Story of Haven

Haven Birth and Wellness is the fulfillment of a dream for Certified Nurse-Midwife, Lauren Drees who has been practicing since 2010 with the pleasure of well over 1,000 “catches.” Haven was created with the desire to support, educate, and encourage women through pregnancy, birth, and beyond. We desire to provide safe, holistic, relationship based care in our office space as well as your home for your birth, immediate postpartum, and newborn care. With the belief that birth is much more than just a physical event, we aim to provide care for a woman’s body, soul, and spirit. As a practice, we believe women are strong and capable of much more than they realize. Haven’s goal is to walk along side women to help them find their own strength through this transformative journey.

Haven Birth and Wellness will be working closely with local hospitals and OB/GYNs in the Nashville area to provide consultation and transfer of care when necessary. In addition to prenatal, labor, birth, postpartum, and newborn care; Haven also provides women’s wellness exams, pre-conceptual visits, and gynecological care with plans of expanding into greater avenues of holistic care in the future.

"Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers- strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength."
- Barbara Katz Rothman

Our Midwives

Carolyn Denning, CNM, MSN

Carolyn was raised in the suburbs outside of Detroit, Michigan. After completing her degree in Human Physiology at Michigan State University she moved to Nashville. As she learned more about the world’s deep need for improved maternity care, she knew she desired a more “hands on” role. Birth, and walking with women through the sacred journey of pregnancy and motherhood, has been a passion of Carolyn’s for as long as she can remember. As she began to look into avenues to serve women in this capacity it became clear that midwifery was her calling.

Carolyn began championing moms as a doula while she completed her nursing degree. She found herself forever in awe of the transformative process of pregnancy and birth. After nursing school, Carolyn worked for several years in Vanderbilt’s Pediatric Emergency Department. She also spent time as a Labor and Delivery nurse at Vanderbilt. There she learned invaluable skills that she carries with her into midwifery. 

One of Carolyn’s greatest joys is international mission work. In 2016, Carolyn married her husband (Dustin) and they moved to South Africa to serve as long-term missionaries. While in South Africa Carolyn walked alongside impoverished pregnant moms. She supported women in labor and birth, led group antenatal classes, did postpartum home visits that included breastfeeding support, and was there as a much needed listening ear.

The most profound confirmation of Carolyn stepping into the home birth setting was her own home birth in South Africa. She refers to it as the most abundant day of her life. Her greatest accomplishment is mothering her two girls, Levy and Josie. She continues to be shaped by the gift of being their mother daily. 

When Carolyn isn’t working as a midwife there is no place she’d rather be than with Dustin, and their girls. She enjoys traveling, learning about different cultures, and being outside exploring nature.

Dawn Swendsen, CNM, MSN, APRN

Dawn has devoted her entire career of 25 years to women's health. She has had the privilege of participating in nearly 1500 births in various settings across the United States. Her nursing experience included Labor and Delivery, NICU, OB-Emergency, and the Main Emergency Department. Midwifery was a natural step for her as she realized the beauty and safety of non-intervention (unless necessary) and shared decision-making. She is committed to empowering women through education and helping them to understand the beautiful design of their bodies. One of her greatest joys is getting to experience the sacred moment of birth with families.

Dawn is a native of the Pacific Northwest and met her husband, Taylor, while on a travel nursing assignment in Seattle, WA, in 2000. Dawn and Taylor were married in 2002 and moved to Tennessee in 2013. They have five children: Ezra, Lucy, Levi, Micah, and Jude.

She loves Jesus, her family, coffee, strategy games, camping, and all things outdoors. She considers herself an avid runner, having completed three marathons and four half marathons as well as a few triathlons in her life.

Katherine Jacobs, RN, MSN, FNP-BC

Katherine Jacobs is a South Carolina native but has called Nashville home since 2002. After graduating with her BSN from the Medical University of South Carolina, she began her nursing career at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital where she worked in infant/toddler medicine for nearly a decade. She obtained her masters degree and board certification as a Family Nurse Practitioner in 2007 and has worked in the areas of outpatient acute care, pediatric well care, and as a pediatric clinical nursing instructor.

During the time devoted to raising her three children, Katherine became increasingly interested in the impact of lifestyle choices and environmental exposures on health outcomes. She also realized that her desire for providing healthcare went much deeper than the traditional model she was taught. She now uses a functional medicine approach to finding root cause illness and pursuing optimal wellness with her patients. She believes the functional medicine model complements the most basic, yet purposeful, manners in which our bodies were created to be nourished and find healing. She desires for her patients to know their worth through being seen and heard and to partner with them in their individualized health journeys. She is actively pursuing formal certification through the Institute for Functional Medicine.

In addition to working and homeschooling, Katherine enjoys adventuring outdoors, baking and picture taking, and traveling to new destinations. Her greatest treasures are her faith and her family.

Abbey Harris, RN

Abbey began her nursing career at the University of Colorado; she had returned to school after deciding to change careers from social work to nursing. While in nursing school she started supporting her close friends while they labored naturally and she fell in love with natural childbirth. She worked a short stint at Memorial Hospital's digestive medicine unit in Colorado Springs before landing her first nursing role at a birth center: Mountain Midwifery in Denver. She worked there for 3 years receiving a fantastic education and foundation for supporting moms and babies in the birth processes.

She then met her husband, Shaun, and moved to Nashville, soon after which she starting work on Vanderbilt's postpartum unit. She was there almost a year when Baby and Company Nashville opened and has been working there as an RN assisting midwives since 2015.

In 2014, Abbey became a certified Holy Yoga instructor and completed her pre/post natal certification in early 2017. She loves teaching and offering the gift of movement and breath to help educate and support women during the labor process as well as aiding in the recovery for the postpartum mother.

Abbey brings a unique spirit of support and encouragement to our families, as well as confidence that every birth story is unique and powerful.  When she's not working as a nurse or yoga teacher she is spending time with her husband, Shaun, and goldendoodle, Captain, doing things like hiking, riding bikes, traveling to see friends and cooking!

Haley Bailey

Haley was born and raised in sunny Anaheim, California and attended nursing school in Phoenix, Arizona. She has always had a huge heart for mamas and babies and after her first nursing clinical in labor and delivery, she knew this was where she was called to serve. In 2022, after nearly three years as an L&D nurse in California, Haley and her husband moved to Nashville where she has since worked as a mother-baby nurse at Vanderbilt. Working alongside laboring and postpartum mothers and their newborns has only deepened her love for the transformative experience of birth and motherhood. She loves to celebrate how the Lord made women to carry, nurture and deliver life and to get to now get to do so in the home environment and with a holistic perspective is an absolute dream come true.   Haley and her high school sweetheart Robbie have been married for three years, and while they don’t have any kiddos of their own quite yet, they are proud parents to their two kitties. In addition to mama’s and babies, Haley has a huge heart for homemaking, anything holistic health and wellness, all things photography, and most importantly Christ.