Holistic Home Birth, LLC

12/19/2024

Better late than never!
Here we go again! My annual statistic report is complete. For the reporting period of 10/01/23 to 09/30/24:

I helped a total of 64 clients give birth. 🥰
-ZERO maternal losses!
-ZERO fetal (>20 week) losses!
-ZERO newborn losses (

04/27/2024

Arg. Cursed technology!! It happened again! All of my Google reviews are gone 🤦🏻‍♀️ I discovered last night that when you search my name reviews for a totally different midwifery practice(with a similar name) come up! I finally figured out how to *verify* my business, so this time should be the last time I ask:
If any of you have ever worked with me, or I have ever provided a service for you, and you feel so inclined- would you pretty please consider leaving me a Google review? 20+ years in practice and almost 1,300 babies later…and my husband Todd is the only one who has left me a 5 star review. And he HAS to 😂

5.0 ★ · Midwife

04/08/2024

I just stumbled across the news story I was featured in about HomeBirth back in 2012! I thought this interview was long gone. My 15 seconds of fame!

Home births are on the rise in the U.S.. They increased 29 percent between 2004 and 2009 according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Preve...

02/27/2024

February 27th is apparently a day for me to break records! 5 years ago today, I caught baby #1000, and today I caught baby #1290. As if that weren’t special enough- this was the 11th birth I have attended for this particular family group (made up of 2 sisters & 2 cousins) which breaks my VERY long-standing record of 10 babies. Such an honor!! 🤍

02/14/2024

I hope everyone enjoys their VD! Here’s to a busy November!! 😉😘

02/01/2024

I just had the pleasure of catching a 10th baby for another one of my lovely sister groups! That makes 4 groups of sisters (or sisters & cousins) who are currently tied at 10 births that I’ve attended. The first sister group held the record for so long I wasn’t sure it was ever going to be broken, and now there are quite a few extended families racing to catch up…or even beat it! There really is nothing quite as awesome as being the “family midwife”. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤🤍🤎💗

Edited to add- My daughter Delaney just pointed out that I have attended 12 births for my actual immediate family, but that is including the 2 babies that I personally gave birth to (which technically don’t count, but also count double!) so I guess we’re all in that sister/sister-in-law/daughter race for the record too! 🥰

01/29/2024

Time and place is key! Happy Monday 😂

01/12/2024

Perfectly explained. I’ve seen the term FER being incorrectly used a lot recently, to describe “spontaneous, non-directed pushing”. Apparently, we should call it a Fergie!

Most of the time, what were seeing is a FERGIE.

Thanks, Dr. Rachel Reed!

.rachel.reed..
The 'fetal ejection reflex' is NOT the 'Ferguson reflex' (spontaneous pushing). Yet, I see the terms used incorrectly and interchangeably everywhere. I think this is a symptom of our current recirculation of surface-level misinformation in the birth culture. As a stickler for detail I twitch every time I see the term 'fetal ejection reflex' misused 🥴🤣 I usually save these types of longer rants for the Collective, but here you go...

FERGUSON REFLEX Discussed in an article by James Kenneth Wallace Ferguson in 1941 (another female bodily function named after a man). AKA 'utero-pituitary reflex' relates to when the baby's head descends and stretches the cervix and pelvic tissues stimulating receptors in these tissues to create a feedback loop that increases oxytocin and changes the contraction pattern to stronger and more expulsive. This is the normal uncontrollable spontaneous urge to push.

FETUS EJECTION REFLEX This term was initially coined by Newton, Foshee and Newton concerning experiments on mice. Michel Odent applied the term to physiological human birth in his article 'The Fetus Ejection Reflex'. In the article, Odent discusses his theory of physiologic fear where the fetus ejection reflex is initiated by a surge of adrenaline and catecholamines. This reflex results in an extremely fast birth ie. immediate ejection of the baby as an evolutionary survival mechanism initiated by a threat (predator) at the end of labour.

In his article, Odent writes "The fetus ejection reflex must not be confused with the Ferguson reflex. The Ferguson reflex is triggered by the pressure of the presenting part on the perineal muscles–in other words, local factors–while the fetus ejection reflex can start much earlier and is not triggered by local factors." .

11/10/2023

I have seen over the past 20+ years of midwifery, that some years seem to have a trend or a theme. One year, I did 6 births in homes where I’d attended births previously (for completely different families) including my own previous home! One year I had EIGHT babies born en caul (in their amniotic sac). One year I had five clients who gave birth on THEIR OWN BIRTHDAYS! What are the odds of these things?! The very cool trend for 2023 has been helping 4 clients welcome their first babies, after previously serving as their mom’s midwife. These mamas were all young girls, often sitting beside me on the floor, as I helped to welcome their younger siblings, and now it was my turn to serve them. That’s a pretty big one! ❤️

10/27/2023

Here we go again! My annual statistic report is complete. For the reporting period of 10/01/22 to 09/30/23:

I helped a total of 63 clients give birth. 🥰
-ZERO maternal losses!
-ZERO fetal (>20 week) losses!
-ZERO newborn losses!

Here’s the full disclosure of what that looked like:

❤️ 5 clients transferred in to the hospital after the onset of labor:
-1 was a true emergency and required an ambulance, which is extremely rare (this is the first time in quite a few years).
-3 were for non-emergent, medical reasons.
-1 was because the baby came while the family was on vacation! 😂
~Of those clients: 1 gave birth spontaneously, 2 required vacuum assistance, and 2 required cesarean births.

That makes my intrapartum (in labor) transfer rate 7.9% and the cesarean rate 3.1%. Both of which were higher than most years, but necessary to ensure healthy outcomes!

❤️1 postpartum client transferred to the hospital several hours after the birth, by private vehicle, due to a hematoma which required surgical repair.

❤️1 baby was transferred in to the hospital for observation and O2 (by private vehicle) several hours after the birth. He was sent home the following morning.

❤️1 baby was transferred via ambulance (the parents called) nearly 24 hours after the birth, due to complications of a genetic condition that caused cardiomyopathy. She was sent home the next day with oxygen.

Not included with these numbers, but equally important:

❤️ I had a total of 8 other clients who started prenatal care with me, but required transfer into OB care at various points during pregnancy, for complications including: PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension), PreEcclampsia, PPROM (preterm prolonged rupture of membranes), persistent breech presentation, absence of fetal movement (due to complications of cystic fibrosis), >42+ weeks gestation, and severe unresolved anemia. These numbers are also higher than my pre-2020 statistics, but it seems to be the new normal in our Post Covid world. All of these clients were appropriately referred out, and received the extra care they needed to have happy, healthy babies. This is a VERY important part of midwifery care!! ❤️

🤍I supported 11 families through the devastation of miscarriage, between 5-19 weeks gestation. This is also a very important (and often unspoken) part of midwifery care. 🤍

Now for some fun statistics!

-There were 26 💗 and 37 💙 babies.
-The largest baby was a 8lb 13oz 💙
-The smallest (at home) was a 5lb 5oz 💙
-6 babies were born in the 37th week
-9 were born after 41 weeks
-4 out of 5 attempted VBACs were successful! (1 was my 3 CBAC ever).
-Perhaps my favorite statistics of all~
30 of these were REPEAT clients, 3 were daughters of former clients, and 2 were former clients who had moved away and came back just so that I could be their midwife once more! It is SUCH an honor to be trusted by a family to serve them again and again!

As ALWAYS, the families I work with are MUCH more than just statistics to me. You will never know how much each experience of walking beside you blesses my life. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

10/04/2023

Happy National Midwifery week (and thank goodness for Facebook memories to remind me!) When I chose a midwife to help with my babies I was looking for care that was more personalized, sensitive and cost effective. What I didn’t know was how that decision would change my life forever! ❤️

09/18/2023

Brilliant technique, and that end…😂