Whole Heart Healing Arts: Naturopathic Family Medicine and Midwifery
Kathryn Cranford, ND, NHCM

My Practice:

Greetings and congratulations on considering your many birthing options! As a licensed Naturopathic Doctor, Naturopathic Childbirth practitioner and as a Certified NH Midwife, I have been very well prepared to work with the full spectrum of your family care needs, from birth onward. In September 2005 I opened Whole Heart Healing Arts: Naturopathic Family Medicine and Midwifery, on Lake Winnipesaukee, in Meredith, NH. I currently attend out-of-hospital births and maintain a full naturopathic family practice, specializing in midwifery, women’s health care, pediatrics, and general family medicine. My ND degree allows me to not only attend you through the 9 months of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum time, but also to do your baby’s newborn exam, and to help maintain your newborn’s health into childhood, adolescence and beyond. In my practice, I employ the wisdom of nutrition, herbal medicine, homeopathic remedies and a limited scope of pharmaceutical agents, when necessary.

I am also affiliated with the Concord Birth and Wellness Center in Concord, so I can attend your birth at a home or in the birth center, where ever you find yourself most comfortable, as this is where your birth will go most smoothly and easily. I also teach childbirth education classes to help deepen your confidence, experience and understanding of your process throughout your birthing journey. Every birth is different, and sacred, whether this is your first or your fifth, and I am honored to participate when asked to serve in the capacity of midwife.

My Background:

I received my doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine and specialty Certification in Naturopathic Midwifery at Bastyr University in Kenmore, WA. This required completion of five years of naturopathic medical school concurrently with the 3 year midwifery program. I have been separately trained as a Doula at the Seattle Midwifery School, and as a Hypnobirthing childbirth instructor. My hands-on training has been in varied locations including hospitals, birthing centers and homebirths.

While in school at Bastyr, I attended births in hospitals and birthing centers in the Seattle area. Upon moving back home to New England, I completed at three-month rotation attending well woman care visits, prenatal visits and births with the 2 Certified Nurse Midwives at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. This was followed by 4 years in private practice in Topsham, Maine. The first 2 of these years was spent practicing as a licensed ND and apprenticing as a midwife with the only ND Midwife in the state of Maine. I was very fortunate to spend the month of December 2002 in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, where I slept little, ate a lot of fresh mangos and attended 56 births in 3.5 weeks with the community’s wonderful midwives.

On my return to the states, I became a NARM Certified Professional Midwife in 2003, and continued in the Topsham practice, as an ND, and assisting and managing homebirth clients as a CPM. I also had a small private ND, CPM practice at the Ballard House, the only freestanding birthing center in the state of Maine. I became certified to teach Hypnobirthing childbirth education classes in 2003 and taught many classes between Topsham and at the Ballard House. Then, I fell in love, with New Hampshire, and with my husband who lives in NH, so I relocated to the beautiful lakes region. Accordingly, I became licensed in NH as an ND and as a practitioner of Naturopathic Childbirth, and became a NH Certified Midwife. And, I gave birth to our first child, a daughter, at home, in a birthing pool attended by midwives, but of course!

Professional Memberships

I maintain member in the following organizations: NHMA (NH Midwives Association) AANM (American Association of Naturopathic Midwives) NHAND (NH Association of Naturopathic Doctors) AANP (American Association of Naturopathic Physicians) AHG (American Herbalists Guild)

Contact Information:

Whole Heart Healing Arts
3 Main Street
PO Box 672
Meredith, NH 03253

603-279-8860

603-279-8870 (fax)

drcranny@yahoo.com

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