Kim’s Statistics—4 March 2022 through 31 December 2024
Well! I’m finally finished updating my stats! The details—including how these details blend with the details of my previous twenty-nine years—may be viewed at kimosterholzer.com/statistics-birth-home-midwifery-services.
The last two years and nine months have proved a truly wild ride. A mostly really wonderful ride, but did it ever have its moments.
I served a whole lot of lovely families through the births of 120 new babies, 1,522 prenatal visits, and 665 postpartum visits.
119 of those babies lived.
But one baby died.
100 of those babies were born at home. One of those babies was born in a meadow.
I missed the births of three babies, they came so rapidly.
One baby’s birth was planned for the hospital.
Nine other babies were born in the hospital after I transferred care of their mothers to medicine before their labors started—four of those babies were twins and two were breech.
Ten babies were born in the hospital after I transferred care of their mothers to medicine in labor. The transfers were mainly for babies struggling to tolerate their labors, for rising blood pressures, and for exhaustion, but one was for a woman who reached her 42nd week of pregnancy without having her baby, and one was for a partial placenta abruption.
One of those transfers was for the baby who died—he died during his labor before I was able to arrive—not that my arrival would have actually made a difference, sadly.
I transferred two mothers to hospitals after their births for postpartum hemorrhages arising from cervical lacerations.
I transferred another mother to the hospital post-birth for a gnarly second-degree laceration I did not feel confident to repair.
I repaired nine lacerations at home—one first-degree laceration and eight second-degree lacerations.
Two mothers required manual removal of their placentas.
One mother needed her uterus pressed gently back into place after she birthed.
I transferred one 37-week baby boy to the hospital for respiratory support, and watched in horror as the baby’s little lungs were noticeably over-inflated by a nurse in the emergency room. He was diagnosed some hours later with a pneumothorax, and was in the NICU for a little better than a week. To be clear, this baby breathed well immediately upon his birth—no breaths were provided him at home—he just began to grunt a bit around one-hour post-birth, letting us know he needed some extra assistance.
My team and I facilitated twenty newborn resuscitations.
I sent a handful of other babies to doctors and hospitals in the days to weeks after their births per all manner of concerns.
I tended to ten other moms through portions of their pregnancies and/or postpartums, but I missed the birth of one per illness (for the first time in 18 years!), I missed the births of five per vacation (Hannah attended those births without me), and four moms moved away during their pregnancies.
More than forty women suffered miscarriages.
One baby was conceived by IVF.
Two babies were conceived after vasectomy reversals.
Thirty-four of those I served were first-time moms—six of whom were 35-years-old or older.
Six of those I served were desiring to give birth vaginally for the first time after experiencing cesarean birth—all of whom were 35-years-old or older. Three were able to give birth vaginally at home, and one was able to give birth vaginally in the hospital after I transferred her there for the development of preeclampsia. I transferred care of another of those women to medicine after discovering she was carrying twins. She birthed by cesarean section at 31 weeks upon developing HELLP syndrome. I transferred care of yet another after she developed hypertension. She birthed by cesarean section at 37 weeks.
Eight babies were born to seven women by cesarean section. I was able to attend the surgeries with three of those women.
One baby’s birth was assisted by vacuum—only the second vacuum-assisted birth I’ve witnessed.
One baby’s birth was assisted by forceps—the very first forceps-assisted birth I’ve witnessed.
One baby was born—after a transfer for non-reassuring heart tones—with bladder exstrophy.
Six moms received their own babies.
Six moms participated in the resuscitation of their newborns.
Five couples received their babies together.
Sixty-one dads received their babies.
One four-year-old sister helped her dad receive their baby.
One grandmother received the family’s baby.
Two babies were my own grandbabies. My son received one, and my daughter and son-in-law received the other.
Nine babies were born completely within their water sacs, or en caul. We used to call it born within the veil.
Two babies were born with their placentas at their heels—one of those babies was the baby who died.
Seventeen babies were born with one of their hands beside their heads.
Nineteen babies were born with their umbilical cords wrapped once around their necks, seven babies were born with their umbilical cords wrapped twice around their necks, and one baby was born with his umbilical cord wrapped three times around his neck. Most of those cord wraps didn’t require any extra assistance from me, but I did use the somersault maneuver to handle the wraps that were especially tight.
Two babies were born with knots in their cords.
Sixteen families severed their baby’s umbilical cords by burning.
One family waited thirty-six hours to sever their baby’s umbilical cord. Another family waited forty-eight hours to sever their baby’s umbilical cord.
Two placenta circumvallate, one placenta marginate, one succenturiate-lobed placenta, and one battledore placenta accompanied their little friends.
I went from one birth to a second birth twelve times, and each time both babies arrived on the same day or within hours of one another on consecutive days. Thanks to my amazing team, I was actually able to witness all of those births.
I spent more than twenty-four hours at so many births.
Never have I transferred so many birthing families to hospitals in so short a span of time. Never have I had so many families birth by cesarean section in so short a span of time.
So I tended to the families of 119 living babies.
But one baby died.
One baby died.
In the wake of the death of that one priceless baby, a complaint was filed against my license—anonymously, by someone from the hospital who decided to file the complaint without taking the time to examine my records or my client.
And so, yes. The last few years have been wild.
All that wildness forced me to take some time to think and to pray. To think and to pray and to remember who I am and what I’m called to—to think and to pray and to remember who made me and who called me—to think and to pray and to remember who I work for and why—to think and to pray and to decide if I desire to carry on with this amazing work.
This amazing work.
Yes. I’ve decided to carry on.
