“In all cultures, the midwife’s place is on the threshold of life, where intense human emotions, fear, hope, longing, triumph, and incredible physical power-enable a new human being to emerge. Her vocation is unique.” – Sheila Kitzinger
The Midwives
Jenn DeWaard, LM,CPM
Jenn (She/Her) started as a CBE and doula in 2007 and in 2015 began her path towards midwifery. She was apprentice trained under West Michigan Midwifery and completed the PEP process and passed her NARM exam in 2019. She went on to complete her Bridge Certificate and received her state license in 2019. She continued to work with the practice that trained her until 2022 when she branched off to establish Bloom Midwifery. In 2023 She became the new Owner of Nine Short Months and began her move from West Michigan to Southfield.
Jenn lives with her four children, a naughty kitty and a Doodle who is a very good boy. Together, they love hiking and camping and sitting on a warm beach She enjoys listening to them play piano and guitar, and watching them in their sports and creative outlets.
In her free time she enjoys spending time with the people she loves, exploring new cities, new foods, camping, knitting, sitting next to the waves, doing yard work, dancing and singing off key and her guilty pleasure: watching babies laughing and puppies tripping on TikTok.
Kelsey Dean,
LM, CPM
Kelsey (She/Her), is A Metro Detroit native and Grand Valley State University graduate, Kelsey developed her interest in midwifery during a Spanish hospital internship in 2014. Before becoming a midwife, Kelsey assisted families as a birth and postpartum doula in Ann Arbor, Metro Detroit, Grand Rapids, and the Bay Area, CA. Kelsey is passionate about providing families with support and information to allow them to make the best choices for the specific needs of their family. Kelsey completed her midwifery education at National Midwifery Institute where she worked with a busy home birth practice in Grand Rapids as well as a rural practice in Northern Michigan. This balance between rural and urban care informed her midwifery philosophy to include respect for both evidence-based standards of care as well as ancestral traditions around pregnancy and birth. When she is away from the birth center, Kelsey enjoys practicing yoga, learning about herbalism, hiking with her doodle, and taking a night off call to go dancing.