About us

Ingrid Andersson, RN, CNM, MSN

As a girl on my family's small Wisconsin farm and as a young woman living and working on farms abroad, I grew up with normal relationships to food, land, birth, and death. Inhumane, industrialized food production and fearful, hidden processes of birth and death sadden me deeply.

Just as millions of us are seeking more authentic and sustainable relationships with our food and land, many of us are seeking more authentic and sustainable relationships within health care. We want to invest in practitioners and models of care that respect us as partners in meaningful discussion and informed decision-making. We want to invest in accountable practice that is based in evidence, that can justify interventions performed and medical resources expended.

My midwifery practice is dedicated to my mother, and millions of women like her, who experienced fear and humiliation in the hands of medical practitioners; who wonder their whole lives what happened at their births, having been tied down and administered amnesiacs in labor; who were given medications, with and without consent,to dry up their breastmilk; who raised daughters (and sons) who are recovering the power and normalcy of processes at the center of life.

I became a nurse to become a midwife, and I became a midwife to attend women at home. I graduated from Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing, the oldest school of nurse-midwifery in America, with a benchmark heritage of home-based service. I received a Masters of Science in Nursing Education from UW-Madison. Prior to nurse-midwifery, I worked for 8 years as an RN in high-risk pregnancy and postpartum/newborn care at St. Mary's Hospital Medical Center in Madison. As a nurse, I traveled to Kenya to learn from traditional birth attendants and British-model nurse-midwives. Prior to nursing, I worked as a doula, while completing degrees in European studies and Cultural Anthropology at UW-Madison.

I serve on the Midwives Advisory Council for the WI Department of Regulation and Licensing, am a regional representative for the WI American College of Nurse Midwives, and the designated liaison for WI ACNM and WI Guild of Midwives. From 2005-2007, I worked to help achieve state licensure for Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs).

Hannu and Kai Andersson

Community Midwives would not exist without the tremendous physical, intellectual, and emotional support of my husband, Hannu. Hannu handles book-keeping, web design and maintenance, continual home improvement, snow-shoveling, lab runs, and just about anything at a moment's notice. As a native Swede/Finn, he has always viewed midwifery care and natural birth as the norm.

Our 6-year-old son, Kai, was born at home with a community midwife. Kai's daily jobs include helping maintain the sibling playroom, which adjoins our home office. He also helps care for our two little canine-rescue sisters, Astrid and Elodie. Kai is as familiar with pregnancy and the process of labor as with the names and habits of his favorite dinosaurs. Recently, he has come to find labor personally empowering, informing me each time I leave, "When the cat's away, the mice come out to play...."

Cathy Szudy, RN, CNM, ICBLC
Birth Assistant

I started on my path to nurse-midwifery in the early 70's with the birth of my first daughter. All of my seven children were born in a hospital but I instinctively knew to give birth and leave soon after! My husband, Bruce (I have had only one!!!), is an elementary school teacher in the Madison Public Schools.

I was a stay-at-home mom with my first two daughters (Tammy & Renee), then a student mom with my next daughters (Caitlin, Gretchen and Valerie) as I went back to school to get my BSN, CNM & MSN, and a working mom with my last son & daughter (Max and Kelsey).

My children are mostly grown but my grandchildren are now adding to my life —Jadyn, Keion, Isadora, Odessa, Truman, Dorian, Teague and Journey.  Isadora, Odessa, Truman and Journey were home-born babies with Ingrid.

I have worked as a childbirth educator, postpartum nurse, labor and delivery nurse, lactation consultant, prenatal care coordinator and certified nurse midwife. My CNM practice was in a low income clinic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I have always known that home is the best place to give birth, and I enjoy working with all of the families that share this belief. Your pregnancy and birth are the beginning of an amazing life-long journey. You will have to find or make your own path through these wonderful years. I am humbled and honored to be a part of your journey.

Hannah Bernard-Donals, CLC, Doula
Midwife Apprentice

Though midwifery is my second career, my true passion has always been home birth and quality midwifery care. This passion led me to Ingrid. I was lucky to attend births as a doula with some of her clients, which gave me the opportunity to get to know her. With Ingrid’s support and encouragement I enrolled in the direct-entry midwifery program at Southwest Wisconsin Technical College. In 2010 I became a proud member of the first graduating class in this groundbreaking program that trains professional midwives to practice under a license granted by the state of Wisconsin. While studying at SWTC I gained invaluable experience as Ingrid’s apprentice, and I am grateful for all opportunities to continue to work with her.

I have a bachelors degree in early childhood education, and I worked in the field of quality childcare and as an Education Director for more than 20 years before my current transition to the wonderful world of birth and breastfeeding support.

My family has now lived in Madison for more than a decade, but each of my three children was born in a different state: my daughters in New York and Mississippi, and my son in Missouri. Midwives attended all three births; my son was born at home.

I am currently assisting midwives in Madison and continuing my doula and breastfeeding support work as I build my own practice. I look forward to sharing this special time with you.

Emma Marie Swift, CPM

I have four children, born at home and in a hospital setting, with midwives and doctors, in two different countries. My family truly was my inspiration and motivation to support natural birth. Each birth was really unique and taught me something new about who I am and who I want to be. Labor and birth has been a great learning experience for parenting too - to surrender and let go, to expect to be surprised and to let each child write it’s own story.

My strong desire to support women during this most powerful yet vulnerable life event led me to become a doula. As a doula, I attended women in labor and accompanied them to the hospital. I served as an emotional and physical support person for the laboring family and also provided information and insight, always advocating for natural childbirth. After a while serving as a doula in the conventional setting of a hospital became more and more challenging. I realized that to learn about natural, empowering births where the family is supported in their informed choices I had to move out of the hospital and into the woman’s own environment.

I studied midwifery at the National College of Midwifery and apprenticed with two midwives in the community, Ingrid Andersson and Debbie Healy. I have been a licensed midwife in Wisconsin since February 2011 and continue to work closely with all the midwives in our community. I am honored to have the opportunity to work so closely with Ingrid and her practice this fall and look forward to the adventures ahead.

I hold a midwifery license in the state of Wisconsin and am a member of the Wisconsin Guild of Midwives, MANA and NACPM.

Tehmina Islam
Midwife Apprentice

I was first introduced to birth work when my childhood best friend birthed her child when we were both 16. I have gravitated towards birth work ever since and have respected how the loving support of one generation at birth nourishes the strength of the next.

I graduated from the University of Wisconsin — Madison with a degree in International Studies and spent my last year of school working for a maternal health program in Kenya. In 2007, I joined a program in Chicago through the National College of Midwifery. I’ve had the opportunity to apprentice with a few Wisconsin area midwives and have felt so privileged to see how each woman works in her field.

In addition to midwifery life, I worked at the Rape Crisis Center of Dane County for three years and hold this work very close to my heart. Currently, I work for a literacy program as a parent educator and for a civil legal justice non-profit in Madison. Thankfully, both agencies allow me to be on call. It is an honor to bear witness to a family’s transformation during the prenatal to postpartum period. It would be an honor to meet you, to know your story, and to bear witness to your family’s transformation as well.

Rachel Tybor, Certified Doula, Placenta Encapsulator
Midwife Apprentice

I trace my passion for birth all the way back to my own entrance into this world. According to my mother, I was unintentionally left to bond with my parents, umbilical cord still pulsing, when the doctor ran out of the hospital room to tend to the woman birthing down the hall. After years of studying the benefits of such a start, I want to help more families intentionally achieve their beautiful beginnings, and in the comfort and safety of their own home.

I received my bachelors’ degree in Psychology and Biological Anthropology from the University of Illinois. My interests in health and wellness led me to study pre-medicine but I eventually gravitated towards herbology class rather than dwelling on pharmaceutical intervention. While in school, I began organizing with other student activists, which eventually led to my first job out of school as an Environmental Grassroots Organizer, working in Massachusetts and Maine. To me, issues of environmental preservation and the empowered preservation of our innate knowledge and strengths as women have always gone hand in hand. While building earthen homes in Mexico and California, I learned from other cultures and wise women who normalized the concept of midwifery care for me. It didn’t take long for this to culminate into a personal calling that could no longer be ignored.

In 2009, my husband and I moved to Madison, and I started offering doula support for women of low resources and teen mothers. Tn early 2011, I began midwifery school and apprenticing with midwives. I am so honored to be learning from Ingrid as her apprentice and cannot wait to meet you and get to know your hopes and dreams for your birth.

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