Deep Wells Midwifery

10/24/2025

He loves it when I make him go on adventures with me! 😁😆

But we sure got some great new office plants.

10/06/2025

💯

09/13/2025

Wildest of weeks!

Friday morning: Start the "quick" project with my dad of replacing the flooring and toilet in our very small main floor bathroom at home.
Friday afternoon: broken arm for the 8 yo - both bones snapped in two above the wrist. Looked like he had another joint in his arm. Drive 45 minutes to meet him in the ER where they tried to get things back in place but were unable to. They put him in a splint for the weekend while we waited for a referral to go through for next steps.
Weekend: find that the shower and toilet were both leaking in main floor bathroom, decide the tile shower needs to come out and whole subfloor+ will need to be replaced. Special order new shower kit that's small enough to fit the tiny space where the current shower is.
Monday: trip to Rochester to try and get the bones set that weren't successfully reduced on Friday. Spend 7 hours in the ED after waiting for ortho team, who was in surgery when we arrived (not a complaint! They were great.) Arrive late at a hotel and immediately crash.
Tuesday: profusely appreciate my mother, who pushed me to stay overnight in Rochester and who drove over with my 5yo. Be back at Mayo for 6 a.m. check-in for 5 yo, who has had hernia surgery scheduled for months. Wait lots of extra hours after surgery because he's in "more pain than is expected," and it takes a while to find the right combination of meds to get pain and nausea under control. Also, he refuses to take liquid oral medication.
Tuesday night: meet the baby boy we've been waiting on for weeks!
Wednesday: try and catch up on some sleep.
Thursday: head out early for some visits, get called to another birth that was providentially orchestrated. She was only 20 minutes from my morning appointments and was pushing when I walked in the door. Make it back eastward just in time to watch my oldest run his cross country race.
Friday: back to Rochester for follow-up x-rays and overcasting the broken arm.

Now to wait for this shower to arrive so we can finish demolition and get back to functional bathroom!

09/04/2025

I updated the wall today. There are now a dozen names for 2025 (plus one angel baby.) I'm excited to keep adding more!

(I'm looking at you, baby S! 😆 Any day now...)

09/01/2025

My five-year-old is considering offering his services as a boy midwife. His fee will be $50.38, which he will use to buy a box of Reese's Pieces puff cereal, among other things (like chickens, both live and rotisserie style 🤣🤣🤣).

You can't make this stuff up.

08/29/2025

08/16/2025

As a midwife, I'm frequently talking about making healthy food choices and moving your body well. I also regularly let people know about doing home monitoring for Gestational Diabetes, and that using a continuous glucose monitor (gcm) is an option.

I decided to finally walk the walk, and last night I put on my first cgm right before dinner. I'll get two weeks of monitoring via an app on my phone. The monitor connects via Bluetooth.

What I've learned so far. My body seemed to like the very carb-light taco salad I had for dinner lady night.

This morning scares me a little: I'm drinking my coffee.

The good news is that I usually have collagen, butter, and an egg (look up egg latte - it's kind of amazing) and heavy whipping cream in my coffee. The bad news is that I just weighed the scoop of sugar I add, and I found out I'm getting 35-40 grams if I drink the whole mug. 🫣

We'll see what all I learn today.

08/15/2025

Love our area lactation consultants!

Meet Becca 😊 Our IBCLC for Faribault and Martin Counties!

07/11/2025

Her labor had started to pick up, and after their last one came quickly, they were ready for me to move closer. Already in my vehicle, I switched course drove to their house.

“We’re doing pretty good so far,” they said when I arrived, both smiley and chatty, with grandma there as an extra set of hands. They didn’t need me yet, they were just happy to have me nearby. I left my bags at their house and said to let me know when they were ready for me to come back.

I waited at a nearby used bookstore and coffee shop where my assistant midwife met me and we chatted for a short while until the text came, letting us know mom’s water had broken. Things were progressing, but the family was still coping well. “We will let you know when we need you,” it said.

The call came shortly after and we made the quick drive back to the house just a few blocks away. When we arrived, it was clear mom was in a very different place, tearful and working hard. She needed her husband’s full attention, so we rushed to get our supplies ready. We could tell she was close, as she leaned over the couch in the living room, working beautifully with her husband at her side. In the background, grandma and big brother waited excitedly.

Soon the birth pool was filling, and I was doing a mental run through the supplies that were out and what we still needed to get ready. It was time for her initial assessment, and maybe a quick change into my scrubs.

“Head,” I heard my assistant say, and I saw her moving in, prepared to catch if necessary. The beginnings of a head full of dark hair was clearly visible, waiting to be born. Wordlessly, mama’s body had moved into the final stage

I raced to get gloves on and over to the couch. There were only a few inches of water in the pool, and we clearly weren’t going to be moving from where mom was.

She took her time, doing exactly what she needed to do to ease her sweet one into the world. Grandma and big brother got to move in close for a front row view.

There, on the living room floor, surrounded by the people who love her, arrived Vivian Amadea Elora, beautiful and perfect.

We moved mom and baby to the couch, and it didn’t take long before the smiles and joyful demeanor returned. The whole atmosphere brightened.

“Well, at least we got to see the pool set up this time,” they joked, as it hadn’t made it out of the bag with their last baby. “Next time we’ll get there.”

Congratulations to this sweet family, and especially to a very excited big brother!