“Something I really do admire about the Amish is the way… their lives keep them close to the rhythms of the earth… in sync with the rising and the setting of the sun.”
A little snippet from
A Midwife in Amish Country
Celebrating God’s Gift of Life
“We turned to watch the stout, apple-cheeked Amishman cross from the barn toward the house with just as brilliant a smile on his face as his wife’s. ‘Howdy, howdy!’ he called as he came, removing his straw hat as he reached us, revealing a throng of messy auburn curls.
‘Hello,’ Jean said. ‘Ezra, Kathleen, this is Kim, my apprentice.’
‘Kim!’ The two nearly said at once. ‘Pleased to meet you!’ We entered the tidy home, and I could see at once Kathleen’s favorite color was violet as everything that could be reasonably painted, dyed, or tinted that hue was. It had the effect of making the air itself feel like a lovely shade of lavender.
As we began the prenatal, I was touched at how involved Ezra was in everything we did and said. While many fathers attend the prenatal visits, it isn’t too often the Amish dads are able to. Most work “away,” either in factories or employed to other Amishmen with larger farms or businesses, as small-scale farming is inadequate to support constantly growing families and the men find it impractical at best to attempt to take a day off just to attend a prenatal. But Ezra managed to support his family by his dairy, and so was able to come in for every single prenatal. Between his eagerness to be involved and his many thoughtful questions and musings, his presence was a pure delight to us and to his wife, who clearly adored him.
At one of our visits, the subject of underwire bras came up. Kathleen must have had a question about them, though I don’t remember what it was. In response, Jean said this, I said that, Kathleen added a thought, and on we talked. When Ezra threw in an observation, we three nodded our heads in agreement until it dawned on us how irregular it was for an Amish- man to make any sort of comment about any sort of bra at all.
All eyes turned to him and he blushed the deepest red blush I’ve ever seen. ‘Ahhh—’ He stammered, ‘But—I suppose—well then, yes. Yes, and—how would I know, eh?’
Kathleen, Jean, and I burst into laughter and, with a look of relief on his scarlet face, Ezra joined in.”
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Endorsed by
Stasi Eldredge, NYT best-selling author of Captivating
Dr. Sara Wickham, author, midwifery lecturer and consultant, www.sarawickham.com
Jolina Petersheim, bestselling author of The Midwife
Leslie Gould, #1 best-selling and Christy-award winning author of over twenty books, including The Amish Midwife
Rahima Baldwin Dancy, author of Special Delivery, childbirth activist, and midwife (retired)
Marie Monville, author of One Light Still Shines
Cindy Lambert, coauthor of One Light Still Shines
Elizabeth Davis, CPM, Co-Director of National Midwifery Institute, Inc., elizabethdavis.com, author of Heart & Hands: A Midwife’s Guide to Pregnancy and Birth and the international bestseller, Orgasmic Birth: Your Guide to a Safe, Satisfying, and Pleasurable Birth Experience
Serena B. Miller, award-winning author of More Than Happy: The Wisdom of Amish Parenting, serenabmiller.com
Eleanor Bertin, Lifelines and Pall of Silence
Sara Daigle, author of Women of Purpose and Dare to Love Your Husband Well
Beth Learn, founder of Fit2b.com
……………..
Kim Woodard Osterholzer, Colorado Springs Homebirth Midwife and Author
Books by Kim:
Homebirth: Commonly Asked Questions
A Midwife in Amish Country: Celebrating God’s Gift of Life
Nourish + Thrive: Happy, Healthy Childbearing
One Little Life at a Time: Recommendations + Record Keeping for Aspiring Homebirth Midwives
