At age 39, KALENA COOK gave birth naturally to a healthy 8 lb., 4 oz. boy with the help of a midwife. The positive and life-changing event inspired her to write about the latest evidence-based research and seek compelling stories from more than fifty interviews with women, doctors, midwives, hospitals, and birth centers. She encourages healthy women to become informed and guides them as a sought-after "Birth Mentor." Collaboration includes Margaret Christensen, M.D., who contributed the medical information and shared her own birth stories. Kalena owned an award-winning communications company for fifteen years and earned an MFA in Advertising Design from Syracuse University, New York. Born in a dairy farming area north of Seattle, Washington, Kalena is of Norwegian and British descent. Member: The Association for Prenatal & Perinatal Psychology and Health (BirthPsychology.com), Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS), American Botanical Council and Writers League of Texas. MARGARET CHRISTENSEN, M.D., a board certified obstetrician-gynecologist, currently runs the Christensen Center for Whole Life Health, a holistic outpatient functional medicine practice. In her first practice, Renaissance Women's Health Associates, for ten years she created a collaborative, hospital based Ob-Gyn model with Certified Nurse Midwives, as well as served as medical back-up for a CNM-owned, out-of-hospital birth center. She is the mother of four children, all born drug-free.Birthing a Better Way won the manuscript award from The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference.