Welcome

I am a home birth midwife. That means I am fundamentally just a little bit out of step with whatever world we are currently in. I always have my phone. It lives on a special shelf a couple of feet from my head when I am sleeping. I am only off call if I have arranged for someone else to be on for me. I am willing to advocate for beliefs way different from my own if it becomes necessary to interact with the healthcare system in the course of a birth because I believe every birth should be according to the wishes of the parent or parents in so far as is compatible with ending up with two healthy people at the end of it. Part of my job is to discern that. I know how to do and facilitate many things to make birth more comfortable and more likely to bebeautiful and healthy, but in the end, my most basic job is to prevent and take care of major unexpected events as I provide protection for both mother and baby. My mother in law was an illiterate peasant woman who had 14 children (she was also one of the wisest, most accepting pwople I have ever known). She had all of them unattended. Almost all were healthy at birth. A few died in the neonatal period. THe last one nearly killed her from complications a skilled midwife could have taken care of.

I got into this work while I wa still in college. ONe of the other women in my communal household announced that whe was having a baby and would be doing it there at the house. She asked if I would help. I have never truly been away from birth since. We moved to MIssouri and I had my own first home birth with the help of several friends because I could not find a midwife. Soon people were asking for help. Then we formed a coop of birth attendants, then began training others. Soon decades had gone by.

At the outset, birth struck me hard as work that invoked the perfect combination of spirituality, feminism, revolutionary activity, prepartion for a new society, and intellectual challenge. I still feel that way about it. Midwifery and home birth have become common in the society, but the society has not become more stable or more unified. We stilll need these skills!