The history of this research. I first worked with Amish and Hutterite settlements in the Midwest in the early 1980s. I would describe myself today as a midwife-turned-anthropologist, turned author and doula. During my years in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North and South Dakota, I observed under-served populations of mothers and children, and mis- and undiagnosed genetic disorders which disturbed me very much. I was granted a Bush Leadership Fellowship in 1989 which enabled me to complete an internship in midwifery at …