MEET THE MIDWIVES — TAVNIAH BETTS & MONICA LIDDLE
Tavniah Betts, MPH, RN, CPM, LM is a Registered Nurse and Licensed Midwife. She has a Bachelor’s in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She earned her Certified Professional Midwife credential and license to practice in 2010 after completing midwifery training at Maternidad La Luz Midwifery School in El Paso, Texas and a preceptorship with a Certified Nurse-Midwife in homebirth practice in Wisconsin. After earning her credential, Tavniah served as primary interim midwife and clinical supervisor at a women’s health and birth center in Chiapas, Mexico until 2012. From 2012-2017, she had a homebirth practice in Southwest Wisconsin, where she also practiced in a federally-qualified Rural Health Clinic as primary midwife in collaboration with family practice physicians. She has attended births in homes, birth centers, medical clinics, hospitals and homeless shelters in the United States, France, Mexico and Haiti. In 2017, Tavniah and her family moved to Duluth where she established a homebirth practice.
She lives in Duluth with her artist husband, Nick, and her two children, both of whom were born at home in Wisconsin.
Monica Liddle, ND, CPM, LM is a Naturopathic Doctor and Licensed Midwife. She received her training in Naturopathic Medicine and Midwifery at Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington and holds the Certified Professional Midwife credential. Monica has spent her nearly 20 years of clinical practice between Minnesota and the country of East Timor in Asia, providing midwifery and medical care in homes, birth centers and medical clinics. She had a successful homebirth practice in Duluth, Minnesota from 2003 to 2009, where she served women in Duluth and the entire Arrowhead region. She moved with her family to East Timor in 2009 where she provided health care and clinical leadership in a low resource rural medical clinic that served 10,000 patients annually. In addition to her clinical practice in East Timor, she developed a midwifery program to train the female staff in basic midwifery skills, including prenatal, safe delivery, and postpartum care. Monica and her family moved back to Duluth in 2020, when she and Tavniah joined together in midwifery practice to support women and families choosing homebirth in the Northland.
Monica lives with her husband, Tom, and her two children, born at home in Duluth and in Lospalos, East Timor.
OUR MIDWIFERY PHILOSOPHY
As midwives and mothers, Tavniah and Monica believe that every woman and family deserve care that acknowledges their values and respects their healthcare choices. Together, they have served thousands of women during pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period and have a deep respect for the capacity of the female body and the process of childbirth. They have each witnessed, time and time again, how birth proceeds best when it is undisturbed, and when a woman feels supported and empowered throughout the entirety of her experience. From their combined three decades of experience serving women of many different backgrounds, in many different settings, they understand what is essential for homebirth — individualized care for women and families to support undisturbed birth and the clinical skills and experience to recognize and manage the unexpected.