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San Diego Midwife

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Encinitas, CA
San Diego Midwife

La Shel Montgomery MSN, CNM
Jamin Slyvada LM, CPM

12/05/2025

There’s something special about the 36 week home visit. It’s the moment everything starts to feel real in the best way possible. Instead of you coming to us, we come to your home so we can understand your space, see your environment, and get familiar with exactly where you’ll be settling in when labor begins.

Here’s what happens during this visit:

• We learn the layout of your home; where you rest, breathe, nest, and feel safest. This helps us move with confidence on your birthing day. No guessing. No searching for supplies. We already know your flow and how to support it.

• Connect with your birth team; whether your team is your partner, a doula, a friend, a family member, or simply you and your midwives, we honor it. If someone else will be present, we get to meet them, understand their role, and make sure they feel comfortable too. And if you’re choosing a more intimate birth space with just the midwifery team, we show up with the same steady, grounded presence so you never feel alone. Every version of support is valid. Every circle is worthy.

• Review your birth supplies together; we go through everything on your list, make sure you’re stocked, and help you fine tune any last details. Clients often say this is where the final wave of “okay… I’m actually ready” sets in.

• Walk through what to expect on the birthing day; when to call, what early labor may look like, how we blend into your rhythm when things intensify, and how we protect the calm in your space. We talk through your wishes and make sure your support team knows exactly how we work around you.

• Prepare for immediate postpartum; from the golden hour to newborn checks to placenta delivery and settling you into bed, we cover what those first hours will feel like. It helps soften any anxiety and gives you a real picture of how held you’ll be.

The 36 week home visit isn’t just logistics. It’s connection. It’s grounding. It’s your midwife walking into your space and saying, “I’m with you. I know your home. I know your people. And when the day comes, we’ll already feel like a team.”

If you’re approaching your 36 week visit, take a deep breath. This is the moment everything comes into focus.

11/13/2025

There’s something bittersweet about the “final” postpartum visits. It’s the quiet closing of a chapter that began long before labor ever started; back when these families were in the throws of early pregnancy and first said yes to being held, seen, and supported by us.

Today we got to witness two mothers standing taller. More sure of themselves. More rooted in who they are becoming.

Postpartum isn’t a finish line. It’s definitely an unfolding.
And watching someone move from the early fog into their steady glow? That’s the part of midwifery you can’t put on a fee schedule.

To the families who came through our doors today:
your strength, your honesty, your softness; it honors this work in ways you may never know.

Thank you for trusting us to be a part of your stories.

Here’s to your first chapters. And every chapter still to come. 🤍

📍San Diego | Home Birth

11/07/2025

There’s nothing quite like watching a first-time mother meet the strength she never knew she carried.
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No bright lights. No interruptions. Just rhythm, breath, instinct.
The air thick with trust; between her and her partner, her and her midwives, her and her own wild wisdom.
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Birth at home isn’t about control. It’s about surrender.
It’s about the way her partner’s hands steady her hips through each wave. The way her team speaks in whispers, protecting her space. The way she roars from a place so deep, even the walls feel it.
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This is primal.
It’s ancient.
It’s the dance of life and love intertwined.
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And sometimes, surrender looks different than we imagined.
Sometimes it’s releasing the vision of birthing at home and walking through hospital doors with courage in your chest and trust still in your bones. That, too, is primal. That, too, is power.
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Because birth, no matter where it happens, is never failure.
It’s transformation.
It’s the deepest kind of becoming.
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Because when birth unfolds in safety and trust, it’s not just a baby being born; it’s a family.
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Home birth honors what’s always been within us: the instinct, the courage, the connection. And so does every birth born of love, and….
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surrender.
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•
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mama:
📸:

10/20/2025

✨ Six Weeks of Becoming ✨

Our final postpartum visit always carries that mix of tenderness and awe; the closing of one sacred chapter and the quiet unfolding of another.

We had the honor of walking with this beautiful family through their first pregnancy, birth, and those first tender weeks of parenthood. Watching their strength, trust, and love grow through it all has been such a gift.

This birthing mama’s words to me reminded me why midwifery is truly heart-work. The moments we share aren’t just clinical, they’re transformational. They’re about remembering power, reclaiming joy, and witnessing love being born.

Thank you, all 3 of you, for letting us be part of your story. You and your little one will always have a piece of our hearts. 💛

📍San Diego | Home Birth

03/12/2025

Your placenta has worked hard to supply your growing baby with oxygen and nutrients, what do you do with it after it’s born?

There are a few options:

1. Make art with it!
You can have art paper available after the birth to make a placenta print with either the blood on the placenta or paint. Sometimes placenta encapsulators will also dehydrate the cord in the shape of a heart. It takes on a stained glass effect!

2. Encapsulate it
Some people have their placenta dehydrated, ground up and encapsulated to take as pills throughout the postpartum period. It’s quite popular here in California but if you’ve never heard of it, the benefits can range from more energy to improved mood. Our student Eva provides this service if you are interested!

3. Plant it to be used as fertilizer for a tree. If you go this route you’ll need to plant it quite deep so that animals don’t dig it up and so the placenta doesn’t suffocate the roots of the tree.

4. Throw it away.
Not everyone wants to keep it ;)

Water color art by

03/04/2025

Many of you have probably heard of a membrane sweep being offered at a doctors office to start labor. Today we want to shed some light on what this entails and the risks/ benefits and how likely it is to work!

1. What is a membrane sweep? It’s where your provider inserts a finger or two (if it will fit) into your cervix, then moves the fingers around in a circular motion, detaching the amniotic sac (membrane) from the lower part of the uterus. This can have different levels of discomfort depending on the size of the providers hands, your own anatomy and pain tolerance. It is normal to have some spotting and possibly cramping after this procedure. It is also possible to have cramping that does not turn into active labor.

2. Will it break my water?
It’s unlikely but it’s possible. We have never seen this in our practice.

3. How likely is it to help me get into labor? Well that depends on your gestational age and probably many other factors we don’t know as much about. But for sure, the closer you are to your due date, or even past it, the more likely you are to go into labor from any kind of labor encouragement. There is not a lot of high quality data on just how likely you are to go into labor after a membrane sweep but there are a lot of studies showing that is does reduce the length of pregnancy.

What do you think? What has your experience been?

02/28/2025

Generations of care, one shared purpose—welcoming life with love. ✨❤️

02/26/2025

Sometimes you may be in a situation where you need/want to get into labor, usually in our practice this happens if you’re approaching 42 weeks gestation. In California licensed midwives cannot legally attend a birth after 42 weeks so when people get close and still want their home birth, we have a few things to offer! We will give each of these options their own post to explain how they work but for now, here is our list!

1. Membrane sweeps

2. Ni**le stimulation combined with herbs

3. Acupuncture

4. Chiropractor

5. Exercises to help baby drop/stimulate labor

02/21/2025

Meet Ava Flynn, our current student midwife! If you are a current client you already know that Eva is smart, savvy and calm but did you also know that she offers placenta encapsulation? Hi! I’m good how are you!? She offers pick up from the birth location and drop-off within 24-48 hours. It is offered for anyone whether you’re a client at San Diego midwife or not. Either way you can reach out on our website if interested!

02/18/2025

In the first couple of weeks with your baby there are a couple of breastfeeding positions that it’s good for you to know about. The lovely Sila is demonstrating the “cross cradle” in this photo. This is generally the easiest position to start nursing in since you have the best control and access of both your breasts and baby here. But the side lying is a really excellent at night when you’re waking up to nurse but don’t want to get to worked up and alert that you can’t fall back asleep. It can take a bit longer to get baby latched well in the side lying position but try it every so often until it works! It will make night feedings much more comfy! Not to mention it’s also nice not to have to sit if you have hemorrhoids or a very sore perineal lacerations. Happy nursing!

02/15/2025

Our last official visit is at 6 weeks postpartum but we don’t just go away! We’re still your midwives and are here for you to answer questions, weigh your baby or support you in any of the other ways you may need postpartum.

02/03/2025

How can midwives tell what position my baby is in and why does it matter?

In school, midwives learn to detect the fetal position by feel using their hands in a series of maneuvers called Leopold’s. By 28 weeks the baby’s head feels harder to the touch than the baby’s butt which lets us know if the baby is breech (head up) or vertex (head down). This matters because home birth midwives in California aren’t legally allowed to assist breech birth BUT there is a lot we can do to try to help the baby turn head down before term. Fortunately only 3-4% of babies are breech at term, most turning head down by 34 weeks.

At our office we also have a small ultrasound machine to do a very basic position check if feeling with our hands is ambiguous.

Photo of and Jamin

Address

451 La Veta Avenue
Encinitas, CA
92024

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm
Saturday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://www.sandiegomidwife.com/

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