TEXARKANA MAGAZINE
Midwives Brittany Nieves and Pamela Wyatt, with registered nurse and mother Candace Stine, after assisting with the delivery of her newborn son, Alex, at CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital.
There is something sacred about life’s beginnings: the first breath, the first cry, the first time a mother locks eyes with the life she has carried. In those moments, time stands still. The world narrows into something both fragile and powerful.
A s Mother’s Day approaches, we are reminded that every mother’s story begins somewhere, often with the compassionate presence of someone walking beside her. For some in our community, that presence is a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM). A CNM stands faithfully “with women,” as the word midwife literally means, helping usher in not just a new life but a new identity for that woman, that of becoming a mother. For Pamela Wyatt, the calling came early. After earning her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1996, she stepped into the fast- paced, emotional world of labor and delivery at CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas. Even then, she knew her role was only the beginning of something more. “My lifelong fascination with childbirth and the beginning of life inspired my career choice,” Wyatt said. “While I truly enjoyed my role assisting with deliveries, I aspired to take a more active part by performing deliveries myself.” That aspiration led her back to school, and in 2006, she completed her master’s degree, becoming both a CNM and a women’s healthcare nurse practitioner. With that, she
stepped into history, becoming the first CNM practicing in Hunt County and beginning her work delivering babies at Presbyterian Hospital in Greenville, Texas. Over the course of her career, Wyatt has delivered about 5,000 babies, and she describes each one as “unique and meaningful.” Yet, even with thousands of births behind her, the wonder never fades. “I especially feel honored when helping couples who have faced infertility challenges,” she says. “Those deliveries bring me particular joy and pride, because I know how long those parents have anxiously awaited and hoped for a precious child.” It’s a perspective that reveals the heart of midwifery, which comprises not just clinical skill but a deep emotional investment in every story that unfolds with each delivery. Today, Wyatt works as a midwife for CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital as part of the OB Hospitalist Group (OBHG), where she serves as the director of midwifery services. As the first CNM in the program, she helped lay the foundation for what has now grown into a team of five midwives, all committed to improving
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LIFE & STYLE
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