My wife, K, and I spent years trying to conceive. When we finally got a positive pregnancy, we were over the moon, and also cautious from past loss. As a doula of over a decade and newer RN, I knew I wanted to have my families care from community midwives, if we stayed low risk. My NICU wife was open to being at a birth center with community midwives because of its proximity to a hospital should something go wrong. As a Queer couple we were very careful about where we sought care. We wanted to have our family affirmed and celebrated. We wanted evidenced based care where the providers didn't use their position of power to push us into what they thought was right, but rather presented us with facts and all options so we felt informed and empowered to be co-collaborators in our care. We chose Snohomish Midwives and ultimately our baby was born into the hands of Amy in the tub of room 2 at Puget Sound Birth Center. We felt so cared for by our team! They even had an in-house ultrasound machine so we could just pop over to the clinic for our 20 week scan. When you walk into the clinic it's feels like you're walking into someone's home. There is an ease about the waiting room which has a cozy couch and rocker as well as lovely art, plants and a plethora of resources. As a NICU RN, K had preconceived bias towards community midwives, yet never once felt unsafe about the care she received. She always felt she received top notch care from the team. K experienced uterine pain around 16 weeks that came and went over a couple of days. We met with the midwives so they could listen to the baby whose heart rate was lovely and proceeded to talk with Jessica for about an hour until we both felt reassured that the baby was safe. Another surprise we had was seeing bright red blood when K's water broke unbeknownst to her. We were both scared and the midwives called us right away. We ended up listening to baby, figured out her water broke and made a plan of when to reassess next if contractions didn't pick up. We monitored Ks temperature over night and into the next day. K experienced some contractions over the 18 hours until she decided to make and drink a castor oil smoothie the midwives recommended, which really got things going. K started having regular contractions and was almost instantly working hard. The midwife came over to assess since K's water was ruptured for a while to check on both her and the baby. Everyone was healthy and K was really "in it". Our doula Kristin Dibeh came over to our home and was just the calming presence we both needed. I scrambled to finish getting the bags packed while Kristin supported k in labor land. K suddenly had an urge to push with a contraction. Kristin and I locked eyes. She told me to pack the car to go to the birth center. When I came back in, she told me to call the midwife. Amy answered and said she had been waiting for our call and would meet us at the birth center. I flew down highway 9 faster than I care to admit with kellie in the back on hands and knees laboring hard. By the time we got to the birth center, got in the tub and were check, k was completely dilated and was able to push. Our little one was born under water, into the hands of Amy and immediately placed onto K's chest. We stayed at the birth center for about 4 hours until we went home and were able to sleep in our own bed. A little over 24 hours later, Amy came to our home yet again to do some tests and check on us as a new family. We then had a few other postpartum visits with Snohomish midwives, which were lovely but honestly in the blur of new parenthood, I can't remember what we talked about. Kellie and I look back so fondly over the care we received. We couldn't recommend Snohomish Midwives more for expectant parents! We will always hold them in a special place in our heart!! 10/10
Snohomish Midwives, Thank you for the care you gave us, the impact of the work you all do is lifelong! read more