Kristen Cates, CNM

My husband and I always knew that we wanted to have a home birth so, practically the day after I found out I was pregnant, I started researching midwives around the Bay Area. I arranged to meet with four midwives, Kristen being the last one and, almost immediately after our interview, we knew we had found our midwife! Kristen fit everything we were looking for. She is warm and friendly, very trustworthy, extremely well qualified and very open about her policy of transparency through honesty in every aspect of her care.
We started prenatal care so early on in my pregnancy (11 weeks) and, because of that, Kristen was the only provider I saw throughout the entire time. The care she gave was amazing and I can’t imagine having seen anyone else. For each visit, Kristen came to our home and spent time discussing the medical/​physical aspects of pregnancy as well as the emotional and mental experiences we were going through. She never judged or belittled our questions and was always open to answering them fully with her own knowledge, PDF articles and the books or DVDs from her own library that she lent us. Everything was so comprehensive that we really felt like we were in control of our birth process and the decisions surrounding it. Kristen really emphasized that we were a team and active participants in our birth and that we were as responsible in our learning and preparation as she was in monitoring the growth and development of our baby and my body. That shared responsibility, and the homework and exercises Kristen gave us along the way, really gave us the means to grow both as a couple and as new parents-​to-​be going through this experience for the first time.
Kristen was extremely flexible with our needs throughout. While she recommended certain diagnostic tests, she never forced her opinion on us. She gave us the information and allowed us to come to our own conclusion about what tests and procedures we wanted to have done. Kristen also readily accepted and encouraged a lot of partner participation. This meant that she was flexible in changing around her schedule to meet with us when my husband was home from work. Those times were extremely necessary in making sure that he was as prepared as I was for what was to come. Finally, there was never a doubt that we could always reach Kristen whenever we needed her. We always had options of getting in contact, whether it was an emergency or just a quick question. That level of availability was invaluable.
For my birth, Kristen was so calm and supportive. She refocused my breathing so that I could easily birth my baby and made me feel safe and secure throughout the whole process. The immediate postpartum was precious and Kristen made sure to take care of me and my baby while still respecting the new family bonding time. Postpartum care has been equally as wonderful with Kristen monitoring my healing process, the baby’s growth and our transition into parenthood. She helped us troubleshoot breastfeeding issues in the very beginning, showed Papa how to properly burp his new bundle and offered suggestions for diaper rash and all sorts of other first-​time parent woes.
While I could go on and on about everything we love about Kristen, the bottom-​line is that she was the best choice for us personally and for the birth we wanted. We love her dearly and have come to regard her as more than a midwife; she is a friend. There is no doubt that, when baby #2 is on their way, I will make sure Kristen is there to see that baby come into the world. We are so grateful that such a beautiful, caring, gentle, qualified midwife was with us when our little girl made her debut.

a pregnancy can be a very beautiful experience. when my husband and i found out we were pregnant, i knew i wanted a natural home water birth experience. finding the right midwive to guide us along in the process was the hard part. we interviewed about 3 – 4 midwives. After speaking with eva and her also amazing partner, kristen cates, i knew they were the ones.
I started care at about 3 – 4 months into my pregnancy. we did the initial checkups and ultrasounds at the hospital, but after 3 – 4 months i went to the midwives care completely. The 1^st apt at the doc office lasted about 15 – 20 minutes. The 3^rd apt was finally with the actual doc as opposed to the nurse, and that lasted about 10 minutes, where she specifically said, she works m-​f 9 – 5 if i am having the baby outside of those times, then i get the doc on call. OK! After that i knew i didnt want to be there under that care. My 1^st apt with Eva and Kristen was the complete opposite. They care about you as a person. they want the father involved. they care about the pregnancy and the support in your life. they want you to know what is happening with your changing body and what to expect. They care about what is going in my life. Bottom line is they care. Why, because it all ties into your pregnancy experience.
Through out my entire care with Kristen, i had the utmost confidence in her knowledge, skills and support. I had a relatively easy pregnancy with minor complications, all of which Kristen was available and guided me to the next steps and kept me at ease.
Kristen is such a wonderful person. her smile just puts me at ease. She genuinely cares and loves her work.
The labor! wow! intense. 30 hours of labor is intense, but through it all Kristen was by my side, doing all the vital checks and keeping her promise to care for me and the baby. It was an amazing experience.
The PP care as well is truly amazing. Just the fact that they come to the house is great! But they explained everything to me and my husband. Do you know what the placenta actually looks like all opened up? It is truly amazing. Mariana, our little one, had her initial check up in our bed. How precious is that?! Priceless! I had some tearing, which Kristen stitched up for me in my own home. All the follow up apts were just as wonderful and a learning experience. You learn so much about your body, and what is happening.
I can go on forever about my experience with Kristen, with homebirth, but i wont. Bottom line, Kristen is a wonderful midwife and i could not have been as prepared as i was or been able to do this without her!
We had a successful home water birth to a beautiful baby girl, named Mariana.

We LOVE Kristen!!! We interviewed 3 midwives in our search and picked Kristen because she is a competent nurse (has the technical skills) and also so compassionate and down to earth. She has a lot of experience and that was clear the whole way through. On the rare occasions when she didn’t know the answer to a question, she would investigate and get back to us.
(My wife and I are writing this together.)
Her visits to our home were relaxed and really informative. We didn’t realize that we even had so many questions, and she would just talk with us and they would come up. She has great diagrams and handouts the whole way along that helped us understand exactly what we’d gotten ourselves into. The birth plan meeting was great and she facilitated all 5 people we invited, getting them ready for anything. She loaned us DVDs and books the whole way through so that by the time of the first contraction, we felt ready and confident that it would all go well.
The labor was everything we hoped. We called Kristen in the morning and calmly assessed the situation, coming over while I was still in the beginning stages of labor. She talked with us and we laughed and walked the house together like old friends. She has a real knack for making me feel comfortable and reminding me to listen to my body.
She was completely present when the going got tough, reminding me to breathe in a way that didn’t make me crazy. Her midwife assist, Eva, was also a gem. At one point the baby’s heart rate went down for awhile and she gave me oxygen and showed me how to help bring it back up. It worked like a charm. When his head seemed stuck, she was an amazing cheerleader and after about 90 minutes of pushing in our bed, I delivered the most wonderful, healthy baby boy. The aftercare has been great too. My mom was so impressed with how she checked in with my emotional as well as physical state. She has taken great care of us the whole way through.
Did we mention she teaches prenatal yoga, and is a lactation specialist, and a part time school nurse, and speaks Spanish, and, and, and!?! Also, we’re a queer couple and she of course was wonderful and open to that, asking all the right questions with a confusing extended family. We hope to have another child someday and would most definitely ask Kristin to midwife it into the world. See was wonderful in a million ways. We could write another 3 paragraphs why, but the baby’s up and we’re off to enjoy him! Good luck with your search. You won’t go wrong with Kristen.
(ps. read the filtered reviews!)

Kristen is a sweet and caring midwife who I had the pleasure of meeting with for one of my prenatal appointments (my main midwife was on vacation). She listens well and I had a great visit with her! She really helped me when I was having some severe anxiety and also recommended some herbs that helped with this. She is very up to date on evidenced based practice and I trusted her completely.