Our certified nurse midwives, Maura and Kayla, believe that pregnant and birthing people and their health care team are shared decision-makers.
Maura Winkler, CNM (she/her)
Maura founded Fika Midwifery in 2017 and is now the Director of Midwifery. Originally from the Buffalo, New York area, Maura Winkler moved to Chicago to pursue a medical degree but quickly discovered that the medical model of care did not match her personal values and philosophies. She left medical school and immediately began her path to becoming a certified nurse midwife (CNM) at University of Illinois at Chicago.
Maura is a certified nurse midwife who believes strongly in the midwifery model of care–namely that pregnant and birthing people and their health care team are shared decision-makers. As a feminist midwife, she is a strong proponent of informed decision-making and consent and views clients as experts in their own bodies.
Throughout her work as a birth and postpartum doula for six years as owner of Chicago Birth & Baby, Maura supported women and families through all types of labor and birth experiences in both hospital and out of hospital settings. Maura’s training as a student midwife at West Suburban’s Alternative Birth Center just outside of Chicago in Oak Park, Illinois solidified her interest in low intervention birth in the hospital setting. She collaborated in writing the Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy as well as the Mama Natural Birth Course. She has supported hundreds of breastfeeding women as a board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) and Breastfeeding USA Counselor.
Maura lives south of Buffalo in a timber frame house in the woods with her husband and three children, who were all born at home. She loves indulging in fair trade, local coffee as well as sponge candy, and local microbrews.
Kayla Phelps, CNM (she/her)
Kayla is originally from Pittsburgh, PA. She went to Indiana University of Pennsylvania for her undergraduate degree in nursing and later completed her Masters of Science in Midwifery at Frontier Nursing University.
Kayla worked as a labor and delivery nurse in both the hospital and birth center setting prior to becoming a midwife. For the last four years she worked exclusively in the birth center setting. She absolutely loves the birth center and midwifery model of care and is thrilled to be a certified nurse midwife at Fika Midwifery. Kayla says, “Midwifery feels like the perfect balance between intellect and art; I feel lucky to have found something I am so passionate about to do as my career!”.
She is a fierce advocate for providing education and creating a low-stress environment to receive health care and pregnancy care. She believes that pregnancy and birth care has a profound impact on the psyche and introduction to motherhood/parenthood.
Kayla lives with her partner, son, and American Bully named Melon. During the warmer months, she enjoys having a garden and grows various herbs and veggies. She’s is a big foodie who enjoys cooking and trying new restaurants.
