OBGYN North and Natural Beginning Birth Center Introduce Michelle Hughes

Last month, Michelle Hughes joined our staff and has already begun delivering babies at NBBC. We’re so glad to have her and look forward to introducing her to all of our patients. 

Michelle began her passion for caring for women while in nursing school during the early 1990s. She found her calling during her first obstetric rotation, when she witnessed her first birth. She was lucky enough to receive primary training at a hospital that provided evidenced-based care with strong collaborative relationships between the physicians and nurse-midwives. This set the tone for how she believes obstetric care should be provided.

Upon graduating with a Bachelors of Science for nursing, Michelle moved to Memphis, TN, where she worked for 3 years as a labor and delivery nurse, providing care to inner city, at risk women. When her husband's career brought them in Austin, she went searching again for a place she could serve the neediest, and became a labor and delivery nurse at Brackenridge Hospital for the next 11 years. While there, she worked with nurse-midwives, physicians, and doctors in training. She worked with both Kathy Harrison-Short, CNM and Tesa Miller, MD while there, and is happy to be reunited with them.

It was during her time at Brackenridge that Michelle and Stephen began their family. She birthed her first child with one of the wonderful midwives she worked with, in what was then called the Alternative Birthing Center at Brackenridge. The power that this birth gave Michelle fueled her drive to assist women in achieving the birth they desire. Her second child was another unmedicated hospital birth with a caring physician colleague because there was a medical indication for a hospital birth and there were no hospital-based midwives in Austin at that time. While this doctor supported her birth choices completely, a desire to become a midwife and to help give women more midwifery options grew.

Michelle waited until her youngest daughter started school before going to graduate school herself. In 2011, she graduated with a Masters of Science in Nursing, specializing in Midwifery. She became a CNM at Ft. Hood, where she caught almost 500 babies in four years before coming to OBGYN North. She is so excited to be in Austin again, at a practice that offers women choice in childbirth, with physicians and midwives who feel as passionately about that as she does.

Michelle grew up an Air Force brat, moving many times before landing in Vermont, which is where she met and married Stephen 22+ years ago. They have been in Austin since 2000, and love it here! They have two beautiful daughters, a cat, a bearded dragon, and two guinea pigs. She enjoys spending time with family, reading, knitting, and is training to run her first 5K.

With a Bachelors of Science in Nursing from the University of Vermont in 1997 and a Masters of Science in Nursing, specializing in Midwifery, from the University of Cincinnati in 2011 we know Michelle will be a great addition to our team!