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Meet the Midwife
Elizabeth Mendoza
pronouns: she/her
I am a midwife, educator, and advocate. I love pregnant bellies, baby coos, and helping people find their inner strength. Here's my story.
I spent my early career working with various non-profits, helping people reach their fullest, healthiest potential through direct education and advocacy work. My start in birth work was a natural progression from the reproductive health work I was already doing at community health centers and in schools.
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​Wanting to make high-quality birth services more accessible to local families, I became a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator in 2010 and trained as a birth doula through DONA International.
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In that same spirit, in 2015 I founded Tucson's annual Birth and Baby Fest to connect families with like-minded local birth resources. This background of supporting, educating, and community-building is still fundamental to how I practice as a midwife today.
Through my years as a doula and educator, I saw too many families fall victim to discouraging or detrimental out-of-touch policies at their birthplace or to the whims of individual healthcare providers, despite being educated and well-prepared. These families deserved better. And quite frankly, I was burnt out from witnessing it all. After enough of this, I realized that if I wanted to see a change in Tucson's birth scene, wishing and hoping for something better was not going to cut it. I needed to do more. So I went back to school to become a midwife.
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I wrapped up my midwifery education in 2020 with Midwives College of Utah, and now have two Bachelor's degrees: one in Psychology and one in Midwifery. I am credentialed as a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) through The North American Registry of Midwives and am a Licensed Midwife through the Arizona Department of Health Services.
When not attending births, I can often be found hiking around town with an audiobook in my ear, barefoot in my garden, or being disgruntled by some patriarchy somewhere. My two kiddos round out my days and help keep me on my toes.
Philosophy of Care
​This midwifery practice was founded with the belief that when pregnant people trust in themselves and their body’s abilities, it helps to create an empowered person and a powerful birthing experience. Within pregnant people is the innate wisdom of how to birth and care for their child, but then with encouragement, education, and effective support, this strength can be magnified. Through our work together, we support people to have the confidence necessary to make the appropriate pregnancy and birth decisions that are right for them and their families.
Mission
Wisdom Within's mission is to empower families by providing comprehensive, compassionate, and safe midwifery services. Care is provided in a manner that is evidence-informed, trauma-informed, and recognizes each person’s exceptional journey and unique contributions that they bring to their own care. Our work together aims to help create a path through pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood that is filled with both profound strength and a deep sense of achievement.
Welcome
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Scope of Midwifery Care
“The Midwives Model of Care is a fundamentally different approach to pregnancy and childbirth than contemporary obstetrics." (MANA, 2016)
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Midwives are highly-qualified to handle the beautiful pieces of birth, like helping a brand new dad catch his baby, and also any emergency that might arise.
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Midwives only work with people who are generally healthy and are at low risk for complications during pregnancy and birth. Midwives are tasked with using the Midwives Model of Care to help guide their practice and their philosophy of care (Midwifery Task Force, 2008). It includes these guiding tenets:
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Midwives acknowledge that individuals are holistic beings, and as such, monitor all aspects of the person in their care and throughout the childbearing cycle
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Midwives provide families with personal attention, education, and counseling and offer hands-on support during labor, birth, and postpartum
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Midwives work to minimize interventions during pregnancy and birth
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Midwives understand their scope of practice and its limitations and they refer clients to other healthcare providers for further medical attention as needed.
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In Arizona, Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) are licensed by the Arizona Department of Health Services to provide care throughout pregnancy, birth, and the first six weeks postpartum.
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Wisdom Within's care is provided by a Certified Professional Midwife who is fully trained, licensed, and credentialed. Professional consultations are completed with other providers for situations that are out of a CPM's scope of practice.
Still curious if community midwifery care is right for you?
​Recognizing the unique and intimate role that a midwife encompasses within a community and within clients’ lives, it is crucial that midwives adhere to a statement of ethics as a guidepost in practice and as a communication tool to the public at large. As such, the ethical principles upon which this practice is built include:
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​Care will be provided free from any discrimination. Intolerance or bigotry of any sort from staff, students, associated professionals, clients, or their support people are not tolerated in this practice. Period.
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​Every client has the right to make a variety of choices that are right for their body, self, and family without judgment or retribution of any sort from this practice.
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​The aim of midwifery care is for harm to be reduced as much as humanly possible, but this is done with the understanding that there is still inherent risk in birth and in the childbearing year. Harm reduction strategies will be applied to each client through a thorough discussion of risks and benefits in the process of education and shared decision-making and through staying within an appropriate scope of midwifery care.
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T​his practice strives to promote the welfare and optimal physical, emotional, and holistic wellness of all clients, staff, and students involved in our work.
Statement of Ethics
References
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Midwives Alliance of North America. (2016). The Midwives Model of Care. Retrieved from https://mana.org/about-midwives/midwifery-model
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​Midwifery Task Force (2008). The midwives model of care. Retrieved from http://cfmidwifery.org/mmoc/define.aspx
