Melanie Connell, Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM), BSN, RN, loves to advocate for women and their babies to achieve a birthing experience that is empowering and satisfying; for some, this is a hands-off, unmedicated birth, for others, it looks different as they choose a medicated birth or C-section. Still, they want to feel satisfied and have a voice. Melanie began her career after raising her children and returning to school to become an RN. She worked at an out-of-hospital birthing center for 5 years after which she transitioned to working in labor & delivery in a hospital. There she helped to launch an in-hospital low-intervention birthing program where she used her passion for, and experience with, physiologic birth to help women have a home or birth center-like experience. Her work has taught her that women want to be educated and heard, make decisions about their pregnancy and birth, and be cared for by competent and trusted professionals. She returned to school again to pursue a Master’s Degree in Nursing and became a Nurse Midwife in 2023. She provides care to women of all ages by providing well-woman, sexual health and gynecology, pregnancy, and postpartum care.