Acorn Perinatal Team

Jane Baker is a registered midwife who has been providing midwifery care in Canada for many years. She moved to Victoria in 2015, where she founded Birth Partnership Victoria and practiced until her semi-retirement. Prior to relocating to Vancouver Island, Jane practiced in Calgary, where she co-owned one of the largest midwifery practices in Alberta.

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Jane has held extensive leadership roles within the profession, including serving as President of the Alberta Association of Midwives for six years. In recent years, she has been working at the Victoria Perinatal Services clinic and has served as the Coordinator of the In-House Registered Midwife (IHRM) Program, supporting the integration of midwives within hospital-based perinatal care. She is deeply committed to mentorship and teaching and serves as a University of British Columbia clinical preceptor for midwifery students.

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At the heart of Jane’s work is the importance of building meaningful relationships with birthing families and supporting them through birth as a powerful and transformative life event. She is dedicated to helping families feel informed, supported, and empowered throughout their care.

Outside of midwifery, Jane enjoys spending time with her dog, Tilly, and can often be found at the gym lifting weights. Jane lives in View Royal and is an uninvited settler on the ancestral and traditional lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples, including the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.

Astrid is a Registered Midwife who has been caring for families in Victoria since 2011. She works in a small, collaborative team with Jane Baker and values care that is steady, transparent, and grounded in shared decision-making. Astrid trained as a midwife through the UBC Faculty of Medicine, following earlier studies in genetics and gender studies.

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Astrid is a co-founder of Acorn Perinatal Care, which grew out of her work within Island Health and her experience supporting people who were unable to access a primary maternity care provider. That experience directly informs her work in establishing a community-based service focused on improving access to midwifery care and continuity for families who might otherwise go without. At Acorn, Astrid supports both direct patient care and the behind-the-scenes work needed to build a sustainable, community-rooted service.

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She lives and works with gratitude on the lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples, and grew up in rural Southern Ontario on Anishinaabe territory—experiences that inform her ongoing learning, humility, and responsibility as a guest on these lands.

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Outside of practice, Astrid is a mother, partner, beekeeper, and deeply adores her crowded dinner table. 

MJ is a Registered Midwife who has been providing care for families in Victoria since 2015. She graduated from Laurentian University with a Bachelors of Health Sciences in Midwifery. She has worked in many different models of midwifery care prior to co-founding Acorn Perinatal Care. 

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Outside of Acorn, she is the co-founder of Full Circle Perinatal Care and founding Board Member of Pacific Perinatal Foundation, a not-for-profit supporting communities and families through perinatal grief and loss. Her focus is on providing care for families with a history of complex birth outcomes, infertility or long fertility journeys, or perinatal loss. She created and shares the role of Perinatal Loss Health Navigator with Ali MacRae-Miller for the South Island. MJ has a specific interest in also providing care for families from diverse family structures or queer families. In recent years, she held the position of Medical Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Island Health. MJ believes strongly in health equity, multidisciplinary collaboration, and non-traditional pathways through healthcare, and appreciates the impact that this has on the families she cares for.

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When not working, MJ spends most of her time with her partner, who is also a busy working midwife, their four kids, and her three cats. She identifies as gender non-conforming. She is an uninvited settler on the Ancestral and traditional land of the lək̓ʷəŋən people; the Xʷsepsəm and Songhees Nations and the W̱SÁNEĆ First Nation. 

A Registered Midwife since 1998,  Michele was a member of the foundational cohort that brought legalized midwifery to BC. Her career is defined by a deep-seated passion for the Politics of Woman’s Health. An interest that has driven her work since 1988.

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Michele’s midwifery adventures have taken her from Victoria to El Paso, Texas; St. Petersburg, Russia; and Salluit, Northern Quebec.  She established Dandelion Midwifery in Victoria in 2007. These varied experiences have shaped her commitment to providing inclusive, advocacy-based and evidence-based care.

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Michele is particularly committed to caring for those who have felt unheard and unseen within our medical system. She also extends a warm welcome to youth, newcomers to Canada and anyone seeking a care provider who prioritizes advocacy and inclusive support.

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When not supporting families, Michele is on her hobby farm in North Saanich. She lives with her husband  nd a family of many furry and feathered friends. As a member of the Acorn Midwifery team, Michele looks forward to meeting you and walking alongside you during this transformative journey.

Respectfully acknowledge that I live and work on the traditional territory of the

WSANEC people, including Tsartlip, Pauquachin, Tsawout and Tseycum First Nations

Mari is a Registered Midwife practicing in Victoria, British Columbia. She is an internationally trained Brazilian midwife, perinatal educator, and psychobody therapist with over two decades of experience supporting people through pregnancy, birth, and the early postpartum period.

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Her background began in the arts, with work as a dancer, actress, and choreographer in dance-theatre, alongside practice as a psychobody therapist. These experiences continue to shape her embodied, relational approach to care. Drawn early to pregnancy, childbirth, parenting, and exterogestation, Mari began facilitating perinatal education groups in 2000 and became a doula in 2004, supporting families and teaching doula training across Brazil and Europe for over 15 years.

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Mari is especially committed to supporting immigrants, refugees, LGBTQ2S+ families, and people living in contexts of social or systemic vulnerability. She values care that is steady, relational, and grounded in shared decision-making, with a strong interest in perinatal education and continuity of care.

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Her daughter, Lola, was born at home in 2015 — an experience that continues to shape her trust in physiologic birth and community-based care. Outside of practice, Mari loves sharing homemade meals and good stories with family and friends. She lives and works with gratitude on the lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples.

Laura provides warm, respectful care to families of diverse ages, abilities, and backgrounds. This includes people who are new to Canada, as well as those with long family histories on these lands. She has worked in pregnancy and childbirth for twenty years in several roles, including as a registered midwife, prenatal educator, and obstetrical and public health nurse. Laura is also a Clinical Assistant Professor within the UBC Faculty of Medicine. She treasures mentoring midwifery, medical, and nurse practitioner students who often bring extra attention and enthusiasm to clients in her clinical practice.

Laura’s approach to care is practical and supportive, with a focus on clear information and shared decision-making to ease the many transitions of pregnancy and parenthood. In her youth, she lived in Belgium and Guatemala and speaks some French and Spanish. She is a mother of two, and enjoys crafty hobbies, filling her garden with flowers, and playing outside during Victoria’s rare snowfalls. 

Bio coming soon

Bio coming soon