About
About Amma Midwifery
Amma Midwifery is the midwifery & lactation practice of Anjali Sardeshmukh (She/Her), based in Huichin territory, Oakland, California. I provide midwifery & lactation care in Oakland and the greater East Bay & SF, and occasionally Miami, Fl. Amma Midwifery was established in 2009 in Miami, Florida and named after one of the South Asian words for “mother.” In the fall of 2021, my practice was reborn as Amma Midwifery, to honor my grandma, who taught us how special it was to be cared for and to be loved.
Photo by Lara Kaur.
About Anjali
My mother's story of birthing my younger brother in India with Amma, her mom, by her side, inspired me to become a midwife.
I am a certified professional midwife (CPM) and a licensed midwife (LM) in Florida since 2009, and in California since 2017. I have practiced midwifery in birth centers and at home. I became a lactation consultant (IBCLC) in 2024.
I have learned about pregnancy & birth from my family, community midwives, traditional birthworkers, hospital trained midwife colleagues, old school OBs, my midwife: Sheila Simms-Watson, my spiritual teacher: Melana Plains, the beautiful families I have supported, and from my beloved child, born at home on a tropical day.
Photo of my aunt, me, and my baby bro.
About the legacy
Birth is a profound rite of passage and and incredibly transformative. It is a dance between a new human and the person who is birthing them. Birth can be joyful, humbling, vulnerable, intense, healing, powerful, and an invitation to experience deep love.
I love midwifery’s reverence of this transformative journey. Midwifery is both simple in its approach and simultaneously profound: a legacy of ancient wisdom.
Midwifery honors our humanity, and our stories: past, present, and future.
Photo by Ariella Prol
About the future
Midwifery lives on with families choosing midwives and through the hands of future midwives. Please meet apprentice midwife Kaiayo - who will be in a primary apprentice role with my practice until November 2025.
Kaiayo Z. Shatteen (they/them/theirs) is an Afro Indigenous (Aniyunwiya & Chahta), Queer Parent of two young adults. They live on the Unceded Land of the Lisjan Ohlone People where they are a Reproductive Justice Advocate, Apprentice Homebirth Midwife, LGBTQIA2S+ Equity Consultant and a Recovery Motivational Speaker. They give thanks to their Ancestors for guiding them daily. Kaiayo has a deep commitment to ending the injustice that puts BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ and Gender Non Conforming communities at the bottom when it comes to positive birth outcomes, access to inclusive health care, and equity in the workplace. Kaiayo is also a contributor to the book, The Majestic Place: The Freedom Possible in Black Women’s Leadership.
They are a practicing Buddhist, holding The Five Precepts and The Eightfold Path near their heart. Kaiayo shares the benefits of their sobriety and the joys of staying on the path of recovery. They are open, free, and live courageously with love, joy, and compassion. Kaiayo is a midwifery student in their last year of school and will be starting a homebirth midwifery practice in Huichin/Oakland, CA. once they are licensed as a Certified Professional Midwife.
Photo of Kaiayo Z. Shatteen