Nurse Midwives

Below are a few of our midwives. For more information on our midwives, please visit www.ProvidenceNurseMidwives.com.

 

Mary Gadbaw Davis, CNM

As a young girl, I dreamed of becoming a midwife and began attending births at age 18. I experienced both the era of spinal and forceps assisted deliveries and the homebirth movement. As a young women I was enlightened and inspired by women who gave birth naturally and the midwives who assisted them.

I began my nursing career at Providence Hospital as a nursing student from 1970-1973. I completed my BSN at the University of Michigan and the Women's Health Nurse Practitioner Program in Milwaukee, WI. Several years later, I attended the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing (CNEP) where I completed my midwifery education and Master's Degree in nursing at Case Western Reserve.

I love being back in my childhood home of south east Michigan. I lived for 12 years in the Lansing area where my children were born and Leelanau County/Traverse City for 15 years. Recently my husband and I had an 18 month mid-life adventure in Key West, Florida.

My heroines are Ina May Gaskin, Suzanne Arms, Kitty Ernst, and many others who have worked for decades to make midwifery care available to all who desire it. As a midwife, my role is educator, facilitator, supporter, negotiator, and witness. I believe the heart of a midwife is in her ability to create trusting relationships and to keep birth safe by providing information, listening closely, and encouraging women to have confidence in themselves.

I have many interests and a variety of work experiences including designing programs for adolescent girls, out-of-hospital birth experience and culinary school. I am excited to be a part of the team at Metro Partners in Women's Health. When I'm not in the office or attending births I enjoy spending time with my husband, Steve, my dog Chloe, and dreaming up ways to get together with my 4 children, 4 step children, and 5 beautiful grandchildren.

 

Sarah Sutton, CNM

I knew from a young age that I wanted to work with "mom's and babies" in some capacity. It was in a Women's Health course as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan that I was introduced to and much inspired by midwifery. The midwifery model, which views pregnancy and birth as normal, healthy processes, values the relationship between midwife and client, and advocates choice as a hallmark of care, fit perfectly with the type of care I had always envisioned providing. Along my path to becoming a midwife I worked as a post-partum doula and interned with midwives attending out of hospital births in both the US and Guatemala. I earned my Master's in Nursing at Yale University where I received my degree in Midwifery. Before moving back to my home state of Michigan I attended births in a birth center and hospital practice in Connecticut.

As a midwife, I believe that pregnancy, birth and the post-partum period are normal, natural, significant events in the lives of women and their family. I feel that my role is to be a resource for support, education, advocacy and quality care. Women have the right and responsibility to choose what type of care is best for them so I hope to achieve trusting, open, relationships with my clients to best offer what they need or desire.

I enjoy spending time with the loves of my life: my wonderful son, Adam, and my incredible husband Robin. We live with our rambunctious puppy, Zeke, and our two cats, Sadie and Julia. In addition to women's healthcare, some of my interests include cooking, yoga, dance, reading, alternative medicine and international health.