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.

Prior to Midwifery, Nancy worked as a labor and postpartum doula for many years. She has done extensive research on breastfeeding and has a passion for the care and support of new families in the postpartum time.

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

Ami Burnham, LM, RN, IBCLC, CMT
Primary Midwife

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 has attended close to 300 births since beginning her work in midwifery in 1999.

Ami returned to school in 2007 and graduated Suma Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from San Francisco State University in May 2009. After completing her studies Ami joined Rites of Passage as full time partner with Nancy Myrick, CNM.

Kara Engelbrecht
Student Midwife

It was with the birth of her children that Kara found the path to midwifery. After training with Natural Resources in 2003, she began formally attending births as a doula in local San Francisco hospitals. An ever growing trust in women and birth lead her to The Farm Midwifery Clinic with Ina May Gaskin and Pamela Hunt, and then on to Elizabeth Davis' Hearts and Hands Midwifery Intensives. As her children grew, so did her passion for birth. At this time, Kara has worked with over 200 families, helped coordinate the volunteer doula program at San Francisco General Hospital and trained as a massage practitioner. In 2009, Kara joined Nancy and Ami as an apprentice midwife.

She is currently enrolled in the National College of Midwifery.

Michelle Welborn, LM
Assisting Midwife

Witnessing the birth of her sister-in-law's twins in 2002 inspired Michelle to change careers—although some might say she was destined to do this work because of her name! She began her education in 2006, and joined Rites of Passage in 2008 as an apprentice midwife. Michelle finished her training in 2009 and is now a licensed midwife. She has also been a birth and postpartum doula, a childbirth, lactation and newborn care educator and has trained as a massage practitioner. She has attended over 200 births in San Francisco and the surrounding area at homes, birth centers and hospitals.

Michelle's formal training is through DONA, Lamaze International, Natural Resources, The National Midwifery Institute, Elizabeth Davis' Hearts and Hands Midwifery program and The Farm Midwifery Clinic with Ina May Gaskin and Pamela Hunt. She spent the summer of 2008 volunteering in the busy maternity ward of the Port Vila hospital in Vanuatu. Michelle loves that she learns something new at each birth and is profoundly moved by the strength and wisdom she regularly sees from women and their partners. For more information see her website: welbornbaby.com

Nile Nash, RN, CNM, NP
Assisting Midwife

Nile has felt a calling to midwifery since witnessing her first homebirth at the young age of seven. Since then she has pursued the art of midwifery. With an undergraduate degree in Women's Studies Nile understands the complexity and importance of pregnancy, birth, and parenting in the larger context of women's lives.

Nile has been a certified birth doula (DONA) for the last five years, supporting private clients in both the hospital and homebirth settings. The last three years Nile has immersed herself in the study of midwifery. As a graduate of UC San Francisco's Certified Nurse Midwife and a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner program Nile has three years of experience in the hospital providing prenatal, birth, and postpartum care.

Before becoming a CNM herself, Nile studied with the wonderful midwives at the Farm Midwifery Clinic in Tennessee. She has also worked with traditional midwives in Mexico and has done extensive research into the culture of birth and how to best facilitate its natural process.

Recently Nile has been actively involving herself in Rites of Passage homebirth practice as an assistant midwife. She believes in homebirth and in supporting women and their families throughout their process of becoming a new family. As a childbirth educator and Birthing From Within mentor, Nile recognizes the importance of education and support and hopes to bring her knowledge and passion for birth to each client interaction.