About

Welcome. We're excited to meet you!

As the birth team, we work together to provide homebirth services and doula services to the families of eastern Massachusetts.

We share a common philosophy and strong desire to support the women within our community.

We were recently featured on WCVB's Chronicle with one of our amazing clients. If you'd like to watch us in action, click the video to see what we're all about!

Our Staff

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Jessica Petrone, CPM, BSN
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Jessica Petrone, Certified Professional Midwife, RN, BSN

Midwifery came into my heart when I became a mother. My own birth experience ingnited my training as a doula which fueled my desire to become a midwife. I have been attending homebirths and hospital births since 2006. My educational path includes completing a three year midwifery program remotely through the National College of Midwifery in Taos, New Mexico; where I earned a degree in the Science of Midwifery concurrent with a two year apprenticeship in the Boston area. I earned the CPM credential in 2009. Most recently, I have completed a Bachelor in Science in Nursing which included a 6 month preceptorship in a high volume/high risk maternity unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. Professionally, I am a member of the Massachusetts Midwives Alliance and I served as co-president for four years. I represent the MMA on the Postpartum Depression Task Force for the MA DPH. I hold certifications in CPR and Neonatal Resuscitation and IV administration.

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Sarafina Kennedy, CPM
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Sarafina Kennedy, Certified Professional Midwife

I have been attending births since 2005. I began my work as a doula after training with the Association of Labor Assistants and Childbirth Educators. For my formal midwifery education I attended and graduated from Birthwise Midwifery School, a MEAC accredited school in Maine. Where I currently teach Midwifery skills classes. My clinical midwifery training has included a two and a half year apprenticeship with two different midwives as well as a 2 month intensive midwifery training at a high volume birth center in El Paso Texas. I have spent time in both Indonesia and the Philippines doing low resource, high volume midwifery. I am CPR, and Neonatal Resuscitation certified. I also hold masters degree in Sociology and Gender Studies from Brandeis University, where my studies were focused on childbirth and motherhood. I am also a childbirth educator and teach a comfort measures class at Mama and Me in Jamaica Plain.

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Emily Bowler, CPM
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Emily Bowler, CPM

My first steps into the world of birth work were inspired by attending the births of my nieces and nephews, as well as teaching reproductive health and childbirth every semester as a health teacher in New York City. I trained as a doula and childbirth educator in 2011 and have been attending births in the Greater Boston Area since 2013. I loved (and continues to love!) supporting families through my work as a doula and childbirth educator, but I knew early on that I also wanted to have a clinical role with my clients. I enrolled in Birthwise Midwifery School’s 3-year MEAC accredited program and fell in love with home birth midwifery. I worked with 6 different midwives in my 3 years of apprenticeship, and I've been attending births as a primary provider since 2015. I am CPR and Neonatal Resuscitation certified and an active member of the Massachusetts Midwives Alliance. I earned my credential as a Certified Professional Midwife in 2016 and opened my own practice, Modern Mama Midwifery, before deciding to officially join Sarafina and Jessica in 2018. I look forward to continuing to provide personalized, holistic care to families across Eastern Massachusetts!

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Maria Caudle, CPM
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Maria

My relationship with birth work started in 2011 when a friend had invited me to her homebirth as her “doula”. At the time I had no idea what a doula was and tried to support her the best I could. Watching my young friend move through labor and choose how she wanted to birth sparked a love of supporting folks through the transition of parenthood. While finishing up my B.S. in Biology, I started my doula training at Birth Arts International and attending hospital births as a doula and through my Obgyn co-op. After some twists and turns, I attended Womancraft Midwifery Program as the foundation for my education and began looking for an apprenticeship to further my path to midwifery. In 2017, the stars aligned and I began my apprenticeship with Sarafina and Jessica. In addition to my work with Birth Matters, I offer full spectrum doula services, placenta encapsulation, childbirth education classes through That Darn Doula Birth Services and will be accepting homebirth clients in Fall 2019.

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Maddy Popkin, Student Midwife
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Maddy is a student at Commonsense Childbirth School of Midwifery, and comes to midwifery from community organizing. They are committed to midwifery as a practice of healing, on the individual, familial, communal, and systemic levels. They are also a bee-keeping, stilt-walking, flower-loving fellow with a propensity for play and joy in all things.
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Naomi Daborn Lanson, Midwife
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I have always had a passion for reproductive rights as well as an interest in life passages. In 2013 the birth of family members inspired me to attend a doula training, and I began learning all I could about pregnancy and birth. In 2016 I graduated from Naropa University with a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary studies. My self designed major focused on reclaiming life cycles and transitions for a healthier community. In college I was introduced to the concept of psycho-somatics and the body-mind connection, which became a solid foundation for further studies in holistic health and midwifery. After college I decided I wanted a practical skill to offer to the world, and I chose to pursue education in midwifery. In 2018 I graduated from the midwifery program at Maternidad La Luz, a high volume birth center and MEAC accredited school on the border of Mexico. In 2022 after many years of study and travel, I decided to return home to Massachusetts, where I am happy to join the Birth Matters community. In addition to my work with Birth Matters I offer doula services as well as placenta encapsulation and facilitate a Red Tent women's circle on the North Shore.
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Marika Michelangelo, Office Manager
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Both Marika and her brother were born at home assisted with midwives. She always knew that if she were to have babies, they to would be born at home. She is now a mother to three BirthMatters water babies! After having her second daughter, she chose to leave her postition as a Community Wellness Manager at a Community Health Center in Dorchester so she could have more time with her children. When Jessica and Sarafina posted the position of Office Manager she knew it would be the perfect position for her. Marika has a deep respect for the knowledge, compassion, confidence and truthfulness that the BirthMatters Midwifery team has. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about my birth experiences, or if you have a question about insurance, payments or any adminstrative concern.
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Sarah Berkman, Student Midwife
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I have long been fascinated by all that the body is capable of, particularly reproduction. I began my journey in birth work after my daughter was born in 2012. Through my own experience, I was struck by the need for client advocacy in a system that struggles for power. I have a deep respect for transitional periods in life (most notably, pregancy) and have found that giving evidence-based information to families and empowering them to choose what is best for them results in better outcomes. I am passionate about inclusive, trauma-informed care, and supporting families during their transition into parenthood. While serving as a full-spectrum doula for 7 years I studied clinical herbalism at The California School of Herbal Medicine in Forestville, CA. I focused my studies and later herbal practice on reproductive health and incorporated that knowledge into my doula practice. In 2016 I opened an herb shop in my hometown of Newport, RI where I served herbal teas, offered low-cost herbal consultations, hosted community events, and taught many classes on herbalism and reproductive well-being. In 2019 I finally said yes to the path of becoming an out-of-hospital midwife and began my education at Birthwise Midwifery School. I am currently finishing my education at The National College of Midwifery and feel honored to be a student with the Birth Matters midwives! When I’m not studying midwifery, you can find me knitting, weaving brooms, carving spoons, and making yummy herbal blends for friends and family.