Acorn Community Birth & Wellness Center

Hi, I’m Kathy Struck. I’m the Office Manager here at Acorn Community Birth & Wellness Center, but my connection to Acorn goes far deeper than my job title. I’m a mother of eight and have been married to my husband for 20 years. My own birth experiences are what led me to this work and why I care so deeply about the families we serve.

After having four cesareans, I went on to have three VBAC births, each one right here with Acorn. Those experiences were healing, empowering, and truly life changing for me. They are the reason I am such a passionate supporter of VBAC and informed birth choices. I know firsthand how transformative it can be to feel supported and believed in.

Working at Acorn feels like giving back to the place that gave so much to me. My goal is to make every family who walks through our doors feel welcomed, cared for, and empowered on their own journey. Acorn isn’t just where I work, it’s part of my story, and I’m honored to be part of yours.

Jules is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) & a newly licensed California midwife (LM) who joins Acorn Birth & Wellness Center after 25 years as a licensed home birth midwife in rural Colorado. She believes in providing personalized care while supporting families in their magical year of pregnancy & postpartum, & encourages women to be active participants and empowered decision-makers in their own health journey. Jules is honored to walk alongside families during this beautiful, transformative time, & is passionate about supporting birthing women as they step into their power with a full ‘knowing’ of all that their body is capable of.

Jules’ awareness of birth & midwifery began as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Guatemala in the mid-1980’s, where she worked with women and children to improve health through nutrition, seed-sharing, home gardening & plant-based medicine. It was Doña Lucia, her neighbor & the local midwife, who first invited her into birth, bringing only a bar of Irish Spring soap, a roll of dental floss, and a razor blade! Witnessing women birthing their babies in their homes, surrounded by supportive community members, and guided by the skilled hands of the village midwife, changed Jules’ worldview forever and drew her onto her midwifery path.

After living in Guatemala for 5+ years & learning about low-resource community midwifery in isolated rural communities, Jules returned to the U.S. and attended graduate school, followed by a 3-yr post-graduate program at the Seattle Midwifery School (from which she graduated in 2000). While a student, she had amazing opportunities to work with home, birth center and hospital-based midwives in Colorado, Ohio, Washington, Guatemala & the Philippines. She is certified in Neonatal Resuscitation and Infant, Child & Adult CPR, is trained as a Doula, and is an accredited preceptor for midwifery students. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Prior to becoming a midwife, Jules was the Assistant Director of Maternal and Child Health Programs for Project HOPE (an international health organization), where she facilitated training for community midwives & health workers around the world, with the goal of improving access to basic health care for mothers & children. Before that, Jules was a health educator for Save the Children Foundation, working in economically-challenged areas of the United States to facilitate conversation and connection between teen mothers & community ‘grandmothers’ to promote healthy role models & parenting skills, and strengthen community resources.

Jules has one magnificent daughter, born at home, in water, just after her 42nd birthday. Welcoming her daughter into her arms was the most powerful & miraculous experience of her entire life! In her free time, Jules loves all things outdoors, including hiking, biking, rafting, snowboarding and walking long stretches of beach!

Margo’s love for children brought her to midwifery. After graduating from nursing school in 1975, she worked in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, and there she began to notice that moms that reported a more positive birth experience seemed to have a closer relationship with their children. So she started working in Labor and Delivery in 1980 to help moms with that transition to motherhood. While there she discovered that the journey that brought families to that moment really began much sooner. At that point she went to midwifery school and became a Certified Nurse Midwife in 1993 so she could be present for the entire journey that families take. Since 1993 Margo has worked at four different LA hospitals; opened a home birth practice in 2001 and then a Birth Center in 2013.

Since becoming a midwife, she has delivered over 3000 babies. She believes that pregnancy and birth present a blessed opportunity for a woman and her family to realize their own strength, as they become a family. She finds such joy and honor in accompanying them on this amazing journey and she is confident that she has the skills to provide the safe space they need to realize their dreams. To ensure that midwifery care remains an option for birthing families and their future children she is dedicated to educating future providers in medicine and midwifery.

She is the proud mother of three wonderful sons and has also been blessed with four amazing grandsons. After retiring in 2023 she moved to Temecula to be closer to family. She loves morning walks and gardening but missed being with pregnant women and their families. Fortunately, Acorn Community Birth and Wellness Center had a space for her to practice what she loves, midwifery.