Midwives are the Next Generation of Excellence in Maternity Care
ARIANA COHEN, LM, CPM CA Licensed Midwife #445 Certified Professional Midwife
Owner & Lead Midwife of Next Generation Midwifery
Education & Experience
I discovered my passion for midwifery when I attended my very first birth in 2009. I knew right then that I was meant to be a midwife and spent the next 3 years preparing for formal midwifery education and training. I became a Doula, Childbirth Educator and Prenatal Massage Therapist while completing my degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences. After graduation I enrolled in the National Midwifery Institute and was granted an apprenticeship with Sweet Arrivals Midwifery in my hometown of Nevada City, California.
After eighteen months of home birth experience, I moved to El Paso, Texas and completed my clinical training in a busy, high-volume birth center. Additionally, I stayed in Texas another year to train with Lynn Arnold, a world-renowned Licensed Midwife who specializes in advanced skills such as vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), twins, breech birth and other special circumstances. During that time I assisted at extraordinary births and learned critical skills for clinical practice, midwifery education, and business management. I also assisted teaching classes on suturing, fetal monitoring, charting, and more. In 2015, I graduated from the National Midwifery Institute, passed the North American Registry of Midwives examination and was granted my Midwifery License by the Medical Board of California. Since then I’ve been serving families in Nevada County, Placer County and Sacramento County as well as many surrounding areas.
In February of 2022, I finally welcomed my own sweet daughter into the world in my own home and in my own bed with the loving support of two Licensed Midwives. Now that I’ve experienced midwifery care and home birth personally, I have a whole new appreciation for the work that we midwives do and the service that we provide. This is personal, individualized care at its absolute best. Having a midwife feels like a luxury, but its one that all women should have access to. With over 12 years experience and more than 415. births under my belt, I am proud to offer safe, supportive and empowering midwifery care services to the greater Roseville and Sacramento area.
I believe midwifery is the future of maternity care. Our healthcare system needs more independent providers that challenge the status quo and who provide excellent, safe, and supportive care to birthing families. As such I am committed to training future midwives and often have midwifery students assist me in all aspects of prenatal, birth, and postpartum care as well as business administration. I feel it is my duty to help train the Next Generation of skilled and competent Licensed Midwives. To date, I have helped 3 women complete their midwifery training and gain their licenses, and I am currently working with a fourth! Read all about Next Generation Midwifery’s current student, Kari Beddow, below.
Midwifery is an art, a science and a passion all rolled into one. I’m completely committed to supporting birthing parents and growing families through the entire childbearing cycle and beyond.
Ariana Cohen, LM, CPM
California Midwifery License #445
Kari Beddow, Senior Student Midwife
Kari Beddow is a student midwife and doula who supports families through their birth and postpartum periods with doula services, including house cleaning and organization, and baby and home preparation.
Nannying for families during high school and college provided Kari with an education in infant and child development. She graduated from California State University Monterey Bay in 2013 with a BA in Communications and a concentration in Practical and Professional Ethics and Psychology. Kari loved studying the inner workings of relationships and communication and always had a fire inside for justice.
After graduation and marriage, Kari’s first 2 littles arrived 14 months apart and the experience was transformational. She became obsessed with all things pregnancy and birth and wanted more. Beginning work as a doula in 2019 (supporting birthing families in the Sacramento and Solano Country areas) ignited a fire in her to help women achieve the births they want and deserve. She chose home birth under the care of a midwife for her 4th child and realized that midwifery was something that could combine her fire for justice and her passion for supporting birthing families.
She enrolled in 2022 with the National College of Midwifery and is now under the preceptorship of Ariana with Next Generation Midwifery, serving families in Sacramento and surrounding areas.
“I truly believe that this is what I am called to do and that all my experiences and education have led me here. I am beyond excited to serve birthing families and be a part of their precious journey of bringing their babies into the world!”
Grey Lovely, Student Midwife
Grey Lovely enjoyed her childhood in sunny San Diego during the 90s. She wanted to be an obstetrician when she grew up, but her proximity to Mexico developed a passion for the Spanish language. She attended UC Davis and earned a bachelors in Spanish and a minor in Social and Ethnic Relations. While in college, she met her husband and settled into the Sacramento area.
Grey would rediscover her childhood love for childbirth when she had her first born. It was a traumatic hospital birth in which she felt dismissed and unheard. Her postpartum research launched her into the wonderful world of homebirth and midwifery. She later had two beautiful homebirths of her own, and knew she wanted to become a midwife who could provide quality, personal care; who would make mothers feel seen, valued, and involved on their own precious experience. She has worked as a doula in the Sacramento region for the past five years and is ecstatic to be entering this next chapter towards midwifery. She feels immensely blessed to be a part of, what she considers to be, a most honored and revered craft.
Victoria Litvinchuk, Administrative Assistant/Birth Assistant
Victoria was always fascinated by pregnancy and birth from a young age. Throughout her highschool and early college years she had a desire and was eager to learn more so she began volunteering on the labor and delivery unit in several different hospitals. She then met and married her college sweetheart and later had three beautiful children together. She graduated from California State University- Sacramento in 2019 with a degree in Health Science.
Victoria is very passionate about all things related to pregnancy, labor, birth and babies. She started serving families as a doula to help them achieve the best possible experience and birth of their dreams. It wasn’t until her third baby, which she had at home, that fueled her passion and desire for midwifery care even further. She has completed a midwifery assistant course and is also working as an administrative/ birth assistant for Next Generation Midwifery!
Safe, quality care from conception through birth and beyond.
OUR VALUES & OUR MISSION:
Individualized Care
Being a Midwife is my purpose and my mission in this life. I believe that ALL birthing parents deserve individualized care, tailored to their specific needs and goals. In my practice we have a full hour for each prenatal visit, as opposed to the standard 15 minutes you would get at an OB’s office. During that hour we do all the standard checks that you would get with an OB; I check your blood pressure, urine, the growth of your uterus and baby, and the baby’s position and heart rate. In addition to those standard checks, we also discuss nutrition, hydration, stress management and your goals. We spend time getting to know each other and developing a relationship of trust and understanding. This process takes time and care, and its my pleasure to be able to take that time with each client. A combination of physical & mental preparation that we do throughout your care based on the foundation of trust that we build together allows your body to relax into the process of labor in order to work most effectively.
Evidence Based Approach
This is not just touchy-feely, new age nonsense. Midwifery care is safe and legitimate healthcare, provided by licensed professionals, and supported by very strong evidence. For example, numerous studies have shown that healthy, low risk women, women over 35 and women who have higher BMIs have far fewer interventions, cesareans, injuries and illnesses related to their births, when they hire Licensed Midwives and plan out-of-hospital births. Their babies also have better outcomes and for the same reasons. Please see the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) statistics project for more information at mana.org, and Evidence Based Birth at https://evidencebasedbirth.com.
Informed Consent
What is informed consent? To me, as a Midwife, informed consent means listening to the patient/client first, their concerns and fears, desires and birth plans and looking at the whole picture of their care. Then, we discuss upcoming test or procedure options where I offer information rather than simply tell you what to do. So rather than just being handed a consent form to sign, or being given a lab slip and being told to go to the lab for a blood draw, we will review each and every test and option for you and your baby well ahead of time.
For example, the Glucose Tolerance Test (gestational diabetes screening) is typically done around 26-28 wks of pregnancy, so in my practice we talk about this upcoming test at least one visit ahead of time. You’re educated on the test, what risk factors may or may not have, any recommendations I may have, what the medical model of care offers, what the midwifery model of care offers as alternatives, and resources for you to do your own research. You’ll have about 4 weeks to do your own research and decide what’s right for you and your family.
Book a Free Consultation
We’ll discuss my services in detail and address any questions you may have.