Hello! My name is Jes Penrod, and I’m the face behind Soluna. My journey into the world of birth and babies began with the births of my own five children (the latter two being twins). My first two were born in the hospital and the following three were planned home births with midwives. Later, I also had the honor of being a surrogate mother to another set of twins for my friends.

I started formally attending births in 2012 as a doula and a birth assistant to a local homebirth midwife in Cache Valley, Utah. That year I opened New Roots Birth Essentials and expanded my services to include things like placenta encapsulation, foot zoning, belly binding, etc. In 2016 we moved to Salem, Oregon, so that I could complete a midwifery apprenticeship at a busy little community birth center. Since then I have experienced working and helping in several practices in Utah, Oregon, Washington, and Cap Haitian, Haiti (via MamaBaby Haiti). Each birth is unique, these experiences have helped teach me and shape the birth worker that I am today.

While my path has required some “pivots” and “pauses” along the way, due to unexpected life events (including becoming a stage IV Cancer survivor), my passion for midwifery continues on. Throughout it all, life has taught me the importance of adapting and has given me a new perspective on the importance of sustainability –in and outside of midwifery. This has ignited a new passion within me to find a more sustainable and balanced way to both show up in my own life, as well to better serve the birth community. This important shift in my energy, resulted in a transformation of my original birth business into a more sustainable model all around. It leverages my midwifery knowledge –gained through years of working in varying roles–  and my experience with virtual assisting,  to better support myself, my family, birthing moms AND midwives.