50 Years of Bringing Life Into the World

Midwife Nora McNeill Celebrated in Redding…

On March 21, the Shasta District Fairgrounds will transform into a celebration half a century in the making. From 4 to 8 p.m., families will gather–many of them representing multiple generations–to honor Nora McNeill, the Redding midwife who has spent 50 years catching babies, mentoring students and championing a model of childbirth that research shows saves lives.

The free, family-friendly event will feature live music, food trucks, bounce houses and a preview screening of “She is Fearless: The Story of Nora McNeill,” a documentary by filmmaker Brandon Ballard. But the real draw will be the stories–testimonials from the thousands of families whose lives McNeill has touched since she attended her first birth in 1975.

“Whether you were a client, student, colleague or friend, you are warmly invited,” organizers wrote in the event announcement. It’s a fitting tribute to a woman who has never taken a vacation more than 50 miles from home in five decades, ensuring she’d always be available when a mother went into labor.

McNeill’s journey to midwifery began with an unlikely teacher: her family cat.

“At a young age, my mom was always cool about my curiosity about birth,” McNeill recalls. “I had a mama cat that had a litter of kittens once a year. Five kittens every time. And it was amazing. I was always with her when she gave birth, and it just came across as such an incredibly normal process that animals that aren’t inoculated with fear about it just spontaneously give birth.”

That early fascination eventually became a calling. In 1975, while working as a childbirth educator in Ventura County, McNeill was approached by a woman terrified by her previous hospital births. The woman wanted a home birth—a revolutionary concept at the time, though McNeill realized it was how births had occurred for millennia.

“I told her that I didn’t have a lot to offer, but I was willing to come and support and encourage her,” McNeill says. “I went to that birth, and it was lovely. Before I knew it, I had gotten a call from a woman who had heard I’d been at this home birth.”

What McNeill was doing was illegal and kept underground. For 44 years, from 1949 to 1993, California had no legal pathway for lay midwives to practice. 

“People had to protect my identity,” she says. “At one point, I was investigated, but I knew what I was doing was the right thing to do.”

In 1979, McNeill and her husband moved to Shasta County. She became a registered nurse in 1986, which allowed her to attend births under standardized procedures she developed with a physician. Still, she faced two disciplinary hearings–both of which cleared her to practic–but the emotional, professional and financial toll was draining.

Finally, in 1998, five years after California reinstated midwifery licensing through the Licensed Midwifery Practice Act, McNeill received her midwifery license. She’s been practicing legally ever since, though she’s tried to retire multiple times.

“Her deep calling to care for families keeps bringing her back,” her website notes. She has delivered multiple generations of babies, including children of her former clients. 

Filmmaker Ballard knows McNeill’s impact firsthand. He and his wife Maile chose her to deliver both their children ‒ Kainoa, now 7, and Ailana, now 5.

“I remember our first interview with her in 2018. I was just really blown away by how present she was, how knowledgeable she was,” Ballard says. “The experience was phenomenal. I just really credit her a lot for helping us keep these babies healthy.” 

That experience inspired Ballard to create his documentary, scheduled for release later this year. “I felt like there really wasn’t a lot of information about the medical model versus the midwife model and what the true differences were,” he explains.

For McNeill, effective midwifery extends beyond the birth itself. She emphasizes nutrition during pregnancy, believing that high-quality eating helps both mother and baby weather the stresses of pregnancy and birth. She educates clients about their options, empowering them to make informed decisions. And she encourages partners and loved ones to be active participants.

Perhaps most remarkably, McNeill has never used a birth rotation with other midwives, never had a last-minute substitute, and never gone on vacation more than 50 miles from home–all to ensure she’s present for every birth.

When asked about her legacy, McNeill’s answer is characteristically humble: “I would like to be known as someone who listened and responded with compassion and was a good facilitator for people, that I could educate them and honor their decision-making to the best of my ability.”

On March 21, hundreds of families will gather at the Shasta District Fairgrounds to tell her she accomplished exactly that, and so much more. •