River Valley Midwives

Midwife Bio

At the age of 18, Kristen set off to do New Mexico to begin her midwifery training, but was turned away by the school because she was too young!

Kristen began her midwifery training in 1987 with direct entry midwife Elizabeth Mazenec at her school in New Hampshire. Realizing that wasn't enough training to feel competent in birth, she traveled to England where she attended a 3-year direct entry midwifery training through the University of Bournemouth. While living at the hospital, she attended over 250 births there and at home, and worked as a NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit) nurse.

After returning to the United States, she worked as a baby nurse, and then completed the necessary training in the US to become a registered nurse (RN). In that capacity, she worked in Labor and Delivery at Baystate Medical, before joining River Valley Midwives in 1997.Kristen has an extensive background in massage therapy and specializes in newborn cranio-sacral therapy.

Kristen is married and together with her husband Dean, has two children - one she gave birth to at home, and the other baby she adopted from Nepal.