Alma Midwives & Staff

Meet the Alma staff

We offer ourselves to you to provide relationship based care and service during your pregnancy, birth and wellness/gynecology care - this includes all the details from helping you catch your baby to scheduling and insurance/billing. We got you! Meet team Alma, we are all in for you!

Laura Erickson, LDEM, CPM,
Director, and Owner of Alma Midwifery 

She/her

Follow your passion: Have you ever been given that advice? It is an honor to be witness again and again to the transformative power of birth. When deeply immersed in midwifery, I become every midwife that ever lived. A happy, peaceful place, that others who have also found their passion, call the "zone" or "flow". Luckily, the call to be a midwife showed up early and has stayed steadfast and strong. 

Midwifery takes courage, stamina, patience and boat loads of trust. Three and a half decades of this service is only possible because the calling was fierce.

It began with curiosity. Birth---what is this magic trick? Born and raised in rural Minnesota, at a time when spaying was not the norm, meant: bring on the kitten births! 

While taking nursing prerequisites at Mankato state in Minnesota, a happy discovery was made: Newlife Birth Center was offering a midwifery program and apprentice opportunity in Austin, Texas. I lept!

1984 was a charmed year: Besides birthing my own 1st born at home I met and began to train with a group of midwives. I am eternal thankful for these midwives who trusted me enough to pass along the flame. It can be vulnerable to step aside and let the next generation learn the craft. I honor my teachers! Mari Mikel Penn still receives calls from me...35 years later. I remain grateful. 

The next four years were a deep dive into the study of marriage, mothering, herbal medicine, natural living, healthy cooking, nutrition and midwifery. My teacher/midwives were compassionate and skilled. Their birth kits bulged with the usual supplies, but they used story telling, conversation, touch, human connection and respect as their best tools. The early 1980's in Austin Texas were lively: bus births (Jerry Garcia was still alive), tepee births, apartment births, outdoor births, alternative community births and one woman even had the crazy idea of a water birth...that was in 1987. As I drove away from my first water birth the radio played, "It's all too beautiful". I was hooked.

In the late 1980's Women from Mexico were traveling to El Paso, Texas to give birth. In 1986 I joined Casa de Nacimiento, a busy border birth center. Some days as many as six new souls would be born. Serving 106 women in three months taught a lot about the art of midwifery and about the tenacity, grace and the strength of women. Thank you Linda Arnold for your vision and guidance. Your respect for the culture of the women we served and also for them as individuals stuck with me. You also taught me how to prevent tears and how to suture well when there is one. I remain grateful.

Baby two joined our family in 1988 and three weeks later a move was made from Texas to Minnesota. Our new home was a family farm in Minnesota.

Equipped with the experience of around 250 homebirths, a practice called Lakes Area Midwifery was formed. For fourteen years the wide prairie (an 80 mile swath) was my range for home births: farm births, town births, city births, trailer court births, hut births, earthship births, many thunderstorm births, a dock birth, car births, blizzard births, tornado births, barn-on-fire birth (yes, really), many beautiful Mennonite births, "back to the land" births, I attended as many as 6 births for some big families. I was honored to attend these families in my time as a prairie midwife---Minnesota the Land of Sky Blue Waters.

Our family grew by two more by 1997: all our babies were born at home into the gentle hands of midwives. Dylan, Noah, Chloe and Liam, my sweet children put up with midwifery pulling Mama away. The clinic was in our home and the client’s kids were playmates. They took many trips to the state capital and saw that kitchen table politics & a lot of hard work can pass midwifery bills.  Family life on the farm was sweet.  

Although many dear Minnesota friendships were formed, 2002 became "Go West" year. The family craved adventure and variety from the flat, cold Minnesota prairie. Portland, Oregon became home and still is. We love this city! After a short stint as teacher at Birthingway College of Midwifery. An idea began as a whisper...a birth center?

The city grew, the children grew, and the birth center...first, just an idea sketched on paper also grew to be a sacred Portland birth place. A huge thank you is due to my (former farmer) carpenter husband, Todd Erickson who took my vision of a gorgeous, yet utilitarian birth center and made it happen. Rich Harrison, our tolerant landlord and his wife Amelia supported the wacky idea of a house with four large birth tubs. Now over a thousand babies have blessed their old Victorian home on Ankeny street. The success of Alma is due to the families who trusted the birth process and the midwives who served them. Thank you to my sister midwives.

Along the way I have taught a lot of apprentices and fellows. They come in wide eyed and leave equipped with the new wings of midwifery. Many are grateful and stay in touch. All are good midwives, because they learned the Alma way of Midwifery.

Pregnancy, birth and parenting teach us about life...nature is change...humility is learned and relearned...and profound joy is to be found in each new life. I am honored to have served in the bringing in of so many new people. I hope to also serve as part of your midwifery team. I bring love, respect, experience, perspective, intuition,Touch- Mayan Abdominal Therapy (Arvigo trained), honed skills, a sense of awe (and humor) and a lot of tricks of the trade. I look forward to starting your care.

Laura lives with her husband, Todd and too many animals to name. The adult "kids" have scattered around the country, but stay in touch. When not directing Alma or catching babies,  Laura is found walking along the rivers and from May-Oct swimming in them. Connection is her thing---to family, to nature, to self, to friends, to health, to water. to plants, to animals and to this precious blue orb we all get to occupy for a minute. "It's all too beautiful!"

Janelle Bandurraga-Rice, CPM, LDEM

She/her

I have clear memories as a child, at age seven, trying to read my Mom's pregnancy and birth books.  I was completely fascinated, but did not realize my calling was to serve birthing families until I was seventeen and heard the word "midwife" for the first time. 

In 2001 I completed the labor support course for birth doulas with DONA International and began attending births as a doula in 2004.  I was anxious to attend midwifery school, but determined to finish having my own babies first, so satiated my thirst by going to conferences, educational seminars and attending births in various settings as a doula in order to gain knowledge and experience.  During this time, I worked on a Bachelor’s in Sociology with emphasis on child development.

I moved to Portland, OR in 2012 and attended Birthingway College of Midwifery from 2012-2016.  In 2014 I began my clinical training at Alma Midwifery, attending both birth center and home births under the knowledge and guidance of many experienced midwives.  In 2016, after finishing my education, I was honored to continue my path with Alma as a midwife.

I have given birth to four amazing children, as well as raised three step-children.  I personally have experienced a hospital birth, two birth center births and a home birth and have taken away different lessons from each experience; every birth location option has its place!  I view pregnancy, birth and the childbearing year as normal life events that merit respect and love.  I believe that how a birthing person is treated during this pivotal time in their has a lasting and profound effect throughout their lifetime. I want to serve families in feeling empowered in welcoming their babies.

In my free time I enjoy spending time outdoors with my family swimming and hiking, as well as being a homebody reading, cooking and crocheting.  If it was up to me I would spend half of my time catching babies and the other half swimming in warm oceans! I am a puppy Mom, so now that my kids are no longer babies, you will often find me taking an incessant amount of pictures of my pup and taking her on outdoor adventures.

Olivia Olszak, MSN, CNM, WHNP

She/her

I had a very early introduction to midwifery- as I was born at home with a midwife in Chicago. I did not find my way back to midwifery until I witnessed my first birth in nursing school. After being present for such a powerful experience, everything slid into place, and I knew what I wanted to do. That year, I applied and was accepted into University of Pennsylvania’s Nurse-Midwifery program.

Upon graduating with my bachelor’s of science in nursing from UPenn, I started working as a nurse on a surgical progressive care unit at the hospital. While I would miss birth work during this time, I am grateful for the skills and perspective I gained working as a nurse on a fast-paced unit.  

After working for a few years, I was ready to go back to school. I dropped down to part-time to support myself through midwifery school. I have always loved school and learning and remember how privileged I felt to have found midwifery. I discovered I was also passionate about well-person health and gynecological care. Because UPenn’s program was a dual major, I graduated as a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner and a Certified Nurse-Midwife. I love that I am truly able to care for people from menarche through menopause.

After graduating and passing my certification boards, I was struggling with the type of midwife I wanted to be. I had always envisioned working in an out-of-hospital setting, but all my clinical experience in school had been in hospitals. This led me to start working as a midwife at a birth center outside of Seattle. I am thrilled to be continuing my out-of-hospital midwifery journey at Alma. Being able to provide care for people throughout their lives is incredible and I feel so lucky and honored to be able to share such beautiful and pivotal moments.

 In my spare time I enjoy exploring, whether that be hiking, camping, trying out a new restaurant, or dancing. At home you can find me cooking, baking or doing some kind of a puzzle (crossword, jigsaw, I love them all!).

Sonja Triplett, MSN, CNM

She/her

Sonja holds a Master of Science in Nurse Midwifery, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, as well as a Bachelors in English and French. She enjoyed traveling abroad in college to France, India and South Africa and still enjoys traveling today! Her interest in midwifery was sparked after college when a friend explained what midwifery was to her, at its core - advocacy, empowerment, and reproductive justice. Sonja fell in love with the idea of supporting birthing people in their most vulnerable times as well as throughout their lives.

Originally born in Germany, Sonja grew up in Texas and spent the last decade in Austin, where she gained experience as a labor and delivery nurse as well as a volunteer doula. Including travel nursing to amazing places like the arctic circle in Alaska, her background in nursing includes a variety of fields: skilled nursing, psychiatric, memory care, and work at a naturopathic clinic which she is proud to say makes her a well rounded nurse. Birth began calling for Sonja when she worked closely with hospice patients and their families as she honored the transitions through portals of this world. Holding space for these intimate moments gave her the courage to pursue her calling to midwifery. 

Although her journey to midwifery was a long one, she appreciates and values the broad experiences she attained along the way. Her passion for volunteering gained her the opportunity to work at a birth center at the board of Texas and Mexico, in Weslaco at Holy Family Birth Center. This is where she had the honor to witness her first out of hospital birth and fell instantly in love. She also attained invaluable skills working as a labor and delivery nurse in an assortment of settings from high risk obstetrics to small, rural LDRP settings where only midwives provided OB care. 

Sonja prides herself in understanding the many options birthing people have today, but strongly believes in the community setting where they can feel a sense of autonomy through a gentle and informed perspective. Her clinical training experience included working in hospitals in Portland including Adventist Health and Providence St. Vincent's, but her "coming home" moment began during her time at Alma, a freestanding birth center in the heart of Portland. 

In this next season of Sonja's life at Alma as a primary midwife, her commitment extends beyond traditional midwifery, encompassing various aspects of gentle well-person care, including IUD insertions using nitrous and through the spectrum of life for some of its more intimate care. 

In her leisure time, Sonja treasures time spent with her partner, close friends and family including nieces and nephews. Some of her favorite activities include hiking with her two labradors, Marshall and Lilly, crafting, especially crocheting, and reading. Her favorite television shows are Call the Midwife, Golden Girls, and Ted Lasso. She has also found a new passion in being a plant mom and loves to trade propagations!