Kate Davidson (Silverton) is a retired direct-entry midwife – credentialed without first becoming a nurse. Davidson was a driving force in the establishment of certification for direct-entry midwives in Oregon. In addition to taking care of women’s health, she is a talented artist, avid gardener, and excellent cook. She especially enjoys preparing traditional Jewish holiday foods.
Bio
Kate Davidson and her husband moved to Oregon in 1971 and settled in Silverton, just east of Salem. After the birth of her son, Davidson approached a midwife she met through a mutual friend about taking her on as an apprentice. When her mentor moved, Davidson was the only midwife in the Willamette Valley. She practiced from the early 1980s onwards, delivering over 2000 babies, 750 of which were home births. She went back to school in 1996 and graduated a certified nurse midwife, which enabled her to practice in a hospital. Davidson was a driving force in the establishment of licensing for direct-entry midwives in Oregon. Direct-entry midwives are not trained nurses; they learn midwifery through apprenticeships and self-study and sometimes formal education. They primarily work in homes or birthing centers, minimize the use of technology and drugs, and provide psychological counseling for the mother before and after the birth. After the legislative battle for licensing, Davidson helped develop standards for safely completing a home birth and when complications (such as breach position or a multiple-birth pregnancy) require transitioning to a hospital. Davidson has grown throughout her career, even teaching hypnobirthing classes, a self-hypnotizing alternative to anesthesia that helps women deliver with less fear and pain. Although Davidson no longer delivers babies, she continues to be a women’s health practitioner. A compelling speaker, she has a wealth of stories to tell about her practice. During hospital water births, which didn’t allow mothers to give birth in the tubs, she caught the babies as the women rapidly moved onto the bed. Once, a delivering mother insisted that her German shepherds stay on the bed with her; the dogs fiercely guarded the newborn. Another story involves a birth mother who sang whenever she got contractions; she not only delivered quickly but got the attention of all the nurses on the floor. Davidson learned to cook from her mother, aunt, and friends. She is known for her delicious and traditional eastern European Jewish holiday dishes and her baking.
