Mama called around three in the morning to tell me she was having short, frequent contractions – contractions surely too short to be accomplishing much. I encouraged her to drink a tall glass of water and hop into an epsom salt bath, and see if they wouldn’t either lengthen or fade away. An hour later, Daddy[…]
Through my last post in this series describing my time among the Amish, I revealed one of the ways I struggled with my calling. Join me this week as Emma’s labor begins. And so Emma’s pregnancy matured as winter gave way to springtime. Icy roadways turned muddy, hints of green began to peek past patches[…]
Through my last post in this series about my birthwork among the Amish, Midwife Life, Part Four: Secrets, I showed you what a prenatal visit looks like. Today I’ll show you what it was like to be a real-live human with my own special set of frailties and flaws and foibles that had to be overcome in order to[…]
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” And so it is. Between my book and this blog, I’ve spent the last two years writing and writing and writing furiously with a desire to bring you with me into the beautiful and bewitching world of birth at home. If only you could see… But today you can![…]
Meet my friend, Patrice Bobier, CPM, veteran homebirth midwife of Northern Michigan. Patrice has attended the births of more than 1,600 babies in just a little less than forty-years! Though Patrice herself may not remember it, I first met her at a Michigan Midwives Association Conference twenty-eight years ago when I was eighteen years old. Fourteen[…]
Tomorrow is my granddaughter’s first birthday! In celebration, I’ve decided to re-post the story of her birth! We: Hannah, Jesse, Sarah (friend and photographer), Heather (friend and midwifery apprentice), and Kim (friend and mom and grandmom and midwife) have made a collective attempt to tell the tale of little Evangeline’s birth on Monday, November 9th, 2015, from[…]
It’s with a flood of joy that I introduce you to Sarah and Matt Donahue and their birth stories today! Our lives came together eight years ago across 800 miles of telephone wire, then morphed from professional to personal like the dancing hues of a kaleidoscope caught within a beam of sunlight. Hannah and I attended the[…]
As tomorrow, 10/13/2015, marks what would’ve been my twenty-fifth wedding anniversary with Brent Woodard, my first husband and the father of my two children, I thought it would be appropriate (and fun!)(Brent was so much fun!) to honor his memory by telling a bit about him and our two homebirths. Brent and I had a[…]
A sudden jangling startled me from the wonderful world of soot and orphans and redemption Charles Dickens had woven and lured me into. Mildly annoyed, I backed away from the sink and stripped the sudsy yellow gloves from my hands in order to shush Charles and fish the phone from the front pocket of my stained[…]
Hello, treasured friends! I’ve three exciting things to share with you this morning! First, after long deliberation, I’ve settled upon a branding image! Many thanks to those of you who shared your thoughts regarding my proposed brand, tagline, and logo! I received each of your opinions with gratitude, both for the insights you shared, and for the[…]