Whole Mother Show – Whole Mother

Jaelin Stickels, DNP, APRN, CNM, co-owner, founder of Holistic Heritage Home Birth and cofounder of She is.com, a site for women by women. Also, on the show is her mid-husband who is so supportive for Jaelin and midwifery. A certified nurse midwife who is honored to work with families as they experience pregnancy, labor, birth, and the postpartum period. Jaelin followed her passion into midwifery and has been practicing with women and babies since 2010. She has spent the last 40 blissful years married to her high school sweetheart and “midhusband”. She has three children and one brilliant grandbaby. In addition to her passion for women’s health; she loves quilting & is enamored with her granddaughter. Jaelin is proud to be known as the designated Birth Hog. No one has ever loved birth as much as this girl.   Jaelin Stickels, DNP, APRN, CNM   https://wholemothershow.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/20260119-Whole-Mother-Show-Jaelin-Stickels.mp3

Dr. Cambria Nwosu is a nurse, legal nurse consultant, healthcare advocate, and entrepreneur whose career has spanned bedside care, leadership, administration, and healthcare accountability. She began her nursing career as a perioperative nurse at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey, where she developed a strong foundation in patient safety, surgical care, and systems-based practice. Over time, Dr. Nwosu advanced into multiple nursing leadership roles, including serving as a Stroke Program Director, where she worked at the intersection of clinical care, quality metrics, and regulatory compliance. Her career later expanded into healthcare administration, where she served as a national telemedicine administrator, gaining firsthand insight into how healthcare delivery, technology, and policy intersect and how system design decisions shape patient care and access. Alongside her clinical and administrative work, Dr. Nwosu co-founded Seth Usifo Nwosu® Incorporated (SUN INC) with her husband, a certified paralegal and legal document preparer. Through SUN Inc., she provides legal nurse consulting services focused on medical negligence, patient rights, healthcare system failures, and civil accountability, with particular attention to how marginalized communities are disproportionately harmed. Dr. Nwosu is married and the mother of one child, and her lived experience as both a clinician and a parent informs her advocacy. In recent years, she has taken a more public-facing role through education, media, and social platforms, where she speaks candidly about patient safety, informed consent, civil rights, and the urgent need for ethical accountability in healthcare. In February, Dr. Nwosu will be launching CJN Network, a platform dedicated to deeper, long-form discussions on healthcare justice, patient rights, and systemic reform that are often difficult to fully explore in short-form media. More information can be found at www.sunicorp.net, and she can be followed on social media at @cjnlegalnurse   Dr. Cambria Nwosu   https://wholemothershow.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/20260112-Whole-Mother-Show-Dr.-Cambria-Nwosu-001.mp3

“Trish” Perkins is a Certified Nurse Midwife who began her career as a Labor and Delivery nurse at Jefferson Davis Hospital. She is the mother of 4 children all brought into this world into the hands of midwives. The first 2 were born in the hospital and the last 2 at home with Pat Jones! After raising her own family, she realized her lifelong dream of studying midwifery. She has worked as a midwife at a free-standing birth center and for Baylor College of Medicine at The Centers for Children and Women. Her experiences also include working as a Lactation Consultant at St. Joseph’s hospital, helping them achieve Texas Ten Step status. She is now the owner of a beautiful free-standing birth center just north of The Woodlands, Bliss Birth Center. Trish is passionate about providing quality, woman-centered, compassionate care and has the unique knowledge, skills and experience to provide comprehensive, evidence based midwifery care that women deserve. Encouraged to support women after the birth of her own daughters, Catrice Harris has been helping families with childbirth education, labor & birth, postpartum and lactation support since 1992. Her initial Lactation training was through the University of Texas Health Science Center and City of Houston WIC Programs. She continued to embrace caring for women and children by becoming certified as a birth and postpartum doula. After observing many challenges faced by women who did not feel enabled to advocate for themselves during childbirth, it seemed that the only next step was to pursue midwifery. Taking the leap away from Corporate America in 2012, she embraced birth work full time. Growing into a midwife has been a journey that constantly presents new opportunities for growth in many beautiful ways. Currently, with a solo home birth practice, Catrice also trains and mentors doulas through a grant funded program seeking to provide birth support to underserved communities in Houston, TX. Having supported over 365 families with the births of their babies as of 2023, she is truly grateful that this work found her.   Trish Perkins, CNM, & Catrice Harris, CPM   https://wholemothershow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20251215-Whole-Mother-Show-Bliss-Birth-Center.mp3

Kathleen Vandegiessen, CNM, MN, founder of North Houston Birth Center since 2005. A Certified Nurse Midwife since 1994, Kathleen Vandegiessen has been a CNM for nearly three decades, indicating her expertise in providing healthcare and support to pregnant women during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. She has a Masters in Nursing since 1995 and she has been a Registered Nurse for 25 years. She worked as a staff midwife at Baylor College of Medicine for 4 years. She started a Midwifery service at a small community hospital for 6 years. She started a free-standing Midwifery service at North Houston Birth Center in 2005. Kathleen Vandegiessen’s dedication to full-scope midwifery means she provides a wide range of healthcare services to expectant mothers, from prenatal care to delivery and postpartum care. Her extensive experience, education, and career achievements suggest a passion for women’s healthcare and a significant contribution to the field of midwifery. Website: www.made4birth.com Instagram & Facebook @Made4Birth The Made For Birth Podcast: https://themadeforbirthpodcast.buzzsprout.com/ (Also found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, etc.) Book links: Autographed copy : Amazon Print copy: https://a.co/d/g570t7W Amazon EBook: https://a.co/d/8Df9wQP   Kathleen Vandegiessen, CNM, MN   https://wholemothershow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/20251208-Whole-Mother-Show-Kathy-VanDeGeissen-001.mp3

Katherine Stephens is a doula, childbirth educator, and the warm-but-unfiltered voice behind the Made for Birth podcast. Based in Southwest Louisiana, she’s dedicated to supporting women through pregnancy, birth after cesarean, and postpartum with compassion, clarity, and a whole lot of truth-telling. She’s a homeschool mom of six—ages six months to nine years—which means she brings a very real, very lived-in perspective to the families she supports. Katherine has been through inductions, cesareans, medicated and unmedicated births herself, and she pulls from that experience to guide moms with both heart and authority. Jackie Griggs, is a certified nurse midwife who practices at Birth Center of Beaumont in Beaumont, Tx. Shes been a nurse midwife for 25 years and still loves her work as much as ever. Shes also the mom of 5 grown sons and 3 small grandkids. She is active with the American Association of Birth Centers and wants to make it easier for more women to use birth centers. She got to help Katherine with her birth this year in May. Website: www.made4birth.com Instagram & Facebook @Made4Birth The Made For Birth Podcast: https://themadeforbirthpodcast.buzzsprout.com/ (Also found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, etc.) Book links: Autographed copy : Amazon Print copy: https://a.co/d/g570t7W Amazon EBook: https://a.co/d/8Df9wQP   Katherine Stephens, doula, & Jackie Griggs, CNM   https://wholemothershow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/20251124-Whole-Mother-Show-Jackie-Griggs-and-Kaatherine-Stephens.mp3