Rachel Fracassa, CPM
My first introduction to birth came when I was 11 years old and watched my younger brother being born. It was a highly medical, highly interventive birth, and for a long time that was simply what I understood birth to be.
When I began having my own babies, my understanding of birth kept expanding. My first two were born in the hospital, and with each pregnancy I found myself asking more questions, wanting to participate more fully, and discovering how much the environment surrounding birth can shape the experience.
By my third baby, I was planning my first homebirth. He had other ideas and was born on the side of the highway on our way home. It was perhaps an unusually literal introduction to birth as an adventure.
With my fourth baby came another realization that seems so simple now: I could catch my own baby. I could be the first person to touch him. I did, and that moment changed something for me. There was something profound about realizing how much of birth could belong to the woman actually doing it.
My path into midwifery unfolded alongside all of this, stopping and starting through pregnancies, babies, and raising children. I trained through apprenticeship with midwives in Central Missouri and the Kansas City area, learning through years of hands-on practice before becoming a Certified Professional Midwife. One of the sweetest full-circle moments came when I had the privilege of catching my first granddaughter.
Somewhere along the way, I also fell in love with bodywork and with asking questions about how bodies move, adapt, compensate, and make space. That curiosity is woven deeply into the way I practice midwifery now. I continue studying bodywork, fetal positioning, breech birth, and the wonderfully varied ways women and babies move through pregnancy and birth.
Today I own MATRIA Holistic Midwifery, a small homebirth practice based in Shawnee, Kansas. I keep my practice intentionally small because I like having room to pay attention: to know the woman I’m caring for, understand what’s important to her, notice the details, and stay curious when something unfolds differently than expected.
I still think birth is profound. I also think birth can be really fun. There can be seriousness and skill alongside laughter, adventure, wonder, and the occasional unexpected turn. I feel incredibly fortunate that I get to spend my life around all of it.
MATRIA serves families throughout the Kansas City metro and surrounding communities.