Sarah Pontell
Midwife (Women's Wellness)

Sarah Pontell is a traditional midwife trained in the apprenticeship model. She is a graduate of the National Midwifery Institute,
a direct-entry three year midwifery school, and has extensively studied multicultural views of the body, western herbs, and diverse aspects of healing.

Sarah completed her midwifery training at a high-volume clinic on the Texas/Mexico border, and she has assisted women in rural hospitals in South India. She holds a BA is Women's Studies from UC Berkeley and is a certified acupressure practitioner. She earned both her Midwifery License (LM) from the California Medical Board and her Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) certification from the North American Registry of Midwives in 2000. She gave birth at home to her daughter Dahlia in 2003.

Sarah offers midwifery Well-Woman care including annual exams, Pap smears/ labwork, Reproductive/Birth Control counseling, (pre-conception, fertility awareness, pregnancy, post-partum) Diaphragm/Cervical Cap fittings, Breast exam, Nutritional/Herbal assessments. She offers a sliding scale and insurance billing. In addition to her Well-Woman care practice at Upaya, she catches babies in her homebirth practice, Harvest Moon Midwifery. She believes that birth should be without violence, and that women can gain empowerment through this supreme rite of passage.