My passion for helping women in birth began shortly      after the birth of my first child in 1974. Her birth  transformed my life. The impact of the miracle of birth  set me on a course of fulfillment in motherhood and laid  the foundation for a future calling into midwifery.   After  our last child was born, I began apprenticing with my  midwife. Through those years I worked as a DONA  certified doula and a HOWs certified labor assistant,  while continuing to apprentice with traditional midwives,  CPMs and CNMs. I completed my midwifery training  through the Association of Texas Midwifery Training  Program in January of 2004.

I hold the CPM - Certified Professional Midwife credential, and an LM – Licensed Midwifery credential with the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice. I have helped families birth their babies in hospital, birth center and homebirth settings, and now specialize in birth center and homebirth midwifery care.

I’m actively involved in promoting the midwifery model of care in Minnesota as past president of the Minnesota Council of Certified Professional Midwives (MCCPM), and as a board member of the midwifery organization Midwifery Now! (MNow!). In addition, I support the growth of free-standing birth centers in Minnesota and am affiliated with the a New Story Birth Center in Milaca, Minnesota and I am a friend and supporter of the other free-standing birth centers in our state.

I and my awesome husband, Doug, of 40+ years, have birthed six children together, our last by c-section.  Although our six are now all adults, my four daughters and daughter-in-law have chosen midwifery care and I’ve had the incredible gift of receiving grandbabies into my own hands. (PDF) So far, my empty nest is feathered by seventeen of these joyful, spirited little ones! Before my midwifery career I home-educated our crew, and because of or in spite of that (!) my adult children have become best of friends with each other, and are also my dearest and closest friends.

When not catching babies, being with the love of my life or playing with my grandchildren, I relish long hot showers, preparing a new recipe, or escaping into a well-written novel, chick flick or action thriller.

I believe that childbirth is a normal physiological process and that God uniquely designed women for the childbearing experience.  I find joy in coming along side a woman as she reaches into the depth of herself in giving birth. I also seek to encourage her to educate herself and make wise lifestyle and health care choices.  Then I honor the decisions she makes. My goal is to help couples safely birth a healthy baby in the shelter of their own home, working together as their bond deepens, while transforming their lives through the process and engraving a life-time of precious birth memories into their hearts.

In addition to midwifery, I have an interest in teaching women to understand their fertility and how the understanding of their unique biological markers relates to their overall gynecological health.  I have completed training with Dr. Thomas W. Hilgers OBGYN of Omaha, NE, as a Creighton Model Fertility Care Practitioner and a Naprotechnology Midwifery Medical Consultant.

“Children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a great reward!”

Maureen Dahl, CPM, LM, NFPNM, FCP