About Us
Our Mission
- Provide parents with useful, evidence-based tools to optimize their labor and birth experience.
- Bring parents back to the core principles of the physiology of birth.
- Empower pregnant persons to connect with their bodies and confidently take control of their own experience.
As obstetric nurses, Hannah and Alex find great fulfillment in providing quality and meaningful education to new parents from all backgrounds. While there is an abundance of childbirth and postpartum education out there, they agreed that some of the most important fundamentals were getting lost in the information overload. Thus, Northwest Natal was born.
Hannah and Alex first became passionate about using Spinning Babies® a couple of years ago when it was introduced to their labor and delivery practice at the hospital they were working at together. They attended the Spinning Babies® Workshop for birth professionals which allowed them to bring their knowledge back to the bedside. They and their colleagues agreed that their improved awareness of the role of baby’s position in the pelvis and how to use maternal positioning to optimize space for baby to descend was having a significant impact on labor progress.
The duo started to feel like Spinning Babies® was so essential to every labor, they wished that every pregnant person were able to use it. They began to question what it would mean to fully put this knowledge into the hands of the parents, especially earlier in gestation, and how that would change their experience in pregnancy and birth.
This eager curiosity set in motion their journey to becoming Spinning Babies® Certified Parent Educators (SpBCPE). They utilized their quarantine downtime to complete their childbirth educator certifications through the GentleBirth Institute. They applied to become Spinning Babies® Certified Parent Educators and completed this credentialing in October of 2021 via a four-day intensive training.
Alex and Hannah are so excited to finally bring to their community the invaluable knowledge of understanding fetal positioning, pelvic anatomy and physiology, and what we can do to make space for baby!
Hannah Galvan, DNP, ARNP, CNM, SpBCPE,
Childbirth Educator
Hannah grew up in Bothell, Washington and attended the University of Washington in Seattle where she completed her BSN and DNP. She worked as a nurse in postpartum, L&D, and an OB/GYN clinic prior to becoming a certified nurse midwife and nurse practitioner. In her spare time, she likes to be active in all ways the PNW allows – biking, paddleboarding, surfing, and snowboarding. She feels fortunate to have Northwest Natal as a bridge between her personal and professional passions.
Alex Schwedhelm, BSN, RN, SpBCPE,
Childbirth Educator
Alex grew up in Bellevue, Washington and attended Gonzaga University where she completed her BSN. She has worked as a nurse in antepartum, postpartum, L&D, as a pediatric clinical supervisor, and an OB/GYN clinic. In her spare time, she enjoys baking, exploring new restaurants, and walking her new rescue dog, Scooby. She is so excited to be on this journey with Northwest Natal and share her passion with expectant parents.