El Tarver

I founded my practice, Bay Fertility Care, to better serve the needs of queer families on their path to parenthood. I bring over a 15 years of healthcare experience to my practice. I graduated from the National Midwifery Institute, and accredited MEAC midwifery school, and completed my clinical training at Pacifica Family Maternity Center in Berkeley, as well as apprenticing with several incredible home birth midwives in the community. As a licensed midwife, I have worked in birth centers as well as in private practice. Over the past three years, I have exclusively been providing fertility care and home IUI, with special attention to the needs of queer families. Most fertility care in the mainstream health system is geared towards heterosexual couples experiencing infertility. This means it is extremely medicalized, and relies on certain assumptions about patients needs and histories. In my practice, Bay Fertility Care, we understand that many people are coming to us with healthy fertility, but needing additional support because they don't have sperm in their relationship. My favorite part of being a midwife is getting to witness the love and joy and transformation that comes into being as my clients grow their families. For me, the medicine and magic of midwifery is held in the relationship. I love the ways that midwifery care weaves together evidence-based practice with intuitive knowledge and connection. Being on a fertility journey is an inherently vulnerable time, and being able to receive care in the comfort of your home from a queer provider can make all the difference.