Nurture Oklahoma w/ Guest Oklahoma Midwife, Dawn Karlin

Oklahoma Midwife Dawn Karlin

Recently, I began a new project called Nurture Oklahoma where I invite wellness and birth professionals onto a live interview. To learn more about the Nurture Oklahoma stream, please Click Here. During the interview, the guest has the opportunity to discuss their profession and how it benefits families as well as who they are as a person behind their business.  This stream is 
Nurture Oklahoma’s second interview and was with Oklahoma Midwife, Dawn Karlin of Bliss Birth Services.  Dawn is an Oklahoma Midwife who has been serving the  Oklahoma community for eleven years.

Dawn’s birth journey as an Oklahoma Midwife started when she was pregnant with her first child. After experiencing the care model that was considered normal for hospital births, she asked, “why do we treat women like this?”. 
Her first experience in the birth world was as a labor and delivery nurse. Yet, when Dawn felt like she had arrived home when she was  able to experience home birth and how people were allowed to birth in their own environment and make their own choices in their care.  She says in the stream that she felt the feeling of, “This is where I am meant to be“.  

In this particular Nurture Oklahoma stream,  I had been looking forward to the opportunity to ask Dawn some frequently asked midwifery support questions that my doula families have asked. For instance, “What is the difference between a doula and a midwife?”or “How is midwifery care different from an OBGYN’s care?”.

Midwives and doulas, while are both types of birth work, are pretty different professions. Midwives are medical care providers who are responsible for the health and wellness of their midwifery clients. Most midwives value the importance of their client’s ability to be active in the decisions surrounding their care.  Midwifery as a whole is birthing person centered care. Doulas are not medical professionals.

Doulas provide educational, emotional, and physical support to a birthing person and their partner. This type of support has a myriad of impactful benefits like reducing the chance of cesarean by 39%! Those who hire a doula’s support are also much more likely to feel satisfied with their birth afterwards. 

To learn more about the midwifery care model and more about Oklahoma Midwife, Dawn Karlin, please watch the video from our Nurture Oklahoma live stream below! Also, be sure to visit her page on the Thrive Mama Collective website Here

OKC Birth Doula Jenni Jenkins

Jenni Jenkins – Sekine is an Oklahoma City Bereavement, Birth, & Postpartum doula and Child Birth Educator who serves her Central Oklahoma  community.   She is also a midwifery assistant with Holistic Birthing Services and began her journey as a student midwife with the Midwives College of Utah in 2022. 

Jenni is also the creator & facilitator of the Kaleidoscope OKC LGBTQ Family Support Group & the Nurture Oklahoma Live Interview Series.

To learn more about Jenni, please click here.