Just as a woman's heart knows how and when to pump, her lungs to inhale, and her hand to pull back from fire, so she knows when and how to give birth.
~Virginia Di Orio
Just as a woman's heart knows how and when to pump, her lungs to inhale, and her hand to pull back from fire, so she knows when and how to give birth.
~Virginia Di Orio
On the day you give birth, 300,000 women will be giving birth with you. All over the world, women will be walking, rocking, singing, grunting, sweating, squatting, praying, and pushing their babies out into waiting arms.
But what will birth be like for you? What’s it like to work with a midwife? What’s a homebirth like?
Homebirth is about having a birth that’s best for you, your baby, and your family. Homebirth is safe, with outcomes that meet or exceed hospital birth for normal, low-risk pregnancies. Homebirth is provides professional care in a quantity and quality that simply can’t be purchased in conventional medical settings. Homebirth is about trust and respect, a true partnership between your midwife and you.
The Midwives Model of Care™ is based on the fact that pregnancy and birth are normal life events. The Midwives Model of Care includes:
The application of this model has been proven to reduce to incidence of birth injury, trauma, and cesarean section.
The Midwives Model of Care definition above is Copyright © 1996-2008, Midwifery Task Force, All Rights Reserved.
"Women's bodies have their own wisdom, and a system of birth refined over 100,000 generations is not so easily overpowered." - Sarah Buckley
Your prenatal experience will begin with a standard schedule of appointments, labs and screens—very much like that you would experience with a physician. The differences are where we meet, time we spend together, and care that is tailored specifically to you. Appointments generally last an hour or more, and include a cup of tea, a warm hug and a meaningful check-in regarding your pregnancy and thoughts.
Our prenatals generally take place at our downtown Duluth office. Occasionally, when the weather is too nice to be inside, we may meet in my screenhouse or maybe even an area park! We’ll be coming to your house at least once or twice, as well.
Midwifery care specializes in normal, healthy pregnancy and birth. We’ll spend a good deal of time making sure you meet those guidelines and stay within that safety zone. I have protocols developed by state regulatory agencies that I must follow, assuring that I work only with low-risk pregnancies. To assist you in making informed decisions, I take extra time to go over lab results in detail, discuss diet, exercise, changes and development of mother and baby, educate about labor, birth and postpartum, as well as prepare siblings and other family members for change by discussing relationships and fears.
You’ll meet and get to know my apprentice/assistant, and perhaps you’ll be interested in asking one of Duluth’s amazing doulas to come to your birth. Sometimes an extra set of skilled hands is just what is needed; oftentimes, though, the intimacy of just the birthing couple, the midwife and one helper seems just right. It’s all up to you.
Rather than being a time of weakness with beds, shots, fasting IVs, and wheelchairs, it is a time of energy and strength. Raw power. Mightiness. Courage. -Judy Edmunds, “Life of a Midwife
When the day of birth arrives, expect the continuous and enthusiastic support of a birth team you know well. We slide quietly into your birth space, monitor your labor, your baby, and help you find your way. Some births are easy, some births tough. We never know until we’re there. But you and your family can know, without doubt, that you’ll be well-cared for.
The fact is that labor and delivery are challenging, no matter how well-prepared you might be. A homebirth means you’re interested in meeting that challenge, and recognize it as a valuable gateway to motherhood. You value the inherent wisdom and safety of an undisturbed, natural labor.
I use training, experience, instinct, touch, massage, and comforting words to guide you through labor. The birth team uses the “big bag of tricks,” such as showers and birth tubs, heat packs, aromatherapy, food, movement, and rest to nourish and relax you. We help you breathe through each contraction, change your position, and move you around to keep you more comfortable. Affirmations and visualizations help you know that you can do it. I will let you know that you are a strong and powerful woman, able to birth beautifully.
When your baby finally is born, she or he will be met with gentle, calm hands—mine, yours, the baby’s father—and allowed to adjust quietly and safely to life on Earth.
“Birth is a powerful preparation for strong, compassionate parenting.” -Emme Corbiel, CPM
After your baby arrives, we stay until you’re stabilized, fed, tucked into a clean bed with a nursing baby who has had a full newborn exam. Your house is cleaned up, and the laundry is started, and everyone is sleepy. I’ll be back the next day to check in on you, and visiting quite often during your first week with baby. No trips to the doctor’s office, sitting in a waiting room, or bundling up a newborn in January. I come to you.
With midwifery care, you’re not alone to deal with the adjustments to parenthood. We help you through engorgement, jaundice, breastfeeding, post partum depression…whatever is thrown your way. I will apply for birth certificates, social security number, paternity statements if necessary, and bill insurance.
I assure that you have help and support at home for the days--and even weeks--after birth. This is a time to rest and heal, and to get to know your new baby. We’ll make sure your friends, family, and community also know how to support your new family. At six weeks, we’ll have our final visit to talk about your postpartum recovery and family planning.
Occasionally, I do have to transfer women out of my care, either during pregnancy or during labor. Knowing the limits of a normal, healthy pregnancy and birth, and recognizing when those boundaries are being threatened is what keeps homebirth and midwifery care safe. I will do my best to follow your care and continue to offer my support in these situations, and certainly always accompany you to the hospital, staying with you until birth, if we must transfer during your labor.
I’m happy to say that true emergencies are very rare. Transfer of care, instead, is a deliberate move toward medical care that will offer the safest birth in a given situation. If you’re unfamiliar with midwifery care in an out-of-hospital setting, you probably have many questions about emergency situations. I’m happy to answer your questions, and guide you to literature and studies that will help you understand my comfort and competency in helping women give birth at home.
I often work with doctors to care for a client, and I am happy to make new connections with your family doctor. I also have a list of physicians with whom I have worked in the past, who are open to, and supportive of, midwifery and homebirth.