03/11/2026
🤲🏻 It's our midwife-aversary again! Somehow, time flew by and we've been practicing together for 5 years! We've gone through lots of big changes and still love being work wives.
🌀 Here is Ray & Victoria’s story.
Ray (left) founded Refuge Midwifery in 2017, with the goal of providing care that centers Q***r & Trans people’s needs and justice and anti-oppression. After a few sweet years of a small practice in Philly and South Jersey, COVID lockdown happened and the practice doubled, it was getting BUSY.
That Fall, on a catch up phone call with Ray's old midwifery school friend Victoria (right), Ray asked "any chance you want to leave New Mexico and practice with me?" Victoria, who had a small practice in northern New Mexico, was open to the idea. Two months later, they came out to Philly to do a trial run.
They discovered that they had excellent midwife-ing chemistry and in March of 2021, Victoria moved to Philly. On that first day as midwifery partners/work wives, they went to a birth together.
In the last five years, they've been through A LOT of life, births, and changes together. Ray had their own baby in 2023 (Victoria caught her baby on the toilet a few hours after midnight on New Year's Day). Parenthood has been a great joy for Ray, but it also made being the kind of midwife she strives to be much harder. About two years postpartum, Ray chose parenting over being on-call.
In a very tearful conversation with Victoria, to Ray’s delight (and surprise), Victoria wanted to continue attending births as a solo midwife — meaning Refuge families would continue to have their midwifery home after Ray’s retirement.
💛 Now, Victoria is catching babies with the help of our advanced student Natasha, Ray has taken the lead on caring for our fertility and IUI families, and our teaching offerings are launched!
Thank you to all of the families who've trusted us to walk the journey to parenthood with you and to all of the providers learning and growing alongside us. 🤲🏻🌟🧑🏫
📷️ Photo is a throwback from 2014 of Ray and Victoria from a q***r dance party in midwifery school!
