Hello, mama! My name is Jordan Tomkinson.
I’m a birth photographer, doula, and student midwife in Utah County.
I am committed to advocating for you.

I believe birth is a sacred, transformational, empowering journey, and each woman on that journey deserves to feel like her intuition matters and is respected by her providers and support team.
The best birth stories happen when moms are supported, heard, and trusted.

We deserve better than mediocre care from indifferent providers uncommitted to your wellbeing.
We deserve a birth free from coercion, invalidation, and unnecessary added risk of harm.
It’s time for women to reclaim our power through birth.

In the births I’ve attended, I’ve noticed many women have been conditioned to expect that their provider and care teams will guide them through birth, and they’re just going to quietly go along with whatever they suggest - not asking questions, not pushing back on interventions for the sake of the provider’s evening plans, not being “difficult.” And that’s exactly how I behaved at all three of my births. We don’t speak up about things that make us uncomfortable, we hide stifle our hesitation and curiosity, and we’re expected to be a “perfect patient” that is happy with mediocre care based on averages and biases, not YOU and YOUR experiences and what makes YOU feel confident, secure, safe, seen, and heard. We try our best to go with the flow to keep our providers and care staff happy, we resist our instincts to make noise and cuss through the pain, and we don’t push back when a provider tells us what they’re planning on doing, regardless of whether it seems necessary or helpful to anyone but the provider. And we get treated like a mannequin that doesn’t need to be walked through the options and asked what feels right to us.

For millennia, women have had intrinsic knowledge of how to safely and effectively birth our babies - and obstetrical birth practitioners have spent the last 115 years doing everything in their power to completely erase our confidence in our own bodies, and replace it with fear and distrust. These efforts have not only resulted in an over-medicalized clinical birth model where hospital administrators and insurance companies profit thousands of dollars per birth, and leave families with substantial medical debt, but it has led to a maternal mortality crisis where 80% of maternal deaths are completely preventable, and black women are 3 times more likely than white women to die in childbirth, while our medical institutions prioritize unsafe nurse-to-patient ratios, and push excessive and unnecessary interventions to make labor progress more quickly at their convenience so they can get patients in and out of the unit as fast as possible.

This was a hard realization as someone who had dreamed of being a Labor & Delivery nurse for half my life. I’d told myself that when all three of my children were in school full time, I would enroll in nursing school, get my RN, and apply for Labor & Delivery nursing positions. I couldn’t wait to help mothers bring their babies into the world! But I have also come to the realization that my journey does not include taking on tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, to become part of the machine that will stand by and watch quietly while a woman bleeds out in the hospital parking lot with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. I am so thankful that I am able to pursue birthwork as a photographer, doula, and student midwife.

I believe it is our duty to let birth happen on its own timeline - not your provider’s Friday night dinner plans.
This means I’m committed to attending your birth, whenever that is, and however long you’d like me to support you.
If that’s 3am on Christmas, I’ll be there. If it’s 2 hours or 24 hours, I’ll be there. You can text me anytime with questions or concerns, and call me any hour of the day when you’re in early labor.

I believe every woman deserves to be supported through her birth, with tools and techniques that have worked for millennia.
I come to births with tools like a rebozo, wooden combs, fans, battery powered lights, and whether I’m your photographer or your doula or your student midwife, I’m not afraid to stand in the splash zone and get amniotic fluid in my shoes to do tug-of-war with you. Yes, I will do counter pressure. Yes, I will hold you up while you moan and sway in my arms.

I believe every woman deserves to feel empowered to make informed choices that feel right to her, with confidence that every person in the room supports her decisions and trusts her intuition, knowing that our highest priority is her wellbeing.
You have the right to ask questions, ask for opinions, and more than a split second to decide whether you actually want or even need an intervention. I’m more than happy to advocate for you - even if it might annoy your nurse or OBGYN.

I believe every woman deserves to be in control of what happens to her body and her baby.
Trauma happens when providers treat patients like your autonomy is an inconvenience to their schedule, and your dream birth doesn’t align with their ideal delivery.
But, guess what? You’re literally the boss, and you’re not a “difficult patient” for wanting to be heard and respected.