Dalia Philbeck has spent more than two decades walking with women through one of life’s most powerful journeys – childbirth. For the past 12 years, she has worked as a midwife, a path forged by a love of medicine and a vision for reclaiming birthing experiences rooted in dignity, trust and wholeness.
A graduate of Gettysburg College with a bachelor’s degree in community health, Philbeck earned her bachelor of science in nursing at Johns Hopkins University. She began her nursing career in labor and delivery before joining the Navy in 2003, continuing her focus on maternal care. After her active-duty service, she pursued her master’s degree in nursing, now holding credentials as an advanced registered nurse practitioner (ANRP) and also became a certified nurse midwife (CNM) through Frontier Nursing University in Kentucky.
She laughs when asked how many babies she’s delivered: “I probably stopped counting after my first year, but on average, I deliver 10 to 12 babies a month.”
Philbeck’s clarity came early.
“As a little girl, I was the one playing with the plastic medical kit and the toy stethoscope,” she said. “It was during an internship that I met a nurse midwife working with Spanish-speaking migrant farmworkers in Pennsylvania. She was an older woman who spoke fluent Spanish, and she gave everything to her patients. I remember thinking, ‘I want to be her.’ That sealed it for me.”
When asked why she chose midwifery over traditional obstetric medicine, Philbeck is clear: “Midwifery means ‘with woman.’ It centers the person giving birth.”
She doesn’t believe that midwifery and modern medicine have to be at odds. Done intentionally, she sees value in cooperative strategizing to prepare for the unexpected during childbirth.
As a CNM, Philbeck is licensed not only to attend births but also to provide full-spectrum women’s health care – from annual exams and birth control to managing gynecological issues. She prescribes medications, conducts wellness checks, and collaborates with OB-GYNs. In her role, she acts as a bridge between the intimacy of midwifery and the safety net of medical intervention.
“Historically, birth happened in the home,” she said. “It was communal, it was family centered. Then medicine came along and said, ‘We’re taking this into the hospital.’ But something was lost in that shift.”
Philbeck views pregnancy and childbirth as a process of reclamation that centered in autonomy. She has also witnessed how fear can pass down generationally.
“Sometimes a mother is in the room while her daughter gives birth, and she starts sharing her own horror stories,” she said.
Daughters, she reflected, often carry this into their own experiences. That fear transfers. “We have to interrupt that cycle.”
Seeing each patient as an individual is central to building trust.
“Your story is not your mother’s story,” Philbeck said. “It’s not your sister’s. It’s yours.”
Philbeck emphasized the importance of preparing for birth while honoring its natural beauty while also being prepared for the unpredictable, if things go off track, she wants to be a voice of clarity and reason for the patient.
“I always say, ‘here’s what’s happening, here are your choices, and here’s what might happen with each one,’” she said. That restores power to the patient, even in a crisis.
Philbeck practices in a collaborative model in Jacksonville, Florida, where six midwives and six physicians work side by side.
“Every laboring person is primarily cared for by a midwife, with physicians available in the background for emergencies,” she explained. “It’s the best of both worlds – intimate, holistic care with immediate access to medical intervention if needed.”
She encourages families to take ownership of their health care journey.
“They bring what they’ve read, and I bring my medical knowledge,” Philbeck said. “Together, we make informed choices.”
One example is delayed cord clamping, now a standard practice that began with patient advocacy.
“It wasn’t always part of the routine, but patients kept asking,” she shared. “Eventually research confirmed its benefits – like increased iron and red blood cell levels for newborns.”
She also educates families on cord blood banking and placental donation, noting the potential of stem cell preservation. She is a bridge of information and leaves it to the patient to decide. For Philbeck, access and agency are central to patient advocacy.
“You have every right to understand what’s happening to you and why,” she said.
She believes rebuilding trust in the medical system requires acknowledging bias on both sides and creating new ways for providers and patients to relate.
“You deserve care that sees you, hears you, and believes you,” she said. “Never accept less.”
Philbeck also reminds patients that care providers are people, too, and wants to enhance individualized experiences.
“People have learned to mistrust the medical system,” she said. “So, I ask them to meet me as a person. Not just a provider. When you see me, don’t see me as part of the medical system. I’m Dalia. I’m a nurse, a midwife. I’m a person, I’m a mother. I’m not the system, and I’m here to help you.”
Framing birth as a communal and meaningful family event is also part of the experience Philbeck seeks to restore. Joining the conversation, Stephanie Courtney, founder of the Shades of Motherhood Network, echoes the importance of redefining the narrative.
“If we don’t talk about the full spectrum of birth–the pain, the joy, the power–we can’t change the system,” she said.
Both Courtney and Philbeck underscore that pregnancy and birth are not just physical milestones – they are deeply emotional and mentally transformational.
“From the moment a woman finds out she’s pregnant, she starts forming dreams about who this child is going to become and just what her experience in pregnancy and birth is going to be like; for the majority of women, it’s a positive thing, but for some women it’s terrifying,” Philbeck said.
She relates that birth is not just a medical event – it is a sacred passage.
“A woman never forgets the day she gives birth – ever. Whether it was joyful or traumatic, she carries that memory. And she brings it into every future birth. So, my job is to help create an experience she can carry with strength, not sorrow.”