The Journey Begins
My earliest experiences with birth were the discussions I had with my mom. Pregnant twelve times, she had eight children survive the dark ages of obstetrics. At the tender age of seven, when my youngest sister was born, I would grill my mom with questions about birth. I loved the new baby, and wanted to know all about her. ‘How did she get in there and how did she come out? Why did you have to go to the hospital? Did it hurt? What did it feel like? How did you say she came out, again?’ I knew I was going to be a mother someday, and I wanted to be prepared. I’ve been asking questions ever since that time. When our cat had kittens under my bed, I got to play midwife for the first time, assisting one kitten out of his bag of waters. I was fourteen. I learned a lot from that birth. In high school, my first nephew was born, naturally in a birth center with a nurse-midwife attending. My sister breastfed that baby, something my mother was told she couldn’t do. That led to ask more questions. The idea of natural childbirth was very intriguing to me, quite a contrast from what my mom’s experiences had been. I had to know more.
I had two classes in high school that would change me forever, and set me on my journey. The first was Biology, the study of life! Nothing could be more fascinating. I loved dissecting animals, and looking at cells under the microscope. We used Eldon cards to determine our blood type and Rh factor, we studied human reproduction and fetal development. I felt a profound curiosity combined with sadness for the 7 and 12 week old human fetuses in jars in the back the the class, one of them was a little boy. I thought about what his mother must have felt, losing him. My teacher worked as an EMT during the summer. He showed a very clinical film on emergency childbirth. I’m sure it’s the one they show all the EMTs. It was in black and white, with a man’s voice-over, instructing the attendant to place the woman on a clean surface on her back. ‘Keep hands off until the head emerges, check for a cord around the neck.’ It went on to describe how to clamp and cut the cord, deliver the placenta using cord traction, and prevent bleeding with fundal massage. The woman in the film was draped, supine, hardly there at all really, just a vagina with a head emerging. I had already read “Spiritual Midwifery” by then. I did my term paper on home- birth. I got an “A”, but my teacher pulled me aside and said, “Home-birth is very dangerous, what if the woman has a hemorrhage; what would you do then, huh?” This was the beginning of a life-time of “What if’s ?”. Of course, at the time, I didn’t have the answer, but I was determined to find out. The other class I had was called ‘Marriage and Family Life’. My dear teacher, Mr. Brailsford, may he rest in Peace, invited a natural childbirth educator to our class. She showed a film too, but what a contrast. This showed a couple, in color, working together to bring their baby into the world. The woman was upright, pushing spontaneously, unmedicated. When I heard the mom’s reaction to her newborn, as she lifted it to her chest, I wept shamelessly. This is what I wanted to do with my life! I wanted to give birth this way when my time came. I wanted to help other women achieve this too. Something about the word midwife resonated deep within me. When I told my parents I wanted to be a midwife, my mom said, “Oh, your great- grandmother was a midwife. It’s in your blood!” So there you have it.
Since then, my path to midwifery has been primarily self-study and apprenticeship. In 1981, when I graduated from high school, there were very few options for midwifery training. It was either, get a Master’s Degree in nursing, or find a traditional midwife, and go the apprenticeship route. I knew I wanted to attend home-births, so I started seeking out mentors. My dad suggested I enroll at UNLV in a nursing program. He said even if I didn’t want to work in a hospital, it would give me a good foundation. I did this, but I wasn’t motivated to learn in that setting. I was dreaming of catching babies. Instead I was in the post-op ward of a county teaching hospital, once even having to tell a woman her loved one had just died, while all the students were chattering about the events leading up to his demise. I guess you could say I didn’t apply myself. After the second semester I knew this wasn’t for me. I got married to my high school sweet-heart. We had five children, all born at home with our wonderful midwife, Kaye Bullock. I continued my studies, which you can read more about in the “FAQ” section, and received my NARM certification in 2002. Now, I’ve had my own practice for seven years. At age 44, I gave birth to one more baby, Philip. He was born at home, in a birth tub on my back porch. I thought I would have an unassisted birth, but we decided to call Kaye at the last minute. She was at another birth, so another midwife friend, Corrine, came by to offer her support. I was so grateful to her, just her presence was all I needed. Now, baby Philip is nearly two, and I’m taking on more clients. The journey continues.
