Per Diem

RACHEL HANUS
APRN, CNM

KERRY HORTON
APRN, CNM

BETH PRZYBYLSKI
APRN, CNM

ASZANI STODDARD
APRN, CNM

CARRIE YOUNG
APRN, CNM
Minneapolis (612) 545-5311 St. Paul (651) 689-3988
APRN, CNM
APRN, CNM
APRN, CNM
APRN, CNM
APRN, CNM
Thank you all so much for creating such a warm, nurturing setting for our baby’s arrival into this world! It could not have been more perfect. I am eternally grateful to you ladies for your emotional and physical support during my labor– you inspired me to stay strong and made this birth an incredible experience that our little family will cherish forever.
Director of Midwifery
While she may not be a native to Minnesota, Minnesota holds a special place in her heart as it is where she met her husband and is the birthplace of her 3 children. While growing up, Ann moved frequently to many different states, which contributed to her appreciation of cultural
diversity. As a provider, she strives to empower the families she serves through education, support, and shared decision making. Her goal is to provide gentle, compassionate, holistic care to all.
Ann’s midwifery journey began in her teens after she was inspired by a group of midwives she had the pleasure of working with. She graduated with her B.S. in Nursing degree from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2005 and continued to work as a labor and delivery nurse for the next 14 years.
After expanding her family, she returned to school and graduated with a Master of Science in Midwifery from Frontier Nursing University in 2019. For the past 3 years, she has worked at a
birth center in Southern California. She is excited to be back to the Twin Cities community and is honored to serve the families at the Minnesota Birth Center.
Outside of work, Ann enjoys traveling, hiking, crocheting, quilting, and spending time with her husband, 3 children, 2 dogs, and guinea pig.
APRN, CNM
Toni grew up mainly in Wisconsin, but married a Minnesotan, so the children have been raised in both places. She started in OB early in her nursing career and soon found the passion that drives her today. Toni received her B.S. in Nursing from Winona State University in 1997 and her M.S. in midwifery from the University of Minnesota in 2010. She knows that God has given women amazing capabilities. Honoring and promoting this as much as possible led her down the midwifery path with a healthy respect to use the wisdom given us to identify the more uncommon complications in pregnancy and childbirth and respond safely. She has witnessed this numerous times during her 13 years of nursing and seven years of midwifery service prior to arriving here at the Minnesota Birth Center. Midwifery also allowed her to focus on women’s health which directly affects the woman, family, community, and world. She enjoys this aspect of care, too. She has had the opportunity to partner with women and families from all walks of life and feels completely enriched by it.
Toni has been blessed with a supportive partner, Darin, of over 20 years, whom she credits for strengthening her and their family. They have two wonderful daughters, Hope and Chloe, who are growing way too quickly and starting to get out on their own in very different ways. Her mother, GG, is also under her care and a large part of her life. The other members of the family, their three dogs Tucker, Addie, and Chowder, also fulfill them and keep them busy. The family enjoys traveling, biking, lake life, and great eats. Toni is also a bit of a novice carpenter and always likes to have a project.
For Toni, the Minnesota Birth Center feels like home professionally and spiritually, offering healthcare in a safe, peaceful and loving place.
Midwife
Aubrey grew up in the Twin Cities and is proud to call St. Paul home. Aubrey spent her undergraduate career at the U of M and Bethel University where she received her BSN. After having children of her own, she realized the profound impact pregnancy and birth have on a woman’s life. This was instrumental in her decision to go back to school to become a midwife. She earned her Master of Science in Nurse-Midwifery at Bethel University in St. Paul. She has enjoyed providing care to women in the birth center, home birth, and hospital setting.
Aubrey believes in empowering women and she prioritizes building trusting relationships with those in her care. She highly values providing thorough education so that women have the information they need to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. Providing health care that is both holistic and evidence-based is a priority for her. Aubrey is grateful for the opportunity to be a caring and supportive provider during some of life’s most transformative moments.
When she’s not at work, Aubrey enjoys spending time with family and friends. She has fun baking, traveling, rock climbing, and biking. She looks forward to partnering with our patients in their care!
Midwife
Katie S. brings over 30 years of experience working with women and babies in clinic, hospital, home, and birth center settings to the Minnesota Birth Center. While pregnancy, birth and babies are all miracles, she became a midwife because she wanted to offer women and families gentle, attentive, and evidence-based care during such an important time in their lives. She frequently finds herself in awe as she sees women find their own powerful, intuitive ways through their pregnancy, birthing and life transitions. “Women are amazing!” she says.
Katie moved from Minneapolis to Duluth in 1998 with her young family, and now travels from Duluth back to the Twin Cities to serve the Minnesota Birth Center community. She loves Duluth and all the wildness and gorgeous serenity of the nearby woods and waters. “It feeds my spirit!” she says. She describes herself as a happy mom, wife and midwife, and a proud Minnesota native who gained both her nursing and midwifery degrees from the University of Minnesota.
Midwife
Kara was born and raised in Minnesota and after traveling all over the world, couldn’t find a better place to call home. She has been working with families in a variety of ways since 2007: for over a decade as a labor and delivery nurse and now as a midwife.
Kara believes strongly in the power of autonomy of families during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum transition. She believes that a “good birth” is one where families receive safe, evidenced-based care where they are respected and able to communicate their family choices freely with their care team.
Her home consists of two kids, two dogs, one husband, and a wonderful network of family and friends. She is excited to be a part of the incredible community of birth workers that the Twin Cities offers.
APRN, CNM
Jillian learned about the midwifery model of care from the midwives at the Maternity Center Association Birth Center in NYC during her first pregnancy. Her childbearing years ignited a
passion for normal, physiologic birth, and the rights of birthing people to be respected participants in their care.
She realized her calling to midwifery while working as a doula and childbirth educator in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas at Holy Family Services Birth Center. Her advocacy for safe birth options includes bringing awareness of maternity care issues to communities with the play Birth! This documentary-style play tells the stories of eight birth experiences, including her own.
After graduating from Goshen College with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Jillian worked as a labor and delivery nurse while she got her Master of Science in Midwifery from Thomas Jefferson University. Jillian has attended births in hospitals, homes, and birth centers and is committed to community options for childbirth. She loves partnering with people in their health and reproductive journeys and is passionate about dismantling systems of injustice that uphold health disparities and inequalities. She believes that every birthing person, their partners, and their family, deserve inclusive, respectful care.
Jillian is excited to be living in the Twin Cities. She enjoys exploring new places, learning about new things, music, and the arts. She loves how theatre, especially musical theatre, provides a space that allows people to explore new ideas. More than anything, she loves interacting with her grown children and is always eager to see in what new ways she will learn about the world from them!
APRN, CNM
Katie grew up in the Twin Cities, leaving for a brief 5-year stint to complete her Bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After returning to Minnesota, to be closer to family, she completed her nursing degree at the University of Minnesota. Kie began her nursing career as an Emergency Department nurse, and most recently has experience working as a high-risk labor and delivery and antepartum nurse, coincidentally on the same unit she was born! While she loved the clinical puzzle and high acuity of complex perinatal conditions, this experience spurred a passion for witnessing and honoring physiologic birth. She decided to follow this passion and continue her education to
become a certified nurse midwife and graduated with a degree in midwifery from the University of Minnesota. One of her favorite aspects of midwifery is that she gets to be present with families as they welcome new family members and transition into a new phase of life. Katie lives in St Paul with her husband, 2 dogs and 2 cats. She enjoys exploring locally, spending time with her CrossFit family at the gym and skiing anywhere she can in the winter.
APRN, CNM
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APRN, CNM
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APRN, CNM
Ally grew up in Minnesota and is now settled in Arden Hills after completing both her undergraduate and graduate degrees through Bethel University. Her nursing background consists of experience in Med/Surg, Postpartum, Labor and Delivery, NICU, and Pediatric Home Care. After beginning her role as a nurse at an out of hospital birth center, she was inspired to become a midwife. Her midwifery school experience consisted of both in and out of hospital births but she knew after delivering her first child at an out of hospital birth center, that was where she wanted to practice. She believes in the midwifery model of care to educate people about their bodies across a lifetime to be able to make the most informed choices for themselves and their families. When not at work, she enjoys daily dog/baby walks, house DIY projects, and drinking all of the coffee.
APRN, CNM
I am originally from Michigan, where I completed my undergraduate degree in Health Studies and Psychology from Michigan State University in 2011. While at MSU, I was a sexual health educator at our campus clinic where my initial interests in reproductive health really began to blossom. I then moved out to Colorado where I was a reproductive health educator at a community health center through an Americorps program. It took me a few years from then to figure out that nursing was the direction for me to go, and how to make that happen. After living in Colorado for 5 years, I moved to Minnesota to pursue nursing – and am now excited to be part of this community!
APRN, CNM
Kayla became fascinated with birth after having the privilege of seeing her little brother enter the world when she was 12 years old. As she grew into her passion for maternal health, she was particularly interested in the sociopolitical forces that impact women’s autonomy in healthcare and inspired by the idea that there were true choices in childbirth.
She earned a B.A. in Gender and Women Studies and Theatre and Drama from the University of Wisconsin- Madison, a Master of Public Health degree from Benedictine University, and Master of Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees from the University of Minnesota.
Prior to nursing, Kayla was a birth doula in the Twin Cities and worked on the development of sustainable doula support programming in the nonprofit sector.
Kayla continues to strive to make birth better in Minnesota and beyond. She feels privileged to work alongside a dedicated and compassionate team at MBC and honored to be present for families, providing the care that they deserve during life’s most transformative moments.
The things that bring Kayla joy in life are good music, intensely competitive team trivia, comedic relief and her fab four, which include her husband Daniel and three tiny humans Genevieve, Lillebelle, and Maverick.
APRN, CNM
Diane Banigo is a doctorate-prepared nurse-midwife, a perinatal consultant, an educator, and a small business owner.
With over 21 years of experience in maternity care and women’s health, Diane passionately supports people from all walks of life. Dr. Banigo champions systemic equity with a particular interest in fostering socially safe, harm-free, and culturally congruent care for individuals in communities with the worst birth-related disparities
and racialized lived experiences. She has helped 100s of women give birth (in and out of the hospital setting) and has worked as a program developer and reflective bridge builder to advance women’s self-worth and gratitude.
When Dr. Banigo is not at women’s bedside, she is with her community or helping other organizations cultivate change through Ignited Faces of Beauty (iFOB) or Igniting Power of Woman (iPOW). These organizations foster collaborative work to design and implement culturally responsive and inclusive solutions to narrow
disparities, model equity, and ignite women to tap into their womanly divinity to be and lead the necessary change.
You can find Diane laughing with friends or traveling with her husband, two sons, and Rasta, the family dog, in her downtime.
Administrative Director
Emily attended Gustavus Adolphus College and is a Twin Cities enthusiast. She has almost ten years HR experience from her time in the staffing industry. Emily became interested in how the midwifery model of care empowers women after her personal experience of transferring from a hospital system to MBC mid-way through her third pregnancy. Emily is humbled to support the midwives and nurses of this organization. She lives in Minneapolis with her family and enjoys all things French, cooking, and dystopian novels.