Certified Nurse-Midwives
Midwifery care is about creating an environment where women play an active role in their health, pregnancy and childbirth decisions. Nurse-midwifery combines the strengths of midwifery – guiding women in the healthy, natural processes of their health in their day to to day, pregnancy and childbirth – with current evidence and modern medical resources where appropriate.
Nurse Midwives in the United States are health care providers who offer services to women of all ages and stages of life. With their advanced education and their focus on research and partnering with women, they are among the most modern, forward-thinking health providers in the United States today.
Sarah Bay, APRN and Certified Nurse-Midwife
Founder and Owner of Hearts & Hands Women's Care
History: I’ve wanted to be a midwife for as long as I can remember. It’s not a stretch to say my journey into midwifery began with my own birth, as the stories I heard from my mother about her care was empowering and memorable. I was born at home in the Netherlands, where the majority of births are with midwives and many still take place at home.
I founded Hearts & Hands Women's Care as a solo midwife shortly after the arrival of my own daughter, delivered in the care of a midwife at home in Peterborough in 2010.
For the first 10 years of practice, I provided full scope midwifery care including prenatal, birth (nearly 400 babies over those years) and postpartum care as well as well women's annual exams, contraception, STD testing and mental health counseling for menstrual cycle related anxiety and postpartum depression/anxiety. I also ran a mom's group for many of those years, supporting women informally as they transition into mothering.
In 2020, I joined the nurse midwifery team at St Joe's Hospital in Nashua to provide full scope care, and in that process I closed the prenatal and birth aspect of my practice, but continue to provide care to women in the Peterborough area for SneakPeek gender testing and women's health care related to holistic mind and body care.
Education and Training: My roots in New Hampshire run deep. I attended Pine Hill Waldorf School and graduated from ConVal High School before attending the University of New Hampshire, where I earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. After working as a labor and delivery nurse in multiple settings (from New Hampshire to California, from small community hospitals to high-risk tertiary care centers), I enrolled at the University of Washington in Seattle, where I completed my studies to become a Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM) and Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) in 2010. I moved back to the Monadnock Region, where most of my family still resides, in 2010 and have been providing care and support to patients here in Southern NH and into Northern MA since then.
Areas of Interest: Evidence based medical care, shared decision making, cost conscious medical care, compassionate methods of educating in health situations, exploring family models and their affect on health.
Membership: Evidence Based Birth®, American College of Nurse Midwives
Pictured here, Rebecca Keller, Sarah Bay and Theresa Small, local CNM colleges
What is a Nurse Midwife?
Midwives focus on what is most important to each woman’s unique situation and values and often work with other members of the health care team.
Read more here.
What can a midwife do?
They are licensed & legal in most states in the US
They often take insurance (I take most)
They work at hospitals, clinics or independently
They do annual wellness exams
They can order and collect labs
They can order tests and procedures
They collaborate with your primary care provider
They care for women of all ages, teen to postmenopausal
They can do labor care at hospital, home or birth center
Many are trauma informed care providers