Janel Says-
Emily is an incredible midwife. She assisted with our daughters birth 5 years ago when she was just starting out. She was there at the hospital with the birth of our second child (whom had medical problems). She was the delivering midwife of our third child. Our home births were incredible and would recommend anyone who is interested in having a home birth to interview Emily. She is truly a blessing when it comes to having an incredible birth experiences...
Emily is an incredible midwife. She assisted with our daughters birth 5 years ago when she was just starting out. She was there at the hospital with the birth of our second child (whom had medical problems). She was the delivering midwife of our third child. Our home births were incredible and would recommend anyone who is interested in having a home birth to interview Emily. She is truly a blessing when it comes to having an incredible birth experiences...
My husband and I enjoyed a special and rewarding natural hospital birth with our first daughter 2 years ago, and although this experience satisfied our expectations, we knew that we wanted to plan for a home birth as soon as we learned of our second pregnancy. We had planned on interviewing a number of midwives in the area, but after meeting Emily, we did not need to keep looking. We felt impressed by her knowledge and application of the research findings in the areas of pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn care. Despite her proficiency and experience, Emily also expressed interest in our ideal experiences. I always looked forward to our prenatal appointments. It was especially rewarding to have our 2-year-old daughter participate in the exams, and Emily’s encouragement and patience with her eagerness to “help” was awesome and allowed my pregnancy to be a family event. My labor was not as smooth and efficient as I had hoped or envisioned, and after many hours with slow progress, I had begun to feel confused and discouraged. Emily’s presence was calming, encouraging, and reassuring. She allowed my husband and me to labor using the techniques that had worked well during our first daughter’s birth while also providing modifications and new ideas according to our very different circumstances. I learned after the birth that Emily was aware of the possible obstacles that were preventing my labor from progressing as expected, and she was consulting her colleagues to provide the best care possible for me. During my birth, however, she remained confident in my capacity to sustain our intentions and endure the birthing process as it was presenting. The result was a perfectly healthy baby girl, born naturally in a warm pool in my bedroom, uncomplicated by unnecessary and invasive procedures. Emily’s joy for us was sincere. During the hours following our daughter’s birth, Emily stayed well into the night, making sure that everything was just right before returning to her own home for well deserved rest. Since our daughter’s birth, Emily’s high quality service has continued. In addition to frequent phone and text check ins, she has made several trips to our home at our convenience to provide physical and emotional care to the baby and me. Although we are not intending to have more children, I am certain that if we were, we would plan another home birth with Emily at our side. Her personality is warm, accepting, and conscientious. Emily expertly balances science and experience in her approach to prenatal care and birth, and she maintains her knowledge and skills by consulting scholarly articles and trusted colleagues. We are very grateful toward Emily and highly recommend her midwifery services to those interested in a fulfilling home birth experience. - Abbie & Jeff
A dear client shared this with me and (with her permission of course) I am sharing it with you. I feel this is such a testimony to the benefits of midwifery care:
Hi Emily... #sigh# I just went for my yearly annual at ****... she looked down at the computer nearly the entire time during my 10 minutes with her (my appt. was at 4pm and I waited until 5:15pm for her to enter the room). She asked all of my history questions (how come they still don't have it in the computer? I have filled out all of the forms and have been going there for pap smears, birth control, etc for six years?). I told her that we had baby R. at home. She told me I was "brave" and then decided to educate me that there is 450% increased risk or more than 4X the risk of your baby dying with a home birth. I stumbled on my words... I said something like "well I was more scared to have the baby at the hospital"...
I WISHED I would have said something smart about how I know enough about statistics to know that you can use them as "proof" to say whatever you wanna say - to confirm your preconceived opinion, I wished I would have said that I must be reading different books/studies than she is... I WISHED I would have defended it all (probably would have fallen on deaf ears)...
I WISHED I would have told her about your care... you came to my home, you stayed a long time - up to an hour or more sometimes - making sure ALL my questions were answered, you are a professional, you informed me - so thoroughly - of all the risks, you offered me tests, you counseled my family when we were stressed, you listened to my past birth experiences, you listened to my fears, I had complete confidence that you would know when/if to transport if there were any red flags, you referred me for massage/my psychologist/chiropractic/physical therapy - all of those practitioners made a difference for my prenatal and postpartum care, you helped me envision a beautiful birth, you were by my side - watching me as I labored, you came prepared, you observed, you monitored, and you watched me deliver my baby, you took care of me after - not leaving my side until you knew all was well, you came to my house frequently for six weeks and showed such loving kindness, such generosity, such thoughtful care to me and baby R, you recommended she be treated by the chiropractor and that helped her pain, her stress.
YOU are part of a movement towards healing birth and healing the world... there is so much more... I know that, for me, the only way I could give birth naturally was to be allowed to labor the way I wanted to... the lighting was dim, the room was really warm, and I labored away on my own bed! Can't get better than that! THAT is why I chose home birth; THAT is why I won't let fear bully me into doing what "they" say. You do have a heart of a lion... I am brave and proud to be part of your community. I will remember to say those things next time... I will have to ask how much time she has, it takes time to share our beautiful home birth experience - longer than the 5-10 minutes she was in the room.
PS... I am so annoyed with the bad press for home birth... there are cruddy practitioners that work at the hospital and there are cruddy home birth midwives. Why can't it just get press that home birth is an option and leave it at that? Why do the bad stories make the press and feed into the FEAR? The people with the money and the power in this country want to coerce everyone to do things their way. bullies. - MJ
Hi Emily... #sigh# I just went for my yearly annual at ****... she looked down at the computer nearly the entire time during my 10 minutes with her (my appt. was at 4pm and I waited until 5:15pm for her to enter the room). She asked all of my history questions (how come they still don't have it in the computer? I have filled out all of the forms and have been going there for pap smears, birth control, etc for six years?). I told her that we had baby R. at home. She told me I was "brave" and then decided to educate me that there is 450% increased risk or more than 4X the risk of your baby dying with a home birth. I stumbled on my words... I said something like "well I was more scared to have the baby at the hospital"...
I WISHED I would have said something smart about how I know enough about statistics to know that you can use them as "proof" to say whatever you wanna say - to confirm your preconceived opinion, I wished I would have said that I must be reading different books/studies than she is... I WISHED I would have defended it all (probably would have fallen on deaf ears)...
I WISHED I would have told her about your care... you came to my home, you stayed a long time - up to an hour or more sometimes - making sure ALL my questions were answered, you are a professional, you informed me - so thoroughly - of all the risks, you offered me tests, you counseled my family when we were stressed, you listened to my past birth experiences, you listened to my fears, I had complete confidence that you would know when/if to transport if there were any red flags, you referred me for massage/my psychologist/chiropractic/physical therapy - all of those practitioners made a difference for my prenatal and postpartum care, you helped me envision a beautiful birth, you were by my side - watching me as I labored, you came prepared, you observed, you monitored, and you watched me deliver my baby, you took care of me after - not leaving my side until you knew all was well, you came to my house frequently for six weeks and showed such loving kindness, such generosity, such thoughtful care to me and baby R, you recommended she be treated by the chiropractor and that helped her pain, her stress.
YOU are part of a movement towards healing birth and healing the world... there is so much more... I know that, for me, the only way I could give birth naturally was to be allowed to labor the way I wanted to... the lighting was dim, the room was really warm, and I labored away on my own bed! Can't get better than that! THAT is why I chose home birth; THAT is why I won't let fear bully me into doing what "they" say. You do have a heart of a lion... I am brave and proud to be part of your community. I will remember to say those things next time... I will have to ask how much time she has, it takes time to share our beautiful home birth experience - longer than the 5-10 minutes she was in the room.
PS... I am so annoyed with the bad press for home birth... there are cruddy practitioners that work at the hospital and there are cruddy home birth midwives. Why can't it just get press that home birth is an option and leave it at that? Why do the bad stories make the press and feed into the FEAR? The people with the money and the power in this country want to coerce everyone to do things their way. bullies. - MJ