Midwife: Sage Femme, Hebamme, Comadrona, Partera

Early Saturday morning I received a call from a midwife I know in another state - one of her clients, at almost 39 weeks, was in my area visiting when her water broke! The midwife told me that now the contractions were picking up and she wasn’t going to make it back home in time. Could I help?

The mama came to my house and birthed her baby downstairs in the bathroom by my office. Standing over the toilet, looking to be eight feet tall, she birthed her beautiful baby boy. Total strangers, all brought together through the birth of this baby. The funny coincidence? The woman that drove her while she was laboring was a woman that called me during her UC birth about six months ago when they had a question about labor…getting to see that baby and meet the beautiful couple was so awesome! No doubt we were all brought together for a reason.

(Incidentally, my 12 year old daughter woke up just as this mama was starting to make noise during pushing. She knew instantly that someone was birthing…I think it’s incredible to have an awareness of something exciting and normal come to her mind FIRST rather than fear or worry!)

Later that night, I was called out to a client having her second baby at home. It was a 45 minute drive to her house - we arrived at 12.45am. After getting in the tub for a couple minutes, she got up to use the toilet. I remember looking at my assistant asking if that sounded like pushing. We agreed it did sound like that. A bit later, the mama called my name and when I walked into the bathroom she said the “head is right here”. Baby girl born at 1.04am. Dad missed the birth because he took their son to a relative’s house and was gone for twenty minutes.

I have a second time mom who is pregnant with twins, 36 weeks this Saturday. Another client, pregnant with her fifth, is measuring 34cm at 27 weeks. She feels like it’s twins. An ultrasound should tell us - by palpation it was difficult to determine.

Two June moms left.

I’m grateful for sleep. So grateful! The births are all pretty fast - it’s the postpartum visits (and driving!) that is more tiring.

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