My name is Jennifer Jenkins-Sekine and I am a Student Midwife, Midwives Assistant, Birth Doula, and Childbirth Educator. I am also in the process of working towards my International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) certification.
Working to create positive change within my community is a passion of mine. This is why I created and facilitate the OKC family support group, Kaleidoscope.
I am a mother, wife, animal lover, aerialist, archer, motorcyclist, bookworm, baker, fire breather, fermentation enthusiast, urban farmer, and study Spanish, German, & Japanese.
Want to learn more about me and my family’s adventures? Click the link below to read my personal blog.
2016 – Began my Birth Arts International Birth Doula Training
2017 – Attended my first birth as a Birth Doula
2017 – Became a Collective Member at Thrive Mama Collective
2019 – Started working as a Postpartum Doula with Thrive Mama Collective
2020 – Founded Kaleidoscope LGBTQ+ Family Support Group
2020 – Began Training as a Bereavement Doula through StillBirth Day
2020 – Completed 6 Evidence Based Birth Certifications earning 20.5 Nursing Contact Hours
2021 – Earned my Heartsaver First Aid CPR AED Certification
2021 – Began Training as a Midwifery Assistant with Holistic Birthing Services
2021 – Earned my Making Breastfeeding Easier Certification via the Oklahoma Breastfeeding Resource Center
2021 – Earned my CPR/Neonatal Resuscitation Provider Certification
2022 – Earned my Bloodborne Pathogens Training for Professional Placenta Service Providers Certification from APPA
2022 – Began my Child Birth Education Facilitator Training via Cornerstone
2022 – Became a Peer Supporter with Milk Moms Breastfeeding Support Group OKC
2022 – Became a Student Midwife with the Midwives College of Utah
2023 – Began my Assist Phase as a student midwife at the Midwives College of Utah
I serve the Central Oklahoma community families searching to take their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum options into their own hands through the support and resources of midwifery support specific to their birth experience goals.
I attended Ohio University & Louisiana State University for a bachelor’s of science in Wildlife and Conservation Biology. During this time, I worked for the United States Forest Service in Louisiana. While I originally intended my life path to be days full of adventures into the forests to save endangered species, plans changed after I experienced traumatic births with my two children.
After seeing & experiencing the care model that families are expected to encounter during their pregnancy experiences, I decided things needed to change for the better. The first step was to change career paths and devote my life to fighting for family’s rights during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum as a doula and midwife.
My experiences lit a fire in my heart for supporting and empowering women & birthing people. Everyone deserves to be supported regardless of how they choose to experience birth. It gives me profound joy that I have the opportunity to be welcomed into such an intimate and life-changing event in others’ lives to provide support.
Nothing is quite like the exhilaration of a new life entering the world.
It is the combination of my experiences as a qualified birth worker & a mother of four, that helps me in empowering families in my community, by providing them with emotional, physical, and educational support. My own birth experiences with and without a doula enlightened me on how powerful a doula’s support can be in achieving an empowered birth.
When I was younger, I spent my summers hiking all over Appalachia. Old Man’s Cave is a second home to my siblings and me. I even had the opportunity to hike, mountain bike, and canoe a portion of the AT or the Appalachian Trail when I was a teenager.
My love for hiking and being amongst the forests is part of the reason I went to Ohio University and Louisiana State University for a BS in Wildlife and Conservation Biology. I just knew I wanted to spend my days underneath the shade of trees. So even though my life plan changed & I work as a birth worker now, I get to spend my days in nature with my family!
Watching my babies go from hiking with us in their baby carriers to trekking up trails all by themselves has been a heartwarming experience. So far, they have hiked state and national parks in Ohio, Kansas, Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and a few more. We would love to take them hiking in all 50 states before they graduate high school!
My whole life, I have always felt such a connection to nature! Before becoming a birth worker, I worked for the U.S. Forest Service in Louisiana and was working towards my BS in Wildlife and Conservation Biology. Before that, I worked as a kennel tech during high school and volunteered at my local animal shelter.
As an adult, I am a foster parent for neonatal kittens at the Oklahoma City Animal Welfare shelter. My family and I have nurtured several tiny day-old kittens and puppies until they were old enough to find their forever homes. We also have our own menagerie of fur babies at home.
I love geeking out about permaculture & houseplants. I have a great green thumb! One of the first things my husband and I did when we bought our home was to build our raised garden and chicken coop! These days, we drink coffee and check on our garden in the morning before our kiddos wake up and start the day. Nothing quite compares to the accomplished feeling you get after cooking a meal entirely from produce from your own backyard garden! I recently started learning more about herbal medicine and hope to cover our quarter acre with wildflowers and herbs!
Yup, you read that right. I am a professionally trained fire artist which includes fire props, fire breathing, fire eating, fleshing, & more. I have a license from the state of Oklahoma to perform fire and I have fire safety certifications. I also practice and perform aerial arts, with my favorite being Lyra or the Aerial Hoop.
How did I get into fire and circus arts? I was taught by experienced instructors at circus arts festivals that my husband and I work with or own. My husband and I spend our summer vacation time traveling around the U.S. attending different circus arts and ‘flow arts’ festivals with our kiddos. They are fantastic road trip buddies! Together, we have camped at festivals in Kentucky, Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio, & danced to artists like Beats Antique, Clozee, Dirtwire, Atmosphere, and SO many more!
The memories we have created and the friends that we have made at these festivals and on the journey to them are so important to our family. I am so grateful we have created a life where traveling and experiencing these things together is possible.
My previous and current doula families have loved that they have a fire-breathing doula on their birth team!
I decided in 2021 to learn how to ride a motorcycle! So, with no previous motorcycle experience, I went through the full Harley Davidson riding academy that summer, passed the course, and earned my motorcycle license!
My dad and stepmom visited us from South Carolina on their own Harley Davidson motorcycles. While they were here, they went window shopping for motorcycles with me. I wasn’t planning to buy a motorcycle that day, but the OKC Indian dealership just happened to have my dream Emerald Green Indian Scout! I left the Indian dealership that day with my new motorcycle & my husband’s face when he heard it pull into the driveway was priceless!
If you see an emerald green Indian Scout pass you by, it might be me on the way to Midwifery Clinic!