Sarah Lyons - Michigan midwife serving Livingston Shiawassee and Ingham Counties
Sarah Lyons from Michigan Midwifery
As a birth photographer and doula in the Ann Arbor, Michigan area, I have the privilege to attend births in homes, hospitals and at birth centers. There are so many incredible midwives in Michigan doing amazing work, catching lots of babies and supporting this out of hospital community. I wanted you to get to know them!
Do you serve this community as a homebirth midwife or hospital midwife? If hospital, which one and why do you love it?
I am an out of hospital midwife (LM CPM)
What location do you serve?
Central Michigan including Livingston and Ingham counties.
What is your mission, vision and value for your business?
Making autonomous community based healthcare accessible and safe. I believe strongly in trauma informed, culturally comprehensive care in which the provider and patient work together to plan the best route of care.
How long have you been a midwife? What is your background?
I entered the birth world in 2013 as a doula while studying medical anthropology. The two melded and I began my didactic work for midwifery in 2016. I began my first apprenticeship in a homebirth midwifery practice in 2017 and carried on to study in five additional practices all over Michigan before passing the NARM exam in 2021. I am so excited to have opened my practice in March 2022 as an LM CPM.
Favorite part about being a midwife?
I really enjoy building community. When I provide healthcare to families I am welcomed into their homes and lives in such an intimate way. I am often sent home with little gifts for my children, baked goods, produce, ect. That building of relationships and trust is what helps makes out of hospital midwifery safe, but in itself creates networking and friendships. I know every kind of trades person, farmer, specialists of all kinds and some of my closest friends are past patients. There are churches I know half the congregation of by name, yet have never attended.
What is it like being a midwife in Michigan?
I really enjoy the mix of urban, suburban and rural areas that Michigan has to offer. I find being close enough to serve all three on the same day fulfilling. I also have the privilege delivering babies during (and driving through) hot summer storms and white out winter storms. I really enjoy the place that midwifery is in in Michigan, we finally have licensure and most midwives are working together to make this field as sustainable as possible.
What other services do you provide?
Well person care; annual labs, IUD removal, STD screenings, PAP smears.
Menstruation/menarche/puberty education.
Preconception counseling.
IUI and fertility consultations.
Sneak Peek DNA testing.
Prenatal/parallel care (ordering labs, palpating the baby and noting position, ordering ultrasound, 45 minute prenatal visits, creating a birth plan, ect).
Homebirth (prenatal care, in home support by a team of three during labor, we carry resuscitation equipment/oxygen/ antihemorrhagic Meds and IV fluids/IV antibiotics, suturing, postpartum care).
Care and delivery of twins and breech babies.
Postpartum and well newborn care (home visits at 24hrs postpartum, three days, one week, two weeks, and office visits at four weeks and six weeks).
Sarah Lyons
Making autonomous community based healthcare accessible and safe. I believe strongly in trauma informed, culturally comprehensive care in which the provider and patient work together to plan the best route of care.