She began assisting at home births in 1995 as an apprentice, received her RN in 2000 and completed her training in midwifery in 2003 through the UCSF Nurse Midwifery Education Program.

Nancy worked as a labor and postpartum doula for many years. She now teaches other women to be doulas through the Natural Resources education program. She has done extensive research on breastfeeding and has a passion for the care and support of new families in the postpartum time.

In all, Nancy has attended over 150 births, her favorite being the birth of her daughter, Miranda, on a beautiful spring day in 1997.

Ami Burnham, L.M.

Ami Burnham is a Licensed Midwife with the Medical Board of California. She began her healthcare career with a certificate in Massage Therapy in 1997, which led her to midwifery school two years later. Ami began attending births in 2000 as a student at the Seattle Midwifery School, a three-year direct-entry midwifery program, where she graduated in 2002.

Ami then went on to work at a busy community-based medical clinic on the south side of Chicago, where she had done some of her apprenticeship as a student. She worked at the Alivio Medical Center for a year-and-a-half as a homebirth midwife, childbirth educator and lactation consultant until administrative changes caused the closure of many of the programs.

Ami moved to the Bay Area in early 2004 and began assisting with multiple home and hospital practices. She has worked as an in-home lactation consultant, and taught childbirth preparation, breastfeeding, and CPR classes both privately and at the Day One Center. In June of 2005 she sat for her lactation boards and is now an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.

Ami joined Rites of Passage in October 2005. She has been honored to work with hundreds of wonderful families throughout their childbearing years and to have attended close to 200 births since beginning her work in midwifery in 1999.

Chanti Smith

Chanti Smith joined Rites of Passage as an apprentice-midwife in June of 2004.

Chanti is a student of the National Midwifery Institute and the Castellino Pre- and Perinatal Birth Psychology Training. She comes to Rites of Passage with 10 years of experience in the Healing Arts. Chanti is a Certified Massage Practitioner specializing in Acupressure, Chinese Organ Massage, Jin Shin Jyutsu, and Structural Energetics. She is also an Herbalist, Yoga Teacher, and Labor/Postpartum Doula. Chanti is available to give pre- and post-natal private sessions.

Chanti also offers traditional Chinese Medicine placenta encapsulation for postpartum recovery.