CBS Midwifery | Owned & Run by New York City Midwives Since 1982

Barbara Sellars, CNM

The International Day of the Midwife

May 5, 2019

For forty years I have had the privilege of practicing midwifery, an endeavor more rewarding, demanding, and just plain fun than anything else in my life except motherhood. Thank you all for being a part of it - I have such wonderful memories!

As I midwife, one practices every day, in the same way a musician or an athlete, a yogi or an artist must practice. I would have happily continued to practice, learning new things and meeting new people, but the nights and the years caught up with me.

A year ago I stopped attending births, but have had the continuing pleasure of seeing clients for well-woman health care needs. Unfortunately, the office where I was subletting space at a very reasonable rate was closed at the end of March. Efforts to find affordable part-time space, suitably equipped, have been futile. WeWork doesn’t seem to have gyn exam rooms.

While I will no longer be practicing midwifery, I will always be a midwife. The email, texts, and phone calls will still reach me, and I maintain client records until the youngest child turns 21 years old, or it’s been more than 7 years since you were seen for other than pregnancy care.

Please stay in touch - I love seeing your photos and sharing your news. I will be gardening, traveling, and studying French.

Love and best wishes,
Barbara

Blog

Goodbye and Good Luck, Houda!

On March 17, 2016

By Barbara

Many of you have had the opportunity to meet the Danish midwifery student who observed our practice during the month of February. Houda Bourid will finish her midwifery education in Copenhagen after one more semester of study. While in NYC, she was able to sit in on the Birthing Center class and prenatal yoga classes at the hospital, Mary Eikeseth’s childbirth education class, and Elaine Keller, CNM’s office hours for a day, as well as participate with Nicole and Barbara in seeing CBS clients for 4 weeks. She was very interested in the scope of midwifery practice here, which is much more extensive than in Denmark. We are happy to be able to foster good relations between midwives of different cultures, and hope we have contributed to Houda’s knowledge of midwifery in this country. While born and raised in Denmark, Houda’s family is originally from Morocco, so Barbara and Nicole now have an open invitation to visit Rabat!

Houda treats Barbara to brunch

Barbara shows Houda around NYC

2016

On January 30, 2016

By Nicole

We started 2016 out right–on vacation! Josh, Eleanor, and I flew to the bay area to visit many friends on the west coast, and learned immediately that 6 nights wasn’t going to be enough. In Marin, we took a journey through magical redwoods to a gorgeous beach where we looked for whales and ogled over enormous waves. In the city, we enjoyed Dolores park (especially the gigantic slide), beer gardens, and delicious food. From San Francisco, we trekked with 2 kids and 4 adults in one (huge!) vehicle to Lake Tahoe where we spent 3 days with my dear friend from college. We had a blast taking the kids snowshoeing and sledding, and loved getting our zen on at the hot springs. There’s nothing quite like old friends and we are forever grateful to have such fun-loving, hilarious and amazing people in our lives!

BLIZZARD BABIES!

On January 24, 2016

By Barbara

Two CBS Midwifery clients gave birth during the big snowstorm – 7 lb. 5 oz “Graham” came into the world just after midnight, and 8 lb. 5 oz “Valentina” arrived about 18 hours later.

Barbara got to watch through the night as the storm gathered force and the snow flew. Later the streets emptied and the quiet descended over NYC – it was a little eerie coming home Saturday evening. When the Starbucks are closed in this town, you know something big is going on.

Congratulations to both mommies and daddies!