Lisa Thomas Welch
From Lisa’s website:
“Our founder, Lisa Thomas Welch, believes that nothing in life compares to the rewards of having children, and that midwifery is a wonderful, healthy, and safe way to help bring these precious gifts into the world.
Beginning her midwifery studies in 1999, and completing her clinical training at Family Birth Services in 2005, Lisa received her Texas midwifery license in 2006, founded Due Rewards Midwifery, and has been providing personalized, gentle maternity care to low-risk pregnant women ever since.
Lisa is registered with the North American Registry of Midwives as a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM). As a midwife, she has delivered hundreds of babies and currently practices in Dallas, Fort Worth, and throughout North Texas.
Serving first-time and veteran moms alike (including repeat clients — Lisa’s current record is six deliveries for a single family!), Lisa provides comprehensive care throughout the pregnancy process and during labor and delivery, both for homebirths and in the home-like atmosphere of a freestanding birth center.
Raised in Southwest Missouri, Lisa moved to Texas in 2004 to finish her formal midwifery studies. After completing her clinical training at Family Birth Services in late 2005, she received her midwifery license in 2006, founded Due Rewards Midwifery, and has been practicing in North Texas ever since.
Over the years, Lisa has helped train many midwifery students in the timeless art of midwifery. She is known in the community for her love of teaching, and frequently offers midwifery workshops for practicing midwives and students.
When not involved in midwifery, Lisa enjoys the outdoors, cooking, playing games, spending time with her family, and especially spoiling her nephews and niece!
Lisa’s Personal Story
From a young age, I have been fascinated by pregnancy and birth. But it was not until I was in my mid-teens that I began to develop an interest in midwifery.
I was 17 when I witnessed my first birth, a homebirth attended by a doctor. I enjoyed it immensely. Witnessing the first cry of a new life is an experience that cannot be put into words. This same doctor kindly offered to allow me to shadow him as I began to pursue my studies, and his training allowed me to learn the mainstream medical model of care while I simultaneously studied the homebirth midwifery model of care — an invaluable approach that provided me a well-rounded perspective on birth.
Throughout my training, I witnessed many births in hospitals, freestanding birth centers, and homes. I soon developed the realization that each birth — and where it should take place — is as individual as the woman herself. My desire now as a certified midwife who has delivered hundreds of babies is to help families safely achieve the birth that they desire in the environment where they are most comfortable. I have the utmost respect for each pregnant mother and the decisions she and her family make about where and how to give birth, and I strongly believe each mother deserves proper modesty, respect, and dignity during the birth process.
I was educated at home for my elementary and secondary education, graduating in December of 1999. Upon graduation, I enrolled in the Telos Institute International, a post-secondary distance learning school, to complete prerequisite courses to begin my midwifery academics. After completing the prerequisite courses in 2001, I was accepted into the midwifery program of the Medical Training Institute (MTI). The MTI Midwifery program is an intense academic training course that prepares its students academically for the rigors of midwifery. This formal academic training course covers basic gynecology and the prenatal, labor, birth, and postpartum periods. It consists of bi-annual conferences, rigorous testing, and intensive written assignments. Because of the program’s design, students learn how to research many topics and then determine their own beliefs about the many controversial areas in birth based on the available evidence. Throughout my midwifery career I have been very grateful for this acquired skill, which I have used in my continuing research and to enhance my teaching of other midwives and students.
To gain practical, hands-on midwifery experience, I applied for an internship at Family Birth Services, a renowned Birth Center in Grand Prairie, Texas. I graduated from this internship in December 2005, at the same time as my graduation from the MTI midwifery program. In February 2006, I completed the final requirements to become licensed with the state of Texas, and registered with the North American Registry of Midwives as a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM). After receiving my license I served as the apprenticeship director for Family Birth Services for 5 years, providing midwifery care to my own clients and helping train many new midwives as well.
During my years as a midwife I have been honored to witness hundreds of new babies take their first breaths. The miracle of new life fresh from the Creator is still an incredibly remarkable event to behold, and I am grateful for the families who have allowed me the honor of walking with them through this special journey. Each journey is unique and filled with its own remarkable story, and each new life is a celebration of His Glory. From the fantastic moment of delivering many families’ first babies, to the incredible honor of helping one mother with all six of her deliveries, my opportunity to serve as a midwife has been a great blessing . There have been births at home, in a birth center, and in the hospital. There are births that have gone as planned, and births where unique challenges have caused mothers to change plans. What an extraordinary journey it has been!”
Website: Welcome | Due Rewards Midwifery
