Meet the Midwives & Team
We've supported Metro DC & Maryland families since 2007. How can we help your new family?
Metro Area Midwives & Allied Services
Mujeres Ayundando Mujeres a la Salud
Mairi Breen Rothman, CNM, DM, FACNM
My interest in birth started when I had my first baby, and then became a Bradley childbirth educator. My first career was as a modern dancer and choreographer, but the first time I saw a birth that was not my own, I thought to myself, “I could never make a dance that good!” Gradually moving along the path to midwifery, I had three more children. I have given birth once in the hospital with a doctor, once in the hospital with a midwife, and twice at home with a midwife—or two!
I have had a long-held dream of being “the village midwife,” serving people who live right around me, and holding the space for them to have the births that they envision for themselves, no matter what their circumstances. I was so happy to find Erin Fulham CNM and learn that we shared the same dream, which led us to start M.A.M.A.S., the first home birth midwifery service based in Takoma Park! Erin is now retired, but Emily, Luisely, and I continue to live the dream of offering state-of-the-art, personalized, evidence-based care to women and people assigned female at birth, throughout the lifespan.
We are interested in hearing about every aspect of our client’s lives and are passionately committed to providing state-of-the-art, client-centered perinatal care, breastfeeding, early parenting, gyn care, fertility services, primary care, and urgent care. My most deeply-held belief is that every woman and birthing person is entitled to autonomy, respect, and compassionate care, and full authority over their body and their health.
I completed my midwifery training at the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing in 1996, and in 2019 became one of the first eight Doctors of Midwifery in the U.S. (through the Midwifery Institute at Jefferson). When I am not catching babies, I love to read, go to the movies, and sing.
A few of my favorite things...
Favorite Book: The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk
Favorite Movies: Contact, Love Actually
Favorite Musicians: Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Michael Jackson, Gloria Estefan, and my own kids (look for “epuline” on soundcloud.com)!
Luisely Melecio-Zambrano, CPM, LDEM, MDiv
Luisely felt called to accompany birthing people at the tender age of 4. After a few births, a few decades and another career she began studying to become a midwife. She studied in El Paso, Texas and did her clinical at a birth center on the US/Mexico border. She became a Certified Professional Midwife in 2017 and has worked alongside homebirth midwives in Puerto Rico and southern Alabama. She feels honored and privileged to be called to witness the miraculous strength, love, and body wisdom of pregnant/birthing people and their families. Luisely believes in the sacredness of birth and sees part of her role as a guardian of that sacredness. Prior to becoming a midwife Luisely accompanied people who were sexually exploited, experiencing incarceration, working as commercial sex workers and other marginalized members of our community in the US, Haiti and Brazil. Luisely accompanies people who want to deepen their unique spirituality as a spiritual director. She offers her spiritual direction services at www.birthinglight.org.
Emily Johnson, CNM, MSN, IBCLC
It was during my service in the Peace Corps that I first met community midwives, and life experiences have continued to show me how community is integral to the work that we do to serve birthing persons and their families. Upon my return to the U.S., I completed my nursing degree at Johns Hopkins & served as a doula in the Birth Companions program. This solidified my passion and love for evidenced-based, holistic, person-centered midwifery care. I then worked for the Indian Health Service as a labor & delivery and postpartum nurse with the Diné (Navajo) and White Mountain Apache nations for 4 wonderful years. I completed my MSN as a Certified Nurse-Midwife at the University of New Mexico and moved back to the DMV following my husband, Dan, an officer in the US Public Health Service.
After 2 years as a midwife, I gave birth to my first child Grant at home, a life-changing, beautiful experience while being supported by my fellow M.A.M.A.S. midwives. As an Internationally Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) I love serving breast/chest-feeding parents, working towards a successful lactation journey and troubleshooting issues along the way.
In my personal mission in midwifery, I aim to create spaces that are equitable, safe, and honoring of all persons. I believe that people are experts of their own bodies. I strive to question my personal ways of knowing and constantly reflect on the impact of biases in healthcare. I hope to always honor the art and science of midwifery, walking alongside those I serve through their journeys of health and wellness.
A few of my favorite things...
In my spare time I enjoy hiking, camping, exploring National Parks with my husband & son, going on food tours, finding the best donuts in town, listening to educational podcasts, and watching Pixar movies.
Favorite Book: Tattoos on the Heart by Father Gregory Boyle
Favorite Podcasts: More Perfect, Revisionist History, Evidence Based Birth, The Birth Hour
Leslie Hill Jenkins
Leslie has three children—the first born in a Boston area hospital, and the next two born at home in Maryland. After the birth of her second child, she traded in her administrative role at a Fortune 500 company for the satisfaction of using her considerable skills to support her family, and home birth midwifery.
Leslie came to M.A.M.A.S. after working with several area midwives for 5 years and homeschooling her children Leslie says that M.A.M.A.S. and home birth is not about catching babies, but building strong healthy families. Leslie sees her role in supporting families as helping clients manage everything about having a baby that involves PAPER, from billing, to insurance, to FMLA forms, to registering your birth, and is also happy to dispense invaluable parenting advice based on the wisdom gained through parenting three children. When not arguing with insurance companies on your behalf, Leslie enjoys helping with the Maryland 4-H aerospace program, challenging herself at the gym, and cheering on her football-star youngest child, who is headed off to play college football in the Fall of 2023.
Taiwo I Adeloye-Ajao, MPH BSN RN
"Tia" Ajao is a DC-born, Baltimore-raised child of immigrant parents from Nigeria, West Africa. She obtained her Masters of Public Health degree in Maternal & Child Health in 2008 and chose to secure a career as a perinatal nurse & a doula in 2015, due to her own experiences as a mother of two & as a birth advocate in her community. Tia began birth assisting in 2019, and has since served a variety of midwifery practices in the Greater Baltimore & DMV areas. Tia is currently a student of midwifery. She enjoys supporting physiologic birth and guiding the next generation of nurse professionals as a clinical instructor.
Alex Fitzpatrick, MSN, SCNM, RN
Alex has attended births since 2014 when she shadowed M.A.M.A.S. and fell in love with the physiologic and patient-centered care they provide. She quickly became a Certified Birth Doula, while an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. Upon graduating (Double Major in Spanish and Women’s & Gender Studies), she moved back to Baltimore, Maryland, to attend Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She became heavily involved in the Birth Companions program, which trains student nurses to provide free doula support and received her MSN in 2020. Since then, Alex has worked as a Labor and Delivery nurse, bringing as much physiologic, gentle, evidence-based care as possible to the hospital setting.
She began Midwifery School in 2022 at Frontier Nursing University and will graduate in 2024. She is also a clinical instructor for Hopkins and CCBC students and adores teaching new nurses to be patient advocates and critical thinkers in the medical space. In her free time, she loves long runs with her partner and two dogs, DIY-projects around the house, and crime podcasts. Alex is so grateful to M.A.M.A.S. for igniting her passion for birth-work and so excited to work with you!