WOMEN’S HEALTH
Cynda Kelley, who became a licensed midwife in 2015, was present at many home births of friends and family before deciding it was her life’s calling.
60
Treasure Coast Medical Report
BIRTH OF A MIDWIFE
Path to life-changing career has
been slow and steady
BY RACHEL CUCCURULLO
When Cynda Kelley was growing up, she clearly
remembers taking part in the delivery of baby
animals on the her family’s 36-acre farm in Cordova,
Maryland.
“I was born and raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland,”
she said. “It’s a huge agricultural state and a lot of people
don’t know that.”
Kelley’s mother had just an eighth-grade education, but
managed to become a physician’s assistant. Both parents
worked hard to care for a son and four daughters, Kelley being
the youngest.
Following graduation, she married her high school sweetheart
and headed south to Tennessee, where she and her
husband spent 15 years raising two sons and two daughters.
“At that time, we lived near Summertown, Tennessee,
ANTHONY INSWASTY
which was where The Farm was located,” Kelley said. “I
didn’t know anything about it back then, but The Farm has a
midwifery center started by Ina May Gaskin.”
Gaskin is well-known among midwives as one of the catalysts
who helped revive midwifery practices in the United
States. And The Farm is a community of families and friends
founded in 1971 on the principles of nonviolence and respect
for the Earth.
“I had a friend ask me to be with her and two midwives
from The Farm during her home birth and I thought, ‘Are
you crazy, you’re going to have your baby at home?’ “ Kelley
recalled. “I was so freaked out. I didn’t know anything about
home birth back then.
“I thought, wow, this person wants me to be by their side
during this time,” Kelley said. “I was so honored to be asked.” >>