Ali Tromblay, LM, CPM, Birth Center Co-owner

The discovery of my life’s calling, amazingly enough, happened on a Mother’s Day.  In 1993 I was asked to video and photograph a friend’s home birth. I eagerly said yes, as I was pre-med at the University of Washington and had never attended a birth before. As time disappeared and the awe inspiring process of labor and birth unfolded, I found myself enraptured, at peace, and so grateful for the privilege to bear witness to such a miracle. I felt at home in the atmosphere of birth, and as the first sounds of the newborn rang into the room I realized I had found my calling. Many years have passed, and more than 1000 births later I am still in awe of the birthing process, and thrilled that I get to offer the midwifery model of care which I believe in so deeply, to such a diversity of people. What makes our care different, in a word, is listening. My intention when I sit with people in a prenatal visit or during their birthing process is to offer a quality of listening within the moment. This allows for a more fluid sense of time to evolve. I believe that within such a quality of timing, everything is possible and balance and a sense of flow are more accessible. Questions find their answers, conversations create connections, and babies discover how to nurse.

I am always learning from this work that I love and the people I meet in it, and always I am humbled by the power that birthing people possess and the wisdom in the eyes of newborns.

I have a similar awe in my garden when new seeds poke their noses through the earth. Gardening in the sanctuary of the land I live on brings me great joy and balance. As well as “catching babies”, tending to growing families, and being one of the owners of Puget Sound Birth Center, I am on faculty at Bastyr University Department of Midwifery. It is only with the support of my incredible wife that I can do all of this, as well as parent our two beautifully passionate teen boys and their adorable sister, and tend to the myriad of four legged and winged creatures we share our home with. My other passions include growing food, baking (I’ve finally mastered the gluten free pie crust!), making pottery, sewing, and being outside listening to the birds.