visits, gradually acquiring more knowledge, responsibility and confidence.
During my apprenticeship I also attended planned hospital births as a doula and mentored Birthing From Within childbirth preparation classes. I attended introductory and advanced Birthing From Within training workshops and continue to mentor families on the journey of childbirth preparation and postpartum.
I chose the apprenticeship path to midwifery because I support the time honored tradition of person to person hands on education. I believe that with direct-entry midwifery trainig that takes place ouside of the university setting, we can create more midwives- midwives who are more comfortable with autonomous, out-of-hospital practice- in less time.
I believe it is incredibly important that we learn out of hospital birth skills because there are many places in the world that do not have hospitals now, and there may be many more places that do not have hospitals in the future. The current super-techonological direction that health care is taking is probably not sustainable in the long term even for the wealthiest pockets of the world, and is certainly not possible to create everywhere else. So we must relearn and refine low-resource, low-tech and effective health care skills and ways of living, which of course includes out-of-hospital birth. Just think how much technology, plastic, electricity and waste is required for a cesarean birth, or a vaginal birth in the hospital, with monitors, anesthesia, and loads of disposable equipment. Out-of-hospital birth is much more eco-friendly, in addition to being more mother-friendly and baby-friendly!
Rolinda J. Blount
Hi, my name is Rolinda J. Blount.
I am the insurance biller for Birth Roots Women’s Health and Maternity Center. I have been working here since January 2010, when the Birth Center opened.
I have lived in San Diego since 1969, after my stepfather retired from the Navy. I married a Navy man in 1972-we will be married for 38 years this September. We have three children, a son and two daughters, and seven grandchildren-two boys and five girls ranging from 13 down to 8 years old.
I worked for Prudential Insurance in medical group claims for over 12 years-stopping when I received injuries from an auto accident. I loved working in the medical field and always wanted to return it. When my youngest daughter, Darynee, decided to become a midwife, I encouraged her because I told her working in the medical field would ensure constant work for her. I helped her study and babysat for her throughout the years, as she focused on completing the requirements for becoming a midwife. Our family was so excited the day she was confirmed as having passed her testing!
I enjoy working at Birth Roots because I am able to meet so many women and their families. I am able to support their needs and encourage them as they work toward achieving the birth plans they create. I love working with the staff at Birth Roots.
We are a diverse group of women who share the passion of making women feel empowered and free to express themselves about what they do or do not want for their births and their health care. We believe in creating the ability for every woman to have the opportunity to have the natural birth she desires- determined by medical circumstances- and to work with women to make the births financially feasible, too.
I delivered my children in the era where the doctor was the one who dictated how and when. I did not even know there was an option for natural childbirth-I had epidurals with all three. Now, I am educated about the positive effects women have when they are the ones who determine their laboring techniques and delivery places (at home, a birth center, or at a hospital). Women feel better and can handle their deliveries much better when they know their options and can be more natural while laboring. I especially love the fact most women can walk around, eat, and enjoy their families and friends when they opt to deliver at home or at the Birth Center. They are able to include the siblings throughout the whole pregnancy, laboring, and delivery. The families’ bonds are much closer when they experience the wonder of birth together.
I encourage women to come and meet us and decide for yourselves- which would be your preference? A home birth or a birth at our birth center? Come talk to our midwives and become informed about your options and empower yourselves! We also do well-women care, so you can get all your woman health care done by our experienced, caring staff.
Gabriela Munoz Reza
My name is Gabriela Munoz Reza, my dear mother gave me life and raised me in San Diego, California. My family and partner have supported me in the decision to follow through in the Midwife profession. It is an honor to be able to apprentice here in “Birth Roots Woman´s Health and Maternity Center” with my dear teachers, Licensed Midwives Darynee Blount and Sarah Davis.
In the summer of 2007 I came back from school to California from Arizona State University and my ceremonial community Izkalotekatl, where I learned Mexica Dance with Huehuecoyotzin. Then I started working at a high school named “MAAC Community Charter School” in Chula Vista, California. This is where I learned to coordinate “Women´s Circles” to create a safe space where they can be inspired to better their own lives, trusting the consciousness of being a woman. At the end of spring of 2008 I embarked on the Peace and Dignity Journeys starting off at Tierra del Fuego, Argentina and ending at the Panama Canal. This race is carried out every four years honoring the ancient tradition of crossing the continent by foot, bringing together the original nations of Anahuac and Tawantinsuyo (North and South America).
During this time we recognized our cultural, spiritual and medicinal roots to heal and reconnect to our mother Earth. It was when I ran with the Peace and Dignity Journeys that I became aware of the learning that had been missing out at school and University. That which I never learned at school was the ancient wisdom of midwives. When I reached the country of Ecuador with the journeys, the first thing I realized was that all communities honored the pregnant women and that the midwives in the towns and the medicine people supported all of the mothers who wanted to raise and give life to their babies in the rural mountains without using medicine from the hospitals.
When I came back from the journeys I felt my passion growing for wanting to study with the midwives as soon as possible. Then I followed my dreams and listened to my heart that it was time to live my destiny and to fulfill the responsibility of starting to learn and study on how to carry on the profession of being a midwife. I found my teachers on April of 2009 and for a year I´ve been learning, attending prenatal appointments and births with them at homes and at the birth center.
I´ve also attended births individually as a doula and I wish to share more information in my community through bilingual circles for women who want to inform themselves more on how to find support during, after and before giving their baby a new life. The wisdom of midwives is something ancestral, and I feel that it has yet to be totally recuperated since midwifery has been banned in many parts of the world. Tiahui Nanantzin ~Adelante Madres Preciosas
More about Darynée
I was born at our own local Mary Birch hospital and was raised here in San Diego. Currently I am a mother of 3, Kenneth age 14 , Mikayla age 11, and Keirra age 9.
I started out doula-ing for my closest friends and family members before I even knew it was a word in 1997. A doula is someone that accompanies women in labor to help ensure a safe and satisfying birth experience. I draw upon my knowledge and experience to provide emotional support, physical comfort and communication with health care providers to ensure women have the information needed to make informed decisions in labor. I provide reassurance and perspective to women and their partners, make suggestions for labor progress, and help with relaxation, massage, positioning and other techniques for comfort.
I really fell in love with the connections I made with families and helping women through one of the most challenging and rewarding parts of their lives. Initially my thought was to become a labor and delivery room nurse, but as I attended more hospital births, I noticed that one to one human connection just wasn’t really there. I decided to go to school and get some medical background and became a Medical Assistant in 2002. I wound up getting hired at Best Start Birth Center where I worked in front and back office. I attended a few births and assisted with postpartum discharging. I met a Licensed Midwife, Marla Hicks, LM, CPM, RN, who was beginning a Direct-Entry Midwifery program that worked there also. She asked me if I wanted to be the first student to sign up, and I gladly jumped on board in 2003.
I apprenticed, attended the midwifery school, and headed up the San Diego Midwifery Student Alliance simultaneously, going to births and fulfilling my academic portion of my training.
After about a year, Marla had to go back to work full-time and continue teaching the Midwifery school; I did a joint apprenticeship with her and another San Diego midwife, Gerri Ryan, LM, CPM, for about 6 months and went on, furthering my midwifery apprenticeship with Gerri for 3 years. During that 3 year time frame I had the privilege of working with other San Diego Midwives to help round out my training and education, and completed my prerequisites for becoming a Direct-Entry Midwife..
Assisting women and their families has been a worthy, fulfilling, and life-changing job for me. I feel birth is a sacred, natural, and empowering experience that must be left alone to work as it was intended to. I view myself as a life guard, making sure women are informed about their birth options, respecting the fact that they have the right to make healthy choices for themselves and their babies, and creating a space to support them through the process. Birth Roots helps root families and get them off to a great start!
Keeping the Midwifery torch burning strong and continuing the apprenticeship model of training new midwives is also a passion of both mine and Sarah’s. Making a difference in maternal and infant morbidity and mortality has been proven to be better with the care of a midwife. I want to make that difference and help other women that share in the same passion that I do who want to make a difference for women and their families.
Sophia Shen
I was born and raised in Hong Kong. In my late teens I immigrated to the United States and completed undergraduate studies in San Diego. After a few years of working in the corporate world, I began looking for ways to live a more balanced, wholesome life. Although I have never given birth, my mother’s birth experience and my miscarriage, along with many personal stories of other women and my own, have led me to my passion—to serve women in matters of birth and health. I view pregnancy and birth as a natural event, not a disease. I believe that every woman, within herself, holds the mystery of life, and I am only a guide to bring what is already there into the light.
In addition to being a private birth doula and a volunteer doula at the UCSD Hearts & Hands, I feel very fortunate and grateful to have the opportunity to serve at Birth Roots and work toward becoming a midwife! My inquisitive nature keeps me busy in learning and expanding my knowledge in areas such as holistic health and sustainable living. I enjoy being in the nature, and I like to read and meditate for relaxation and personal growth.
Lisa Ordóñez
I have been interested in the mystery of childbirth since childhood during which my mother would tell me that birth is not like what you see on television or in the movies. What I took from her comments was that birth is not something I needed to fear; that birth does not happen only in hospitals; and that women have been coping with childbirth since the beginning of humankind. I carried these beliefs with me through my college career, through my professional career and then through my first pregnancy in 2004. At that point in my life, I wanted these beliefs I had been carrying throughout my life to carry me through my first birthing experience! I needed a lot more than just those beliefs. The indescribable intensity of childbirth was breathtaking, literally, and I had to dig deep to find the determination, courage, love for myself and outside support to help get me through it. This changing experience catapulted me on a journey to explore more about childbirth and parenting, to learn more about myself and to integrate new perspectives into my life.
Through becoming trained as a Birthing From Within mentor and doula in 2007, I answered my call to childbirth work. Since then I have been giving BFW childbirth preparation classes, mentoring attachment parenting and natural infant hygiene groups, volunteering my doula services in home, hospital and birth center settings, raising two children with my husband, and working part-time in botany. I love giving these classes because I can bring to life practical childbearing information, timeless wisdom and the grand mystery and spirituality of childbirth. And, I love the era of childbirth we are currently living because we have so many options – not just home birth like centuries ago and not just hospital birth like the majority of births today. We can have a meaningful and transformative experience birthing at home, at a hospital, at a birth center, and perhaps, some combination of the three. Sometimes it may just be our minds that we need to open to the possibilities of our power wherever we may be birthing. I am honored to be giving these classes in English and Spanish at Birth Roots.