Today we’d like to introduce you to Mildred (Millie) Bonilla.
Hi Millie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My midwifery journey began over 10 years ago with the birth of my son at a birthing center. After enduring so much abuse through my pregnancy I obsessed over birth in a fearful way until a friend told me about out-of-hospital birth. I found a birth center in Miami, and everything changed. My birth experience was healing, it was the first time I truly felt strong enough to stand up for myself, to love, and to be hopeful of the future. My experience stirred a deep sense of purpose to help other women through pregnancy and childbirth.
In 2016, I began training as a doula. I helped families advocate for consent and educated them on their options and I fell in love with the work. Still, I wanted to take a more active role in supporting families. In 2019, I began traditional midwifery school, it was an exciting beginning that intersected with an unprecedented moment in history. In early 2020, our world entered a global health crisis, and I found myself working at the birth center where I had delivered my son, a full-circle experience I hold dear in my heart.
I chose to become a traditional licensed midwife because it aligns with my values to walk alongside families as a community, not an institution. I believe mothers deserve options in how and where they give birth. For many, the care of a traditional midwife is not just preferred – it’s redemptive. I remain hopeful that our community will continue to support and preserve access to this time-tested model of care.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No it was not, I started midwifery school in fall of 2019 so during the peak of the pandemic classes were constantly cancelled or postponed. At the same time going through a divorce meant juggling being a newly single mother, going to school, and trying to keep a part-time job while attending births. I didn’t want to give up birth work so the decision was made to quit my part-time and fully commit to birth work. It was leap of faith but it all worked out.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Primitive Birthworks?
Primitive – reflecting the early, natural roots of human development. Primitive Birthworks honors birth as a normal, primal physiological process meant to be supported, not manipulated.
I am a certified professional midwife, licensed by the state of Florida to practice legally in a home setting or birth center, went through four years of extended direct entry midwifery school and extensive clinical experience. I have supported births in hospital, home, and birth center. Fluent in English and Spanish, I am one of less than a hand-full of openly faith-based licensed midwives in Miami.
At Primitive Birthworks we offer personalized full prenatal care, labor support, homebirth with water birth options, along with extended postpartum visits. I believe in a woman’s natural design to birth. I also believe in better birth outcomes when women are supported with compassion and families are equipped with knowledge and informed consent. Receive personalized care in our quiet office or the comfort of your home. No waiting rooms, no crowded office, just one-on-one intentional care from pregnancy to postpartum.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
If someone wants midwifery care but prefers to birth at a hospital I offer hybrid care. I provide prenatal care with labs, and ultrasound referrals. For their birth I support them as a doula and continue their postpartum care with extended visits until 8 weeks postpartum. Accepting clients from Miami to Key West means working to fill gaps in maternity care deserts.
Doula support, and faith-based approach is blended into your midwifery care by providing childbirth education and emotional support throughout pregnancy and postpartum.
Our style of care is unique and personal, it’s not something you would get from the conventional maternity care system.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.primitivebirthworks.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primitivebirthworks/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mildred-b-118a33387
