Birth Team
We are a team of four midwives sharing the joys and responsibilities of our work together. The midwives in our group have all been working in this field for one to two decades. Although our backgrounds and training are quite different, we are blessed to share a common vision and management style in our midwifery care. Read on to see our individual bios.
Laura Doyle, LM, CPM
My three children were born into the loving hands of midwives at home. Giving birth was the most amazing, challenging, and transformative experience of my life. Midwifery clearly became my path after the homebirth of my first daughter. I was so impressed with midwifery care and its holistic approach, and how natural and intuitive it was. My homebirth experience was such a precious gift; I wanted every woman to have that same opportunity. Immediately after my birth, I started getting invited to my friend’s births and their friend’s births. From there it began.
I attended Sonoma State University, majoring in Gender Studies with an emphasis on Women’s Health (1991-1996). It was there I learned to be an advocate for myself in the realm of health care. Empowering women became my focus, first through wilderness survival skills, and then on to body awareness. In 2002, I completed the Heart and Hands Midwifery Program, taught by Elizabeth Davis in Marin. Soon after I began working as a midwifery apprentice with licensed midwives Lorraine Carolan and Avi Livingstone in Southern Humboldt. I worked with Avi for 6 years until her passing in 2009. Learning in this rural setting, where the nearest hospital was 1-2 hours away, has taught me to always be prepared and think ahead. I attended local midwife Jan Perrone’s midwifery classes and continue to attend conferences and trainings to further my skills. I am certified in IV therapy, CPR, and Neonatal Resuscitation.
In 2010, I went to Senegal, West Africa through a midwifery program called African Birth Collective. There I worked in a rural birth center, gaining clinical experience necessary to the process of licensure in California. I learned many great skills there and loved working with women on the other side of the planet. I am now a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) and a California Licensed Midwife (LM).
It was truly such a blessing for me to have midwives at my own births. The process of becoming a family is often times a huge transition. For most mothers and families it is crucial to have intimate support through these rites of passage. It is such an honor to participate and support families in this process. I believe birth is the vital roots of our beginning and should be as loving, peaceful, and safe as possible.
Calista Young, LM, CPM
I began studying midwifery in 1997. I attended beginning and advanced midwifery classes as well as many workshops and conferences over the next few years. I became a doula for Doulas by Nature in 1999. I began my 2 ½ year homebirth midwifery apprenticeship in 1999, taking a break to have my son, Alder, who was born at home in the water. I have been a childbirth educator since 2000, specializing in homebirth. I have studied homeopathy, acupuncture and herbs, and am a Level 1 Reiki practitioner. I am currently IV, CPR and neonatal resuscitation certified. I am also a member of CAM. I interned at Casa de Nacimiento, a birth center in El Paso, Texas, for two months (700 clinical hours), from December 2002 to February 2003, primarily serving Mexican women and their families. In total I have attended just over 160 births, 90 in the role of primary midwife. I began practicing as a primary midwife in 2003. I gave birth at home to my second son, Mateo, in December 2005, and my third child, a daughter, Annika, in March, 2008. I became a Certified Professional Midwife in 2009. Knowing how precious my own family is to me, I feel extremely blessed to participate in the gentle birth of each new being and to witness the blossoming of each incredible family.
Sarah Canale, LM, CPM
It is an honor to hold space for people during the incredibly powerful and vulnerable life transitions of preconception, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Midwifery care reminds people that their bodies are strong and vital, are built to be able to birth their babies, and are biologically wired to provide the care and nurturing their babies need. It reconnects people with their intuition and trust.
My midwifery training began in 2016 when I completed Elizabeth Davis’ Heart and Hands Midwifery Intensives in San Rafael. After that, my partner and I left Humboldt for a little over a year so I could apprentice with a midwife in Austin, Texas. In June of 2017, I enrolled in Birthwise Midwifery School, a MEAC accredited midwifery training program based in Bridgton, ME. The low-residency program at Birthwise made it possible for me to live where I was apprenticing and travel to Maine for academic sessions. We returned to Humboldt in April of 2018, and I began apprenticing with Moonstone Midwives shortly after. I worked with Moonstone through my own pregnancy, until my baby’s birth in late December of 2018.
I gave birth at home with the wonderful support of two of the midwives from Moonstone. Experiencing pregnancy, giving birth, and becoming a mother were incredibly educational and transformative. After 10 months of maternity leave, I returned to Moonstone to finish up my clinical training. I graduated from Birthwise Midwifery School in the Summer of 2020. I received my Certified Professional Midwife credential in November of 2020, maintain certification in neonatal resuscitation and CPR, and I am currently studying botanical medicine for women’s health.
I am thrilled be a midwife on the Moonstone team. I believe empowered pregnancy and birth are deeply impactful and hold tremendous potential for healing and changing lives for the better. I love supporting families as they welcome their newest members to the world outside the womb. I believe we midwives have a responsibility to commit ourselves not only to providing clinical care but also to being organizers and educators within our communities and working towards making our care accessible to all.
Sianna Plavin, LM, CPM
The seed of midwifery was planted when I was 19 and found myself sitting around a kitchen table listening to a community midwife talk about birth with such joy, passion and laughter I was awestruck. After college, my focus on food systems and environmental justice led me to integrated farming, which led me back to the wildness of birth. In 2011 I became a doula and in the summer of 2017 I enrolled at Birthwise Midwifery School. After a two and a half year clinical apprenticeship supporting families with the midwives of RI Home Birth & Hope Family Health in Hope, Rhode Island, I graduated from Birthwise in June of 2020.
Helping families safely navigate this transformative time in their lives with tenderness, humor, and creativity continues to be the biggest honor of my life. I am thrilled to be joining community of Moonstone Midwives.
Audrey Rees, Apprentice/Student Midwife
I was inspired into this work 8 years ago when I was welcomed into motherhood, guided by midwives. The birth of my son was the most challenging and influential experience of my life. The inspiration and transformation I received from this rite of passage led me into birth work and fueled my desire to support women in this special time of life. Over the last 7 years, I have worked as a doula here in Humboldt Co., apprenticed with multiple different homebirth practices, and been on the long journey of midwifery school. I am thrilled to be in the final chapter of my schooling and apprenticeship with Moonstone Midwives!
