Meet Margie Kline | LM: Licensed Midwife & CPM: Certified Professional Midwife

We had the good fortune of connecting with Margie Kline and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Margie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I bought an established practice from a midwife who was retiring. The business already had several patients, a rented office space, equipment, and a good reputation in Flagstaff. I worked with her for a few months before buying her out so I could get familiar with the practice and become established as a provider. During this time I moved from Prescott Valley to Flagstaff. I had always wanted to go into private practice because it provides autonomy in the way one operates and practices, and although I had begun a practice in the Prescott area there were already many midwives practicing in the area. In Flagstaff there was only one other practice so it was the perfect opportunity.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
My business is a home birth practice that offers an affordable, amazing prenatal, birth, postpartum and newborn package. This takes a lot of extra people besides myself to achieve and so over time I have gathered many other passionate birth workers together so my dream of giving pregnant and new mothers the care that I believe each mother deserves is possible. Giving each mother the best possible personalized care and attention is my brand. Included with my full pregnancy package I get to offer other amazing opportunities for my clients to take advantage of, including Childbirth classes, Spinning Babies Parent classes from a certified parent educator and car seat safety education. I really love being able to give families the best start possible so that they go into parenthood feeling confident. My loving and educated team is made up of nurses, doulas, trained birth attendants, student nurses, student midwives and breastfeeding counselors with knowledge and expertise on a variety of topics including childbirth education, early childhood development and perinatal mood disorders. Partners and families are welcomed and everyone is afforded all the time they need to have questions answered. Many small midwifery practices have found that burnout is a problem so they will go into partnership with another midwife to share the load. My practice is not big enough yet to sustain that so instead I have brought in other birth workers to support me so I do not become exhausted from the workload. This is a different business model that is working very well here in Flagstaff. I would like to continue to practice and teach midwifery for as long as possible. Someday I may just step back and only teach the art of midwifery once my students become licensed midwives. I would love to have one of my own students take over this business someday when I retire but I am not looking to do that any time in the near future.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Flagstaff is a beautiful little mountain town. There are so many wonderful places to eat. The downtown area is particularly charming with little shops along the way. Bigfoot BarBQue and Josephine’s are among my favorite places to eat. There are a couple of little hometown theatre groups that often host shows, musicians, plays and other fun events. There are also some nice little hometown bars in the downtown area that have some great local music on a Friday or Saturday night. Hiking in the forests and skiing on the mountain are among the most fantastic in the world!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to give a shoutout to Kristen Pearson and Betsy Decker of Flagstaff Doulas. They have been both friends and colleagues in our beautiful mountain town. From the time I first came to Flagstaff and began practicing at Womancare they reached out to me and through many interactions at births and shared clients we have developed a strong working relationship. I find they have wonderful professional doula services and have a heart to support birthing women regardless of where or how they birth their babies. They have developed many support resources in Flagstaff for all the stages of pregnancy, breastfeeding, postpartum and welcoming the newborn. I can depend on them to have a safe place to share ideas, concerns and questions regarding the best evidence based care for the birthing community. I believe they have changed the birthing community’s atmosphere so that it is a great place to have a baby in Arizona and a great place to be a practitioner in the amazing world of birth.

Website: womancarebirth.com

Instagram: womancarebirth

Facebook: Womancare Birth & Breastfeeding

Yelp: Womancare Birth & Breastfeeding