Home Birth Stories

Kristal, a mom of 2 already, and the sister of another patient of mine, texted me on Friday saying, "Kim, I'm pretty sure I'll have this baby on Monday." What makes you think that? "I just have a strong feeling". 

Come Monday at 6am, she calls in labor. We giggle before hanging up delighted at the "coincidence". I head over and Kristal is swaying while leaning over the counter in the kitchen. We all pitch in to fill the birth pool ASAP because she's already 7cm dilated. 

She labored in her husband's arms while I, my assistant, and her best friends pass buckets of water in assembly line fashion from the upstairs bathroom down to the living room.  Her teen son, and young daughter watch between the rails of the stairs as Kristal settles into the water. The banner of affirmations she made with intention just for this moment, her beloved plants, and the warm rays of the morning's light surround her as she prepares to meet her little one. 

All is calm and quiet for a while, and then I hear a small grunt. "Are you pushing?" She  nods her head to confirm my suspicion. With the next grunt her son's head becomes visible in the water. With one more grunt, his body is born, and into her arms he goes. 

In stunned disbelief, Kristal looks at me this time, for confirmation. "He's here. You did it! See his face go from purple to pink? Do you see his ears and chest becoming rosy? He's here. He's breathing. He's perfect. You did it!" 

~In memory of Kristal, an aspiring midwife, who passed away from cancer 6 months after this beautiful birth~

I went into my sixth pregnancy knowing exactly the kind of care that I wanted. I'm sort of a birth fanatic and self-taught. This was going to be my last baby. I knew I needed a care provider who would honor and respect my pregnancy and birth wishes and grant me space to make informed decisions. I wanted to be the primary decision maker and wanted a care provider who would respect that. I don't do well with authoritarian-type care.

Kimberly was the midwife that I had been looking for. I knew from our first meeting.

She was attentive, caring, and informative; equipped with resources when an issue with my blood pressure and possible IUGR arose. Which I hadn't previously experienced with prior pregnancies. With the education she provided, baby and I were able to get ahead of it before it became a problem.

I thank God for Kimberly. She was exactly what I needed when my birth unexpectedly took longer than any of my previous births. She sat patiently with me overnight and into the morning. She gave me space to regroup to make decisions as my labor progressed slowly.

With the help of a chiropractic adjustment, baby was born after 30 hours of labor.

Baby's cord prolapsed, briefly, when my water broke. I was able to learn to trust Kim, what could have been an emergency, didn't. When she needed to step in and be assertive, she did so in a calm and collected matter... I asked her specifically if anything wasn't going as normal, to please allow informed consent and explain to me what's happening. "Gloria, we need to get baby out now. I need you to push. There's meconium in the water." I knew IF she needed to intervene, it was for good reason. It's exactly what we talked about during my prenatal visits, how to handle a situation if one happened; that I desired respect, and open communication. She knew I wanted a zero inference birth unless absolutely needed. For her to tell me to push, I knew I could trust her judgment. She knew of my past birth trauma. All had been discussed at my prenatal appointments. The relationship of trust was crucial. I had the very best birth experience to close out my fertility journey. I'm forever grateful to have had my last home birth with Kim.

I am super grateful she made home birth affordable with payment plan options and took her time to get to know me during our prenatal appointments. I truly wish for every woman to experience birth the way I did, where they are treated with respect and true care. Because of how I was treated during my pregnancy and birth; I'm currently enjoying the most peaceful and joyful postpartum period I have ever had. I believe it's because of the care I received from Kim.

Forever thankful,

-Gloria Macias

Hi there Kim! I just wanted to reach out and say how much I appreciate you being at my birth and the huge role you played. I truly needed you in the moment when I was pushing and couldn’t have done it without you talking me through each push. I sit here and get so emotional because it was so hard and as I was kind of getting discouraged, you stepped in and reminded me of my strength. Your voice to me in that time was like heaven sent. A gift from God. My ancestors speaking through you and reminding me that I was surrounded with love and I was almost done. That I was going to make it. Thank you for grounding me. I am so thankful for your knowledge and knowing exactly what to do while the whole time you stayed so calm. You have no idea what that means to me, and I will never forget. That moment is seared into my memory forever. I am forever grateful for you and Clarisa! I had the dream team by my side the whole time. I couldn’t have asked for a better husband, doula and midwives. Your work is truly divine woman and you are so so so so good at it. It comes to you so naturally! Again, thank you so much, and I’ll love you forever!  

-Adriahna Green

On April 10th I woke up a little after midnight. I think it may have been a contraction that woke me up because I felt one shortly afterwards. I monitored them for about 45 minutes before deciding to jump in the shower. I also packed my emergency hospital bag that I hoped I didn’t need. I texted my midwife Kim and told her what I was feeling. Then I started to time my contractions. For those of you who don’t know this, there is a 5-1-1 rule in labor. But mine was more like 3-1-1. (Contractions that are 3 minutes apart, lasting for 1 minute for 1 hour). My midwife, Kim, asked if I thought I needed support yet and I told her no when I really should’ve said yes but I had no idea things would happen as fast as they did. I continued to labor freely around my house. Jesus was getting the hose hooked up to the shower head for the pool, keeping me hydrated and helping me with comfort measures. The best place I hung around was on the toilet. The good ol’ dilation station. Then I moved to my couch and things picked up! I called my midwife and doula at 4:20AM. They were on their way. I knew I had to get up and move my body. I leaned over the arm rest of our couch and swayed side to side. I felt the urge to push. But my birth team wasn’t here yet and what about my water birth? The pool? I already knew I probably wasn’t going to get it and I also thought there was a chance my birth team wasn’t going to make it in time either. I wasn’t worried or scared. Nature was already doing its thing and I was okay with that. Plus my husband was with me and I knew he could catch baby if needed.  I moved myself again. This time I decided to remove all my clothes and find a birthing position most comfortable for me. I got on my knees and leaned over the seat of the couch. It was probably 4:55 by this time. My body was involuntarily pushing. Kim pulled in the driveway and realized she needed to move like the wind. The pool was definitely not happening! There was no time for that. I felt my baby coming but really needed to work through the contractions to give my midwife at least a few seconds to put towels under me and get ready to catch. That’s all she had. A few seconds. The first push and Daniel’s head made a debut. The second push and the rest of his body slid out. 4:58AM. Kim held him up between my legs, in the front, so I could grab and hold him. I turned around and sat my tired, but relieved, and also in shock self down! That’s it. No pool. No long drawn out delivery. I couldn’t believe it. Later, Kim told me I had what’s called a precipitous delivery. It’s when you give birth within 3 hours of being in active labor. I will say that I was building myself up to having such a quick delivery. Weeks leading up to Daniel’s birth I was so ready. Mentally, physically and emotionally. I wanted him here. I also hoped to have a nighttime birth. I knew that no one else would be here to help Jesus and I with our other kids, during the day, so if baby came at night then they would all be asleep and we could focus on my labor and delivery. Thank God that’s exactly how things turned out. My doula Lydia, midwife Kimberly, Naomi and Baby Daniel. These ladies also helped deliver Naomi almost 3 years ago! Thank you ladies for your time, education and support. I know better because of you! 

-Frances Rodriguez