Today, we're throwing open the doors to one of our most cherished experiences - our first official home birth together as licensed midwives. A blend of anticipation, excitement, and joy, our first birth offered us invaluable insights and eventually shaped the course of our midwifery careers. You can hear every single detail of this homebirth story over on the podcast, At Home with Kelly + Tiffany, episode 148.
Starting Out – A Leap of Faith:
Our story goes back to 2018 when a spark of an idea turned into a commitment - a commitment to offer well-rounded, down-to-earth homebirth support to expecting mothers. We had been setting up our future practice to prepare for Tiffany acquiring her midwifery license at the end of 2018. Kelly was licensed several months before that and started taking care of a family she knew from the practice she was a midwifery student at.
Our business, "Beautiful One Midwifery," came to life with our first-ever official client due in the beginning of 2019. This sweet mom placed trust in our care for her third birth, which allowed us to grow in our roles as primary midwives. Looking back, there were many important moments of this experience that laid a foundation for how we practice today.
Stepping into the Birth Process:
Observing the theory of midwifery unfolding in practice was both exciting and nerve-racking. We wanted to provide the best care while also exploring our autonomy as new midwives. Our roles were clearly defined: one as the primary and the other assisting, ensuring the birth progressed smoothly.
We somewhat accidentally discovered one of our biggest strengths, our open communication. We had many opportunities to process our preparations and plans with each other leading up to the birth. How this communication translated into our first birth together ended up being important.
Tackling Birth Challenges with Collective Wisdom:
There was a moment of potential complication at the time of birth that challenged us just enough to remind us of the seriousness of our roles. When the baby's head appeared without restitution of the shoulders - a sign indicating potential shoulder dystocia - our immediate response was not of panic, but of communication.
Our midwifery education had prepared us for next steps in resolving should dystocia, but we wanted to maintain the calm and protect the peace in this birth experience for the family, too. Kelly suggested a change in the mother's position and this simple, yet effective solution facilitated the baby's birth naturally without any invasive intervention.
As we debriefed about the birth later, we decided to discuss how midwives handle common complications with our clients at the home visit (a prenatal appointment that happens in the family's home before the birth to get ready for the big day). 5 years later, this is a regular part of how we educate and prepare our clients for potential complications. Communicating expectations and our plan of action has made handling these issues so much smoother when they arise in birth! Read more about how midwives handle complications HERE.
Embracing the Postpartum Calm:
The immediate postpartum period is an important time for new families. They are greeting and getting to know their baby, integrating the birth experience and settling into all the good feelings that oxytocin provides after birth. Sometimes care providers can rush this stage, but we knew we wanted to be a part of supporting a calm and connected first few hours.
Once the placenta was born, vitals were stable and mom and baby were happily resting in bed together, we stepped out of the room, allowing the family to have some privacy before proceeding with the newborn exam and postpartum instructions. This too has become a regular rhythm to our care, as we discovered a slower pace gives families that desired bonding time, while still having midwives nearby if needed.
Birth Lessons Learned- Growing as Midwives:
This initial birth, and the lessons we learned from it, served as the cornerstone of our midwifery practice, shaping our principles and approach to care. We learned the significant impact of instinctual decision-making, open communication, and holding space for the new family bonding that follows birth. As we share our insights, victories, and challenges in birth, we hope to shed light on the beauty and awe that accompanies homebirth as well. Stay tuned for more birth stories and our insights in upcoming posts as we share more about the homebirths we have attended together.
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