about
THE practice
Pacific Midwifery is an Arroyo Grande-based midwifery practice serving families in the Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo areas. As a small practice, we focus on providing each client with individualized, compassionate, holistic care.
We believe that evidence-based healthcare works best when delivered in a relationship-based model. Because of this core belief, Pacific Midwifery strives to provide every client with dedicated attention and support.
Pacific Midwifery offers comprehensive care for all stages of a woman’s life. This includes annual well-woman visits, pregnancy care and home birth services, and professional lactation consultation.
Photo Credit: Bethany Joy Photography.
MEET THE MIDWIFE
Megan Bochum
LM, CPM, IBCLC
Megan’s background, interests, and education all held clues to her future; however she didn’t set out with the intention of becoming a midwife.
In fact, even with an undergraduate degree in Cultural Anthropology with an emphasis in Women’s Studies, she didn’t know what a midwife was until after she had already had two children of her own.
Megan is the proud mother of four sons. Each has a story of how they entered into this world as different as the story of who they are. Each birth story shaped Megan into the woman she is today and informs her practice.
Megan counts midwives as allies in health. They are there to journey with a woman as she transitions from girl to woman, through the childbearing years, and beyond.
As midwife means “with woman” it is clear that midwives have always been about more than just pregnancy and birth. Midwives have been the carriers of truth for millenia, honing their education and their skills to meet the needs of their communities.
They have safeguarded normal and protected variations in all areas of women’s health. They have treated, laughed, and cried with the families in their care. They have puzzled and researched and practiced in various disciplines to complement their skills. This is the model of midwifery in which Megan believes.
Megan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Cultural Anthropology with a minor in Women’s Studies from the University of the Pacific.
She is a Certified Childbirth Educator with the Association of Labor Assistants and Childbirth Educators.
She is a graduate of the National College of Midwifery and a Licensed Midwife in good standing with the California State Medical Board.
She is also a Certified Professional Midwife as granted by the North American Registry of Midwives.
She’s a former co-leader of the International Cesarean Awareness Network of SLO, and holds active certifications in Neonatal Resuscitation, CPR, and Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics.
Megan is a professional Lactation Consultant as certified by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners.
She is currently pursuing her passion for herbal studies in Aviva Romm’s Herbal Medicine for Women program.
megan’s Road to Midwifery
Megan’s first two sons were born via Cesarean, the first after a lengthy induction and the second by choice. Her second birth experience proved to be a watershed moment; it was so different than what she had imagined or wanted for herself and her baby. Yet it wasn’t until her sister-in-law invited Megan to attend a prenatal appointment (and then her birth) with her own midwives that Megan began to understand there was a different type of care available.
One Sunday morning, in a small and unassuming birth center nestled next to a church, worship music filling the air, Megan was present as her nephew was born. Megan recalls watching that shift of woman to mother, couple into family.
She was captivated by the tender care the midwives provided. She was hooked.
Luli Martinez
Student Midwife
From a very early age Luli was fascinated with birth and a woman’s strength and glowing beauty during pregnancy. She was born in Mexico and brought to the US at the age of four. Being blessed with Mexican roots and a family dedicated to maintaining her rich culture here on the Central Coast in California informed every step Luli has taken on this journey into birth work. Her history is the foundation of the birth work she has done and inspires the work she still wants to do in the future.
She grew up listening and witnessing how distinct and variable birth experiences seemed depending on where she was and who she was surrounded by. Seeing and feeling this broad gamut of birth experiences helped her come to the realization that if she were to sit beside a mother during her child-bearing years, she wanted to do it in the most natural setting. To Luli, this meant listening and honoring a woman’s desires and following each mother’s guidance. Time after time, she has been blessed to witness the humbling process of a laboring mama coming to find her inner power during labor, no matter what route labor takes and what the final outcome may be.
She began her journey in the birthing community while pregnant with her first son in 2012. Early in 2013, she became a birth doula. She began exploring midwifery in 2014 when she dipped her feet in the water by attending an introductory course in midwifery. In 2015, she took a birth educator training through Birthing From Within. Each birth, along with each course, has expanded her passion and fascination towards pregnancy and birth, while shaping and defining the birth worker and person she is today.
In 2017, Luli began working as a midwife assistant with midwives in the San Luis Obispo and north Santa Barbara counties. In January 2020, she embarked on her on the next chapter in her journey, becoming a student midwife enrolled at the National Midwifery Institute. She looks forward to where this new path will take her and the families she will be blessed to meet.