Full Circle Midwifery

RYER JOHN DIRKSE December 23, 2011,  Matt and Kate Dirkse 2nd Child and 1st Homebirth Fruitport, MI   WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO HAVE YOUR BABY AT HOME: At 35 weeks I tested positive for Group B Strep and was told by my doctor that I would have to have IV antibiotics administered during labor.  [...]

Written by Laurie Zoyiopoulos on March 4, 2011 Most folks would say that I “deliver” babies (though I like to say “catch”) and this is true, but it is a fraction of what I do….what this calling requires of me. The contrasts between the jobs within my calling are surprising to me and unknown by [...]

  Kate Heineman/Lee Henderson Maurice James Henderson 9/29/11 Why did you choose to have your baby at home? Knowing the inside story of the typical hospital birth, I wanted to opt out of all of it—any pain medication numbing me and affecting the baby’s ability to respond, the uterine augmentation, the hospital gown, an unfamiliar [...]

Louisa’s birth announcement

Mitch and Jordyn Anes This was our 2nd baby and our 1st home birth  Fremont, MI 49412                 Early in the week I had been experiencing regular contractions which were not very strong and thought that my water had broken, by the end of the day my contractions had faded and hadn’t had any more gushing of fluid.  Then [...]

-Titus & Ashley Vandezande, 1st baby   I woke up on Saturday, July 23rd at 3:30am to go to the bathroom and decided that I wasn’t going to have the baby that day after all. I thought if I was I would have been in labor already. I was already three days past my due date. At [...]

When I first found out I was pregnant, I just assumed I would have another c-section, as I had for my other 2 girls.  I was not happy about it, but did not think I had many other options.  I spoke to my OB in Muskegon and she said I could try to go to [...]

I attended the Midwives Alliance conference at the World Trade Center in 1992 – a memorable experience in so many ways.  The Vista / Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, site of the conference, actually sat between the Twin Towers.  Merilynne Rush and I represented MMA, and roomed with Helen Jolly.  I had not been in [...]

When my husband and I found out we were pregnant, we decided to start praying about where the best place would be to deliver.  My husband is a Chiropractor and he has always wanted to have a homebirth, but I was quite fearful of the idea and always thought my first baby would have to [...]

Baby’s Name and Birthday: Anna B. Brenneman                  July 11, 2011 Parent’s Name: Ben & Lydia Brenneman        1st baby Why did you choose to have your baby at home? Because our doctor who was going to do the delivery went on a vacation. Describe your labor and birth. I got up at 2:30 to go [...]

Birth- In Pictures  

I first started feeling contractions around 5pm. I had just woke up from a nap. They were stronger than any I had had before and after the third one I decided it was time to start letting Jake know every time I had one. He started writing them down in his notebook. They came every [...]

In August of 2007 after finding out we were pregnant but shouldnt have been (on the pill) we were pretty excited! 3 months into it on October 16 we found out it was a (very rare) molar pregnancy (no baby but everything else) so I had to have surgery to remove it as it can [...]

Birth Story I started having cramping and lots of tightening about one month before Niah was born and wondered if she’d actually come early. I was dilated to 3 cm and 70% effaced at the time of my due date. By the end of the week, on Friday, one week after my due date, we [...]

BIRTH REPORT Parent’s Name Jaramia and Jessica Becker Baby’s Name and Birthday McKenzie Lee Becker, March 7, 2011 This baby was your third baby and your first home birth. Why did you choose to have your baby at home? I’ll be the first to admit that home birth was THE FURTHEST option from my mind [...]

BIRTH REPORT Parent’s Name: Kyle and Beckie Badge Baby’s name and birthday: Skyla Summer Badge, Born March 18 at 4:09 AM This baby was your 1st baby and your 1st home birth Address: 8541 Belvedere St. Sw, Byron Center, MI 49315 Why did you choose to have your baby at home? I always felt in [...]

After having my first baby a few days before my due date, I was very unprepared to go ‘overdue’ this time. (SUCH a bad idea. Next time, I’ll be prepared!) It was only a couple days, but I was SO ready! Monday, November 1st, I cleaned my whole house again and washed my bedroom walls. [...]

Salem Haddon Posobiec Born:  October 27th 2010 He has the same birthday as his mama! We also share the same birth weight 7lbs 14oz! 20 1/4 inches long Isn’t he sweet! For quite a few weeks I had those braxton hicks contractions.   It’s always a good sign when they start.  It means that the body [...]

My water started leaking around 10am on Thursday morning. I wasn’t having any contractions yet so I decided to take the kids shopping for their school supplies since I realized that I wouldn’t be able to get there easily in the next couple of weeks with a newborn. I didn’t get too excited because I [...]

The decision to deliver at home followed a few interesting events. The biggest being that the hospital and doctor had some “serious” concerns about my birth plan where they felt many of the wishes listed would jeopardize the safety and health of the baby. I am not sure how an all natural birth with no [...]

It was an easy labor.  Easy, because I welcomed the ebb and flow of the contractions.  I  thought of how in yoga I breath deeper into each stretch with a long exhale and did this with the peak of each contraction.  I also found counting helped remind me how long I had to put up [...]

I’m writing this down for all of you and for my own record as well. I’m EXTREMELY thankful to report that this birth story should be significantly shorter than Levi’s. From beginning to end I was only in labor with Brock for 2.5 hours. AWESOME! If you remember, I was in labor for 2.5 days [...]

Cole Andrew Blastic 3/11/07 at home When I became pregnant with our third child, I actually considered just going to our local hospital for a c-section because of the awful experience I had with the recovery after my second birth, a VBAC. But then I remembered that the recovery after the C-section wasn’t very enjoyable [...]

Elizabeth Sandoval    Birth Story My first pregnancy ended as a cesarean and a total nightmare. It was the extreme opposite of what I had wanted: minimal intervention, liberty to move, continued consumption of liquids, and family participation. For my second delivery, therefore, I wanted to do all that was possible to have more control [...]

Birth Report Parent’s Name: Chad & Christina Adams Baby’s Name: Morgan Xavier Adams Birthday: 6-16-2009 Weight: 10lbs. 6oz. This baby was our first baby and our first attempted home birth. Address: Francis Rd., Hesperia, MI Why did you choose to have your baby at home? After talking with another family that had had home births with Patrice years ago, we started researching [...]

Something I wrote a couple of years ago after a home VBAC….. Yesterday I was a midwife more than a baby catcher. Some think that the 2 are always the same, but I know that they are not. Most of the time I catch a baby as the mother pushes him out into my hands. [...]

As I grew more round and ripe, I greeted my due date with anticipation that others lacked.  My son was born two and a half weeks past his due date.  So, with my second pregnancy others were more patient.  I trusted my body and how I was feeling, very ripe and ready. I lost my [...]

The Birth of Amy Rose On April 7th, I woke up at 11pm, after half an hour of sleep, to my first real contraction. Knowing the most important thing I could do in early labor was rest, I tried to go back to sleep. I was able to doze but contractions were every 10-20 minutes, [...]

Lydia Grace Roberson’s Birth Story My estimated delivery date was June 1st. I’d been having tons of Braxton-Hicks contractions all through the pregnancy, and as May progressed, I didn’t really notice any additional changes in their frequency, as I had with my two other pregnancies. I had an appointment with Patrice at noon on May [...]

Naomi Hope Roberson’s birthday – 12/26/08 I had some false labor on Sunday, 12/20, which thankfully turned out to be nothing because there was another awful snowstorm that night. Nothing much happened for the next few days. We spent Christmas day at my parent’s house. I was really uncomfortable and felt lots of low pressure [...]

I am finally getting around to posting Theia’s birth story. I said over six months ago that I would do this, but haven’t felt very motivated till now since I knew it would take awhile. I’m sorry its so long. But not as sorry as I was at the time, I assure you. I had been having [...]

The Birth of Ellie Kay  Here’s a little background on me: My first birth was a disaster. I was unnecessarily induced at 41 weeks because my doctor told me it was time to “get this baby out”, and I, being the naive first-time, trusting woman I was, believed her. After 4 doses of Cytotec (which [...]

Had 2 births yesterday. The first was a 2nd home birth.   SRM  Thursday morn, 10am.  Leaked clear fluid all that day and part of the  next.  Bloody show and a few contrx. early am on Saturday.  She just  went about her business – did the same thing with her first baby so  wasn’t the least bit concerned.  She’s never had [...]

Why did you choose to have your baby at home? I wanted to have a natural birth because I believe it is the best and safest for both the baby and Mom. The midwife I had for my first baby (in the hospital) retired. After doing research I felt it was safer to have a [...]

My Labor Day started pretty much like any other day on this babymoon, except I quickly noticed that my contractions were coming with something closer to regularity than they had thus far. But, this being our vacation and already having a busy day planned, I opted to ignore this fact. By the time we got [...]

Aria Dei Cousineau Born into this world: May 23, 2008 12:29 A.M. 6 lbs 13 oz; 20 inches Her name (pronounced: Ahr-ee-uh Day) means “Song of God”. Big Sissy, Liberty, was a part of the entire home-birth and helped to “cut the chord” with Daddy. She can’t seem to hold or kiss Aria enough.. Daddy [...]

This baby was our 2nd baby and 2nd home birth. Why did you choose to have your baby at home? I wanted to welcome him into the world with all of his family around, including his 5 yr. old brother Felix. I knew my wishes would be respected by the midwives; I felt no pressure, [...]

It started just after dinner, I was feeling what I thought were just Braxton hicks contractions but they were also causing some downward pressure, but I didn’t think too much about them, so we made ice cream and went to bed.  I also began to have blood tinged mucous.  After being woken up several times [...]

We are tremendously thankful to our Father in heaven for the blessing of our new son, Josiah Evert Kortman, born Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 11:25pm. He weighed 8lb. 11oz. and measured 21″ long. Josiah, meaning ” God will save”, is named after the 16th king of Judah who followed God wholeheartedly despite previous kings [...]

I had putzy contractions for a few days and all through my official due date of July 6. I went to bed that night with contractions that quickly became regular, though not painful or real close. Nevertheless I couldn’t sleep through them so I got Jessie up at two and we decided to go for [...]

Contractions started about 5pm on Thursday, December 21st. They started out a very regular 10 minutes apart, but they were certainly not strong. I didn’t even bother to call Patrice because I knew she’d say go to bed and try to rest. I continued to feel them all night long, but I did manage to [...]

I’m not even sure where to start. How about the beginning? Michel and I were mortified when we found out we were having a kid. A living, breathing human we would be responsible for for the rest of our lives. I just have to describe what a blessing everybody at Full Circle was during the [...]

I awoke at 5:00am having contractions & thought this might finally be it!  They kept happening so I timed them at 5 minutes apart & called Patrice at 6:30 am to let her know this was the day!  I called Andy at work to let him know & he arrived home at 7:30.  The birthing [...]

I went into labor the evening of Aug. 16th.  We ate a late supper, rushed the kids over to grandma & grandpa Wilson’s for the night and waited.  I felt rushed & tense & was glad to have quiet in the house.  Contractions were about 10 min. apart, but I was up straightening & cleaning [...]

I had expected to go post-dates as I usually have.  But my water broke 2 days before my due date.  I had a very few, mild contractions that night & next day.  My husband & I went to sleep the evening my water broke & worked on filling the birth tub in the wee hours [...]

I awoke at 2:00 am feeling the first contractions.  Waited an hour then woke David and soon called Patrice.  Nothing serious just to let her know.  Barb was here at 8:40 to check things out & left again.  Heather was here for awhile & got me situated sitting backwards on a chair with David rubbing [...]

The labor and birth was amazing.  It was much better that I ever expected.  I had scattered light contractions throughout the day on the 15th starting after my appointment with Patrice.  I wasn’t actually even sure they were contractions, but I assumed they were because I had been bleeding since the 13th (we weren’t ever [...]