19 years ago……

Hard to believe that 19 years ago yesterday, I experienced my first homebirth. My first child had been born in the hospital. That’s a whole different conversation, and one I will share another time.

But yesterday, as I woke, making myself a cup of coffee and watching the sun begin its beautiful morning glow over the horizon (a beautiful mix of oranges, pinks, and reds) I couldn’t help but get misty-eyed and shed a few tears. Wow, how much has happened in 19 years!

Just last week, I helped guide a mother through the same scenario: hospital birth with her first that didn’t go as she had hoped. She didn’t feel she was listened to, didn’t feel she had a say, didn’t feel empowered or honored by her experience. However, she made the choice to hire a midwife for her second, just knowing that this time would be different. The care would be different. She would be heard. Her experience would be honored……… and it was BEAUTIFUL.

Nineteen years ago, I experienced the same. Hurt, trauma, and struggles that I had been trying to cope with from my first birth experience—but an amazing midwife who listened, who honored my choices, and who placed value on my experience. It was a beautiful birth. It was transformative for me. I did it! I felt like a new woman, like a whole new world had been opened to me. An empowered mom, wife…. and woman! A woman who was strong and powerful.

I had no clue that years later, that experience would be so transformative that I would become a midwife myself and make it my goal to always honor the mother and the family, always value her experience, and walk with her through the transformative process. Oh, what incredible work I’m privileged to be a part of.

As I celebrate 19 years for my beautiful second daughter, I celebrate the opportunity to serve women—the opportunity to protect the sacred space of birth and walk with women as they themselves are transformed, just as I was, in this beautiful thing we call birth.