Meet Robina (she/her/hers)
Robina grew up with her feet on two continents, reading books on Brooklyn stoops and running through rainstorms on Lahore rooftops. Her experiences as a working class, biracial child in the United States and in Pakistan awoke in her a deep curiosity about race, gender, and class, and the intersections between them.
That curiosity initially led her to complete a PhD in English with a focus on race and gender in early America at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her experiences as a doctoral student and professor influenced her calling to midwifery, which was both spiritual and political: she believes that pregnancy and birth are sacred experiences that exist in a world often hostile to those doing the birthing, and she wanted to work to change that.
Robina has been attending births for nearly a decade. She received her Masters of Midwifery at SUNY Downstate, where she was awarded the program’s top honors for both clinical achievement and research. From there, she began working in a high volume public hospital, advocating for the rights of some of the most vulnerable people in our city to be educated and make decisions about their health while promoting the safe and loving births of hundreds of babies. She then founded her homebirth practice, Small Things Grow Midwifery, where she has cared for hundreds of people diverse in race, ethnic background, socio-economic status, family structure, sexuality, and gender expression. She has learned from each and every person she has cared for.
Robina and her family.
Robina is licensed by the Medical Board of New York State and holds current certification in Basic Life Support and Neonatal Resuscitation. She is a member of the New York City Homebirth Collective, and has been active in various local and national advocacy efforts, because she believes every person deserves a midwife.
She loves the art and the science of midwifery and the way it constantly challenges her to grow intellectually, personally, spiritually, and politically. She is honored and humbled to continually witness the courage and strength it takes to bring another person into the world, and it is her sincere belief that when that power and love is valued and supported, it has the capacity to radically change our world.
When she is not working, she still delights in curling up with a book or being in any body of water. But she find her deepest joys learning and traveling with my husband and their four children, all born at home.
Robina’s approach to midwifery
Partnership
I delight in creating a spirit of cooperation, knowledge sharing, and collaboration. My goal is to communicate to you the things you need to know to be an active participant in your own health care, to honor you as the ultimate authority in your own physical and spiritual well being, and to safely facilitate your sense of agency and power in the sacred experiences of pregnancy, birth, and parenthood.
Intentionality
I believe that pregnancy and birth are fundamentally normal, yet also a vulnerable time of great growth. Because of this, I believe that every word, decision, and touch matters and I am thoughtful in my language and actions. I pride myself in developing a respectful, trusting partnership with clients that both brings comfort to them during a time of change and facilitates their emerging from their experience healthy and empowered. I hold space during visits and births that is relaxed and high-touch in a rushed, high-tech world.
Evidence & Intuition
I integrate the best of current research and practices with holistic midwifery wisdom. I have a deep trust in labor and birth, but also bring a decade of clinical knowledge and experience that helps you feel safe, healthy, and supported.
Inclusivity & Justice
I base my work on a framework of anti-oppression, anti-white supremacy, decolonization, and LGBTQ2S affirmation. I honor the diversity of human experience and provide personalized and compassionate care where all individuals feel safe and respected regardless of racial or sexual identity, class, background, family structure, circumstance, or belief system.
I am firmly committed to making homebirth accessible to all who want it and are good candidates. I believe respectful midwifery care to be a part of the solution to the United States' health care disparities, a problem rooted in the systemic racism and sexism that have existed in our country since its founding.
It is my sincere conviction that empowering well-person care and pregnancy, labor, and birth experiences have the potential to transform not just the person cared for, nor simply the baby they birth, but their partner, families, and larger communities.