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Chair
Crystal Ogle LM, CPM
My name is Crystal Ogle and I am honored to have been your Chair, serving as such since 2017. I have been a WARM professional member since 2014 and have a unique home birth practice on Whidbey Island. I love teaching, learning from, and supporting student midwives. For years I worked as faculty and staff at the Midwives College of Utah. A midwife of color myself, I support social justice and am a health disparity activist. I share my life with my husband, 2 kids still at home, one who has recently welcomed a baby (our first grandbaby), 2 dogs and 2 goats (soon to be more). We love to hike and explore our region, including it’s many beaches. My family loves to travel, especially taking road trips, we love board games and we value family tradition, hosting festive family gatherings frequently.
President
Carol Gautschi LM, CPM
Carol Gautschi CPM LM has served as a Classical Homebirth Midwife since 1978. She’s an international speaker and gentle birth advocate, currently serving as chair of Birth Matters (a homebirth awareness and advocacy collective) and president and founding member of W.A.R.M. (Washington Alliance for Responsible Midwifery). She teaches and practices Classical Midwifery, a philosophy which incorporates empirical, traditional ways of preparing women for birth. She acknowledges and respects the spirit, soul and body of mamababies during the profound process of pregnancy and birth. Holism at its best! Other passions she promotes and advocates is preserving the significance of the microbiome and the goals for the autonomy of Midwifery and Organic Homebirth.
Her website is: http://gentlebirths.net
Carol is the mother of seven blessings and grand to twelve, She has been married to Paul Gautschi of backtoedenfilm.com fame, since 1974. She lives and works as a midwife and mentor on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula, Washington State.
Secretary
Sarah Simmons LM, CPM
Sarah Simmons LM is a 2012 graduate of the Midwives College of Utah. I live and have a busy solo practice in rural Okanogan county after several years of practice in the Tacoma area.
I am approaching my 25th wedding anniversary and am the mother of 6 children ranging in age from 11-27. I recently had the privilege of catching my second grand baby (I also caught the first). In my free time I enjoy visiting with family and reading for knowledge and research as well as pleasure. I also enjoy many traditional arts such as gardening, canning and sewing. This year I have returned to fully homeschooling with my 2 youngest. I am passionate about informed consent and preserving scope and autonomy in midwifery practice. I look forward to serving the midwives in Washington state.
Treasurer
Janelle Weishaar LM, CPM
Janelle is happily married, homeschool mom of four boys with a heart and passion for providing optimal pregnancy experiences for families. Currently she both resides and serves Yakima Valley as a Washington Licensed Midwife, where she owns her midwifery business LIttle Blessings Birth Servies. Advocating for midwifery has always been near to Janelle. While in midwifery school she served on the board as a student board member and as a partial term as treasurer. In order to better prepare for graduation from Midwifery College of Utah, finish her final steps for Washington licensing, and build her new practice Janelle took a break from serving on the WARM board. For the past two years, Janelle has once again had the privilege of serving as treasurer for WARM and is honored to be considered to serve again.
Board Member
Marie Wakefield ND, LM
Midwifery has truly been a calling in my life. I feel blessed to love what I do for “work”, although it is really about serving families during a very special time in their lives. I attended Bastyr University and graduated with degrees in Naturopathic Medicine and Midwifery. My practice began in 2007, after I had taken some time off after graduation to have my children (both were born at home in my bath tub). Since I had two young kids at home, I chose to focus on midwifery. I have wonderful family support and now a business partner and am so happy to be on this journey. My practice is Natural Beginnings Midwifery Care and we serve clients in Pierce county and surrounding areas.
Board Member
Katlyn Carter LM, CPM
A little bit about myself…. I live in Poulsbo, WA with my husband and our four boys on a small hobby farm. I graduated from Midwives College of Utah last fall and became licensed here in Washington around the same time. I am currently working with a small number of clients at Tranquil Healing Center in Belfair. I am passionate about advocating for women’s rights choices and furthering the midwifery profession in this state. I would love to continue to be a part of WARM and offer my time and perspective as a recently graduated midwife. I love WARM’s philosophy and openness and wish to share it with other new midwives!
Board Member
Elaine Arnold LM, CPM
My name is Elaine Arnold and I am honored to serve on the WARM board alongside some wonderful women and midwives. . I am looking forward to continuing to serve on the WARM board as we support midwives in our state. I graduated from MCU in 2016 and my practice, Aviv Midwifery Care, is based in Enumclaw, Washington. I am married to my high school prom date and we have 5 children and 15 grandchildren. I homeschooled for 23 years and attended births as a doula for many years before returning to school myself to become a midwife. I especially love serving the women of our community, but also enjoy meeting midwives in other countries as we learn from one another. Outside of birthwork, I enjoy hiking, camping, kayaking, cooking, and tending my garden and chickens.
Board Member
Shannon Mitchell LM, CPM
Shannon Mitchell, current WARM Board member. Shannon Mitchell, CPM, LM is a married mother of four and a grandmother of five. She has worked in birth fields and advocacy for over 23 years, focusing on the right to autonomy in pregnancy and birth, VBAC, and informed decision making. This led her to midwifery in the state of Washington in 2016, and her current role as a WARM Board member.
Board Member
Skaidre Brown LM, CPM
I live in the beautiful Skagit Valley in Mount Vernon, Washington on 4 1/2 acres with my husband and 3 children. My parents also live with us in a daylight basement apartment in our house. We have chickens, apple trees, cherry trees, raspberries, and blueberry bushes. Since being in school I haven’t had much time for the acreage. Now that I am done with school I dream of being a bit of a homesteader and hope to expand with a midwife/medicinal herb garden and goats! Since having my second child, I have been passionate about natural childbirth. I became a Bradley Method childbirth educator and birth doula in 2002. I’ve taught childbirth classes and attended births as a doula for 7 years when I decided to go to Midwives College of Utah to become a direct entry midwife. I was homeschooling my 3 children at the time and the rigors of school were too much for me, so I took a break. I took a break from childbirth altogether for about 2 years. I then began teaching my own childbirth class and attending births as a midwife assistant. As my children grew and became more independent I realized that I still had the passion and dream to become a midwife. In August of 2016 I started to pursue that dream once again. With the support of my husband and my children I began taking classes again and have since finished school and became licensed in WA in September 2020 and opened my practice, providing all services in the client’s home, in October 2020. It has been no small feat to accomplish all of this. In my last small stretch of school the world was hit with the SARS-CoV-19 virus pandemic. This pandemic not only affected my schooling, but also that of my children. It also has changed the shape of healthcare and homebirth. In some areas, more people have been afraid to go to the hospital where sick people go and homebirth boomed. For community birth providers, the Department of Health in each state has made new requirements for PPE and protocols to stop the spread. I believe the stress has impacted maternal and fetal outcomes, but we won’t have definitive answers to that for years to come. Despite all of the challenges caused by the pandemic, I am done with school and was able to get my license and open my practice. I hope to serve my community by giving the safe alternative of homebirth to as many people as possible!
Board Member
Nancy Spencer, LM
Nancy Spencer, LM began practicing in 1970 and became a licensed midwife in 1983. A year later, Lakeside Birth Center on Lake Tapps, WA began recieving clients. Nancy says she’s loved every minute of midwifery … but for the paperwork! 😉 Nancy hopes to continue serving families as long as God allows.