Birth is designed to be one of life’s most profound experiences, and it deserves to be honored, protected, and supported as such.
Skilled Support for Physiological Birth
My name is Rachel Fracassa, and midwifery isn’t just my profession, it is the calling on my life. I believe birth is not broken. It was designed to work in harmony with the deep intelligence of the mother’s body.
As a mother of five, I offer from lived experience. I raised my own family with a focus on holistic health, bodily autonomy, and trust in the physiological process. That lived experience forms the foundation of my care, not just as a midwife, but as someone who understands how birth shapes a family.
My Training & Experience
My path to midwifery has been anything but conventional, and my path has deeply shaped my approach to care. I trained through the traditional apprenticeship model, working closely with five different midwives in mid-Missouri and the Kansas City metro area. Each brought a different style and philosophy, which gave me a deep respect for the living, breathing nature of midwifery. There is no single way to support birth well. Good midwifery is responsive, relational, and grounded in both skill and intuition.
My background includes a license in massage therapy and training as an EMT, which I pursued early on to build a solid foundation in emergency care. I’ve studied functional nutrition through the Institute for Functional Medicine and Sarah Thompson’s Functional Maternity program. These frameworks inform the way I support whole-body wellness during pregnancy and postpartum.
I’m a Spinning Babies® Aware Practitioner and have trained in breech-specific bodywork, offering gentle, trauma-informed positional release work for breech babies as a complement and potential alternative to ECV. I maintain annual training through Breech Without Borders and am committed to increasing access to skilled, physiological breech birth for families who might otherwise feel out of options.
I also maintain current certification in NRP (Neonatal Resuscitation Program) and CPR, and have completed B.E.S.T. (Birth Emergency Skills Training) to ensure I’m prepared to respond effectively in urgent or unexpected situations.
Over the years, I’ve attended births in a variety of home settings—supporting VBAC, twins, and breech—while continuing to deepen my clinical skills and chart a credentialing path as a single, widowed mother. I’ve walked this road while raising five children, homeschooling during some seasons, and adjusting course in others. Like midwifery itself, my learning has been adaptive and self-directed, shaped by a mix of necessity, intuition, and long-term commitment.
I am currently in the final phase of completing my Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) credential, which I expect to receive in fall 2025. While credentialing is new, my experience is not. I’ve walked alongside families as a traditional midwife in the most intimate, powerful, and sometimes challenging moments of birth. That lived experience, combined with years of mentorship and continuing education, is the foundation of the care I offer.
My goal is to offer steady support for those who want birth care that feels both anchored and empowering. However your story unfolds, my care is shaped by trust, skill, and the belief that birth deserves to be met with both respect and readiness.
My Philosophy
I believe every mother deserves care that respects her instincts, honors her autonomy, and supports the body’s design. My role is to offer guidance when it’s welcome, skill when it’s needed, and space always.
Some births ask little from me; others require more hands-on involvement. I aim to bring what is needed. No more, no less. I believe that discernment is the heart of good midwifery care.
What Sets My Care Apart
A calm, grounded presence shaped by both lived experience and clinical training
A commitment to physiological birth, with the skill and discernment to respond when complications arise
A collaborative approach that centers shared decision-making over rigid protocols
Hands-on skills offered with restraint, respect, and trust in the natural unfolding of labor
Specialized breech care for families seeking skilled support for vaginal breech birth
A unique understanding of both traditional midwifery and self-directed birth paths, offered without judgment and with respect for the full range of family needs
Bodywork thoughtfully woven into care to support comfort, alignment, and integration
Flexible, Respectful Support
While my focus is full midwifery care, I also offer limited services for those planning outside the traditional model—including families choosing wild pregnancy, freebirth, or other paths of self-directed care. This might include prenatal visits, labs, newborn exams, or postpartum support, offered with clarity around scope and availability.
Whatever level of care you choose, I aim to offer a calm presence, clear communication, and respectful support without overstepping your instincts or underestimating the power of birth.
My Path to Midwifery
I did not take the conventional path to midwifery. My journey has been shaped by a passion for family-directed, undisturbed physiological birth, by the hardships of life, resilience, and a relentless pursuit of understanding a broad spectrum of perspectives, values, and approaches to birth. I came to this work through experience, through necessity, through years of study, and through an unwavering belief that birth is sacred and that women deserve more.
I believe birth was divinely designed, woven into creation with wisdom, not error. My role is not to fix what isn’t broken, but to honor that design with reverence. The unfolding of labor, the rhythms of a mother’s body, and the first breath of a newborn all point to something far greater than ourselves. My work is rooted in both trust in birth and faith in the Creator of life itself.
I learned midwifery the way it’s been passed down for generations: through apprenticeship, hands-on care, and deep mentorship. My introduction to midwifery came through Kelly Caldwell, CPM, who provided care during one of the most tender seasons of my life. Following my first home birth after two hospital births, my husband was tragically killed in a car accident. I found out I was expecting our fourth the day after my husband’s funeral, and Kelly generously donated her services to walk with me through that pregnancy. Her care was my first real glimpse into the deeply personal nature of midwifery, and how profoundly it can impact a woman’s life. Not long after that birth, Lisa Cohen, CNM reached out unexpectedly and invited me into the path of formal midwifery training, an opening that set the course for everything that followed.
I went on to train closely under Kelly Caldwell, CPM and Sabrina Bias, CPM, both of whom helped shape my clinical foundation. I’ve also been meaningfully mentored and impacted by Julie Ferdman, CPM, Janet Akremi, CPM, and Jade Stacey, DEM, whose wisdom and steadiness have influenced my growth in lasting ways. I have been blessed to also work alongside Amber Walla, CPM, whose encouragement and thoughtful mentorship has been an absolute gift. As I complete my CPM credential under her guidance, I’ve been honored to work alongside someone whose values and approach I so deeply respect.
I have also been influenced over the years by advocates of keeping birth simple by women such as Sister MorningStar, Whapio Diane Bartlett, and Yolanda Norris-Clark, whose powerful voices affirmed that birth belongs to women, that it is instinctive, sacred, and not something to be interfered with lightly.
While I continue to honor the way their work shaped my trust in undisturbed birth, my practice has grown to hold greater nuance. I’ve come to believe that having the skill to step in when necessary is part of what allows more women, including those with complex histories or higher needs, to access safe, supported birth at home. That balance between trust and readiness is at the heart of the care I offer.
Additional Training & Specialties
My training reflects a holistic approach to birth, one that honors both the physiology of the body and the complexity of the stories we carry. I’ve sought out education that supports not only normal birth, but also the moments when skilled, responsive care can make options possible where they’re often hard to find.
I’ve studied breech birth with leading experts including Dr. Stuart Fischbein, Rixa Freeze, Nicole Morales, CPM, and Dr. David Hayes
I’ve trained in Breech Release, Spinning Babies® Breech & Shoulder Dystocia, and Twins & Multiples care
I attended the Born Free Breech & Twins Conference, hosted by Dr. Nathan Riley, where I had the opportunity to learn from and connect with some of the most forward-thinking providers supporting both breech and twin births in physiologic and out-of-hospital settings.
I’ve also been deeply moved by the teachings and example of Doña Angelina Martínez Miranda, a revered traditional Mexican midwife whose work with the rebozo has profoundly shaped my approach to supporting the body during labor, throughout pregnancy and postpartum, and in tending to grief related to fertility, loss, lack of support, and generational motherwounds. Her approach to midwifery is deeply rooted in reverence for our Creator, and her example has reminded me that this work is not only a form of care, but a form of sacred service and worship. I’ve also drawn inspiration from the work of Naolí Vinaver, whose creative integration of tradition continues to enrich this lineage of care.
My hands-on approach is further supported by advanced bodywork training in Craniosacral Therapy, Maya Abdominal Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, and Spinning Babies® Body Balancing techniques
Birth is Both Magical and Serious Business
What was once an airy fairy ideal has been forged in the fire of lived experience. I’ve learned that birth is both utterly magical—and not to be trifled with.... It is both mystery and design, sovereignty and surrender. It demands our full presence, deep respect, and unwavering trust, calling us to show up with everything we have as mothers, and sometimes, everything we have as birth attendants too.
Birth is designed to empower us and humble us all at once.
Look below for a peak of some of my own precious memories of my homebirths, crunchy mom life, and my grandbabies who thus far have all been born at home (and yes, that’s a minivan birth in there 😂)
Reach out and connect.
If you think we might be a good match, let’s connect and see! Zoom calls, coffee shops, and my kitchen table are all options. I want to hear your story.