Meet Jessica Willison, LM, CPM, Staff Midwife, Clinical Director
As the oldest of eight children, part of growing up was taking care of my siblings. I am 17 years older than the youngest, so I was often in charge of watching my brothers and sisters.
The thought of becoming a midwife, however, didn’t occur to me until I was expecting my first baby. When I was five months pregnant, I got to witness my first birth when my best friend had her baby in Philadelphia. That was significant to me — it was a long labor, and there was a cervical lip that had to be reduced. The midwife needed someone to hold a flashlight, so I did that. It was the coolest thing I had ever been a part of. After the baby was born, I remember thinking, “I could be part of this world.”
A few months later, I had a lovely birth at a birth center when my daughter was born. My husband, my mom, and that same friend were there, and it was a really empowering experience. I started to see that motherhood and midwifery are very much woven together in my life.
Becoming a Peaceful, Calm Midwife
Our family eventually moved to Chattanooga, and after my second baby was born, I began an eye-opening apprenticeship with a local midwife. It was a great opportunity to see if I was cut out for birth work. I apprenticed for a year, doing prenatal appointments and assisting with home births and postpartum visits.
Doula support to a mother in labor
I also worked as a doula, which provided me with a sensitivity to the emotional, maternal perspective that’s become part of my midwifery care. Later, I trained at The Farm with Ina May Gaskin and The Farm midwives to become a midwife’s assistant. It was one of my most enriching experiences to date — being surrounded by women who want to serve other women.
“How do we make this a conscientious care model available to all?”
Following that time, I kept looking for windows of opportunity. When my kids were in elementary school, we moved to Florida where I’m from. I attended the Florida School of Traditional Midwifery and did clinicals in Orlando. Since becoming a Florida State Licensed Midwife and Certified Professional Midwife in 2018, I have served in various birth center and home birth midwifery roles in Central Florida. It’s allowed me to gain a lot of experience and clinical knowledge — skills that help me be a peaceful, calm midwife who holds space for people.
Serving Families and Other Midwives
Over time, my calling shifted. As I listened to women, I saw the need for self-care and community care. I feel blessed to not have a traumatic birth story, and I want to pass that along. In the last three years, with my small home birth practice in Orlando, I’ve been able to help others experience that possibility, too.
Telehealth at Magnolia Birth House
Social justice has also become a big part of my work. I saw that midwifery care wasn’t an option for all people, so I began to ask, “How do we make this a conscientious care model available to all?” I believe that, with thoughtful, evidence-based, trauma-informed care, we can affect maternal-infant mortality rates, and that’s something midwives are really cut out to do.
While teaching at the Florida School of Traditional Midwifery, I met Tamara, and we worked together on a history of midwifery course. In the fall of 2020, I began providing virtual care and occasional on call support for Magnolia. I love that they are providing care to families with birth justice and social justice in mind, which is so important to me.
I see Magnolia clients every Thursday for telehealth visits from home. During the first appointment, I teach them how to use the items in the telehealth kit, which includes urine dipsticks, a blood pressure cuff, a Doppler, and a measuring tape. For other visits, they use those tools before we meet, and we go over the results together. I ask very specific questions to make sure everything is going well with them. I also go over labs and ultrasounds, answer any questions they have, and note things in their chart that need follow-up. It’s a pretty complete experience in terms of checking in on them and how they’re doing.
Labor and birth room at Magnolia Birth House.
Now, I’m also serving as staff midwife and clinical director at Magnolia. In this new role, I am not only seeing clients and attending births but I’m working to support all our staff midwives through skills drills, chart review, and other administrative oversight. When I became a midwife, I realized it’s a really hard job that’s emotionally and physically draining. I feel a calling to support other midwives, so I’m on a search for sustainability. I’m happy to serve our clients and make midwifery care accessible for a diverse population, but I also love helping our staff with their work-life balance. It’s really important to me to help our birth center succeed. I love Michelle & Tamara’s vision, and I want to support that.
At Magnolia, we want to help you achieve your out-of-hospital birth while keeping you and your baby safe. To learn more about prenatal care and birth services at Magnolia, fill out our form to set up a free consultation!
