WBWC’s nursing staff is expanding! Tianna Dean, RN moved to NC from Texas to join us as a full-time nurse. Since September, she’s been providing labor, delivery, and postpartum care, as well as doing home visits.  Her warm, comforting bedside manner, thorough knowledge of women’s health, and dedication to the midwifery model of care have made her an excellent addition to our team. Tianna graduated from Southern Union State in Alabama and has been working as a nurse since 2013. Her husband’s career as a US Army Ranger has given her the opportunity to provide nursing care across the country. She has worked at large Level I trauma centers in Columbus, GA and El Paso, TX, and has served our military women and spouses at Martin Army Medical Center. She gained invaluable experience as a labor and delivery nurse in a high-risk setting. However, her strong desire to provide nursing care in an out-of-hospital setting inspired her to make the big move when an opportunity to work at WBWC arose.   She is passionate about supporting women through empowered birthing choices, education, and excellent quality care. Tianna is continuing her commitment to women’s health care by pursuing her Master’s at Frontier Nursing University and plans to become a midwife. Outside of work, Tianna stays busy raising her 5 amazing children, ages 7 months to 17 years, entertaining, and decorating her home.“I am blessed to be able to serve women every day, and I gain a wealth of wisdom from the amazing midwives and nurse practitioners I work with!”

Nancy Albrecht, RN, BSN, IBCLC is celebrating her tenth year as a WBWC clinic nurse and lactation consultant! Over the past decade, she has made extraordinary contributions to the WBWC and its clients. In many ways, Nancy has been the face of the birth center. She is the kind nurse on the phone, patiently and thoroughly answering questions about pregnancy, health concerns, and breastfeeding. She is the knowledgeable and compassionate lactation consultant helping a new mother work through a difficult breastfeeding challenge. She is the leader of breastfeeding classes, teaching groups of parents the ins and outs of feeding their newborn. She is always willing to help wherever and however she is needed; she has even worked as labor nurse on a particularly busy day, attending a birth with her daughter, midwife Jessica Albrecht! But her behind-the-scenes work at the birth center has been equally important. Nancy’s hard work and dedication led to the birth center being designated as a Baby Friendly facility in 2010. There are multiple criteria that must be met to earn and maintain this designation — including continuing staff and patient education, helping to initiate breastfeeding within the first hour after birth, and establishing breastfeeding support groups — and Nancy has helped to ensure that WBWC has successfully met these goals year after year.  She has played a key role in establishing birth center breastfeeding policies. She is continually improving documentation protocols for LCs and finding ways to integrate communication about breastfeeding issues among LCs, nurses, and midwives so no client is left unsupported. She has placed emphasis on providing both staff and patients with areas where they can comfortably breastfeed. As a result of her efforts, the WBWC received the Breastfeeding Friendly Business & Employer Award from the NC Breastfeeding Coalition. Nancy has also built an incredible community of support for new mothers. She spearheaded efforts to start the Breastfeeding Café, an informal group for nursing mothers, and the Coping with Motherhood group, which offers support and coping skills for mothers dealing with depression. Her vision of a community where women come together and support each other has been realized and has made a lasting impact. Nancy’s work as a breastfeeding advocate and educator has spanned more than three decades, and we at the WBWC are so grateful that she has spent the last ten years with us! Her passion and dedication are inspiring to … Read More

by Tori Hinde If you’ve been in the boutique in the last few years, there’s a good chance you’ve met store manager Holly Lindsay-Miller, who celebrates 5 years of working at Women’s Birth and Wellness Boutique this month. If you came in to shop, you likely left feeling like you just made a new best friend after she fit you for a bra, taught you everything you needed to know about cloth diapering, or helped you find just what you needed. Holly has a way of talking to you and listening that makes you know she hears you and understands. “I love to learn the specifics about people. Every family’s story is unique,” says Holly. “There’s more than one way to parent. I’ve learned a lot about empathy and compassion – I know pregnancy and motherhood aren’t simple.” When asked about her favorite part of her job, Holly says, “Connecting with moms. Hands down. And bra fittings – a good bra can change a woman’s day. It’s the best when someone walks out of here happy, standing a little taller and feeling more confident.” Holly initially started as a sales associate in the boutique, coming in afternoons and staying after closing to place orders.  She took over as store manager two years ago. Since then, she’s focused on expanding the selection of bras, carriers, and cloth diapers and always bringing in new things. “If I mix it up, people come to check it out,” says Holly. “We’re growing. We have more women-owned and local business now.” Holly also appreciates the supportive environment at WBWC and that she can bring her daughters along to work if she needs to, and no one blinks an eye. “To come to work with people I love and respect means everything,” she says. “My kids were born here, and I work here. It feels very cyclical. It’s the best care you can find – you just don’t get that time anywhere else.” Thank you, Holly, for all you do, and for 5 years of making all of us here feel loved and respected, too. 

     If you’ve been with WBWC for a while, you might recognize our newest CNM, Lydia Dominic. She was a labor and delivery nurse here from 2009-2012, and now she is returning in her new role as midwife!         Lydia earned her BSN from Case Western Reserve University and began her 14-year nursing career in 2002.  She dedicated most of her nursing career to maternal-child health.  Upon graduating from nursing school, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal, providing health education on multiple topics, including neonatal resuscitation.  She then returned to Ohio and began working on a medical/surgical unit.  She spent the next several years gaining experience in caring for women and babies in a hospital setting, first as a postpartum nurse, and then then as a postpartum nurse, and then as a labor and delivery nurse.          In 2009, Lydia and her husband moved to North Carolina. Lydia’s desire to witness birth as she felt it should be – guided by the woman’s desires and intervening only when necessary – led her to join the staff at WBWC as a labor nurse. While working at both WBWC and Wake Med, she found herself drawn to WBWC’s model of care.  In fact, she gave birth to her own son in the peach room!          In 2012, Lydia and family returned to Ohio, and a year later, she began midwifery school at Case Western. She completed her MSN in 2016. Her graduate school experience included a mission trip to Guatemala, and clinical rotations in a hospital-based birth center, and a homebirth practice.      Lydia is ecstatic to return to WBWC to continue to care for and empower women and their families. Her midwifery career has been off to a great start so far – she caught five babies on her first call shift! In her free time, Lydia enjoys hiking, cycling, and being with her friends, husband, and son.