A hands-off homebirth midwife in MN - Page 2

[AngelBee]

Originally Posted by jennica

I've seen her name come up before on these types of threads. Only, is she still the director of the doula program at HCMC? Would that be her back-up hospital then? Or do midwives not have specific back-up arrangements?

Hmmm...no clue. I know AmyMN here on MDC had her and thinks she is great. She also was recommended by my midwife who retired.

I think you choose what hospital you would want to go to in case of back up. Not sure though.

[homebirthing]

You would probably go to Joe's for a non-emergency and whatever hospital is closest for an emergency.


I had Jeanne for my first two (one baby) homebirths and Jeanne again with Jane Kirby with the homebirth of my twins. I love Jeanne. She is an amazing midwife.

[jennica]

Originally Posted by homebirthing

You would probably go to Joe's for a non-emergency and whatever hospital is closest for an emergency.


I had Jeanne for my first two (one baby) homebirths and Jeanne again with Jane Kirby with the homebirth of my twins. I love Jeanne. She is an amazing midwife.

I just did a google map search and it seems that Childrens and United are closest to me, would that be an option for an emergency? I am not budging from home unless there is an emergency so Joe's will likely not come into play. Is that typically how homebirth midwives handle emergencies? I always imagined they had a specific hospital to go to, but I guess it makes much more sense that you would just go to the nearest one.

Looks like everyone loves Jeanne I saw her on a panel at a BOBB showing once, so she is the only one who I already have a little bit of an impression of. I think I will interview at least three, possibly four of the ones mentioned on this thread (including Jeanne). I will see how they respond to my specific concerns and see who I click with.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions

[JSerene]

Originally Posted by jennica

I've seen her name come up before on these types of threads. Only, is she still the director of the doula program at HCMC? Would that be her back-up hospital then? Or do midwives not have specific back-up arrangements?

fyi, Nickie Kerrigan is no longer the director of the doula program here.

[homebirthing]

You know, it really depends on the emergency...

United and St. Joe's are about 1 mile away from each other. St. Joe's does have a NICU, but if there were to be a severe problem with the baby, they would transfer (St. Joe's would) the baby to Children's, which is connected to United. They have an amazing NICU there. If you were to have an emergency transfer for the mother, St. Joe's would be better as you would get better care.

The chance of you transferring for an emergency is very small, as most things are very easily handled at home. Transfers most often happen for non-emergency reasons (hydration, true maternal exhaustion, pain managment) and there is time to get to a more mother friendly hospital, which is why St. Joe's is the "best" hospital to transfer to.

I think that it is a great idea to interview more then one midwife. There are a lot of amazing women called to midwifery and there are many types of homebirth midwives here in Minnesota. We do have very traditional hands off midwives, all the way up to midwives who will break a bag of waters. There are women who want all different types, and they are all available.

Gail Tully (Trillium) along with Claire and Emme are a group of midwives (depending on whether or not you want to have three there...) and are fabulous! Gail is the midwife who works a lot with OFP (www.spinningbabies.com) Nicky Kerrigan and Rebecca are fantastic and hands off as well. Jeanne Bazille is definately one of the most traditional midwives and is very woman led and supports women where they are at, from completely involved to completely hands off. I haven't attended a birth with Kim and Laura, but have heard amazing things about them as well.

We are very blessed to have many amazing midwives! You can check them all out at the Minnesota Familes for Midwifery website.

Sarah

[CallMeMommy]

Where in the metro are you? My midwife is out of Hartland but she'll travel up to 90 miles. I can't speak for her during labor because she got there just in time to catch the baby (my husband's fault, not hers), but during the delivery and third stage she was very hands-off. I imagine she'd be the same during labor because she's low-key with the prenatals, too. I lurve my midwife PM me if you want her contact info.

[jennica]

Originally Posted by JSerene

fyi, Nickie Kerrigan is no longer the director of the doula program here.

Thanks, that actually makes a big difference to me as irrational as it is.

[jennica]

Originally Posted by homebirthing

You know, it really depends on the emergency...

United and St. Joe's are about 1 mile away from each other. St. Joe's does have a NICU, but if there were to be a severe problem with the baby, they would transfer (St. Joe's would) the baby to Children's, which is connected to United. They have an amazing NICU there. If you were to have an emergency transfer for the mother, St. Joe's would be better as you would get better care.

The chance of you transferring for an emergency is very small, as most things are very easily handled at home. Transfers most often happen for non-emergency reasons (hydration, true maternal exhaustion, pain managment) and there is time to get to a more mother friendly hospital, which is why St. Joe's is the "best" hospital to transfer to.

Thanks, that is good to know. I would probably choose St. Joe's first from what I have read on here, and Children's is really close so if there is a problem with the baby then we can go there. My last labor was fast, and if that happens again, the only type of transfer I would need be a true emergency. But it is always good to mentally prepare for different possibilities.

Originally Posted by homebirthing

I think that it is a great idea to interview more then one midwife. There are a lot of amazing women called to midwifery and there are many types of homebirth midwives here in Minnesota. We do have very traditional hands off midwives, all the way up to midwives who will break a bag of waters. There are women who want all different types, and they are all available.

Gail Tully (Trillium) along with Claire and Emme are a group of midwives (depending on whether or not you want to have three there...) and are fabulous! Gail is the midwife who works a lot with OFP (www.spinningbabies.com) Nicky Kerrigan and Rebecca are fantastic and hands off as well. Jeanne Bazille is definately one of the most traditional midwives and is very woman led and supports women where they are at, from completely involved to completely hands off. I haven't attended a birth with Kim and Laura, but have heard amazing things about them as well.

We are very blessed to have many amazing midwives! You can check them all out at the Minnesota Familes for Midwifery website.

Sarah

Do you have last names for Rebecca, Kim and Laura? Are they known to be "hands-off"?

I've read about Gail Tully and Trillium. I didn't get the "hands-off" vibe from her website, though they looked like good midwives with lots of great info (I used spinning babies for Ds). I don't want more then two people there, a midwife and an assistant of some kind, so that kind of turned me off too.

As for Jeanne, when you say she ranges from completely involved to completely hands-off based on the mothers needs, do you know how this is determined? Prenatally or in the moment? I guess what I am getting at, is it based on how a woman is laboring, or her perception of how the woman is handling labor?

Thanks for all the info.

[jennica]

Originally Posted by CallMeMommy

Where in the metro are you? My midwife is out of Hartland but she'll travel up to 90 miles. I can't speak for her during labor because she got there just in time to catch the baby (my husband's fault, not hers), but during the delivery and third stage she was very hands-off. I imagine she'd be the same during labor because she's low-key with the prenatals, too. I lurve my midwife PM me if you want her contact info.

I'm in St. Paul, and I am anticipating a fast labor based on my experience with DS. Not sure where Hartland is?

[CallMeMommy]

Middle of nowhere Okay, maybe not really, it's like 20 minutes south of Waseca, which is about half an hour east of Mankato.

[redorchid]

Originally Posted by jennica

Do you have last names for Rebecca, Kim and Laura? Are they known to be "hands-off"?

I've read about Gail Tully and Trillium. I didn't get the "hands-off" vibe from her website, though they looked like good midwives with lots of great info (I used spinning babies for Ds). I don't want more then two people there, a midwife and an assistant of some kind, so that kind of turned me off too.

As for Jeanne, when you say she ranges from completely involved to completely hands-off based on the mothers needs, do you know how this is determined? Prenatally or in the moment? I guess what I am getting at, is it based on how a woman is laboring, or her perception of how the woman is handling labor?

Thanks for all the info.

As for last names, Kim's is Garrett. Laura Whitley-Mott is her apprentice. Rebecca Polston is an apprentice of Nickie Kerrigan's. I know them all, but don't have any first-hand experiences with them at births. My impression is that they are all pretty hands off.

I had my youngest daughter with Jeanne 9 months ago. I would say she developed her plan for her involvement level for my birth as we got to know each other at prenatal visits. She's very intuitive and respectful. I had terrible birth experiences with my first two daughters [I've posted about them some at Solace]. When I came to interview her I was nearly in a panic and very defensive. She set me at ease over the next few prenatals. By the time I was in labor, my other labors were at rest as battle scars. I think Jeanne's attitude about pregnancy and birth (along with the Birthing from Within classes that I took with Autumn Cunningham and my own soul-searching) was a big factor in my peaceful birth this time around.

Birthing with a trusted midwife is a far cry to any experience one could have in a hospital. You've got great choices here in the Twin Cities, I'm confident you'll be able to find the right one for you.

[dnr3301]

I had Gail (just Gail) at my last birth, and I will birth with her again if I ever have another baby. She was exactly where I needed her when I needed her, and very hands off. She actually did dishes in my kitchen for a good chunk of my labor, but when I needed her, she was right there. I love Gail... really really love her.

ETA: actually, I'm also a doula and I was just at a birth with Trillium last month. They were amazing, as hands off as a group of three women can be. I was amazed and so happy and so was the family.

[Om Girl]

Jennica-

Another vote for Jeanne! She was our mw and was very hands off, as far as 3rd stage labor management, she was very patient. She waited until DH was ready to cut the cord and then just waited for placenta to birth naturally.
Incredible presence after the birth and very hands off. Gave us time to bond and after I was showered and back in bed with family did newborn exam and weight, etc. There was no rush to get anything "done" after the birth.
Super quiet and respectful. LOVE Jeanne and her apprentice Pam.

[jennica]

I just thought I'd update this thread to let everyone know how things ended up! My daughter was born in late July 2010, so she is 7 months old right now. I interviewed a few of the midwives mentioned on this thread. After initially choosing the wrong midwife for me (still a good midwife, but we didn't share political/religious views and I stupidly didn't realize this was something I should ask about in the interview process), I then switched to Kim Garrett and Jane Kirby, who work together now (who I initially didn't choose - even though I clicked with them the best - because I didn't grasp how they worked together and Jane was leaving town for a month in June, and my baby was due in July). Anyway, I ended up with Kim and Jane and they were great. It did take a few conversations before I really felt we were on the same page with the "hands-off" thing. You know, "hands-off" is such a silly term because it really means something different to everyone, so I learned that talking about specific wishes in the interview process, and then again close to the time of birth, was really helpful in finding someone who might be hands-off, and then getting on the same page for exactly what that means to you.

The birth was amazing! I was only touched twice, both just to take heart tones. All my wishes were followed perfectly, and even when my plan changed a little when Ds needed more of Dh's attention that I thought he would, Jane reacted to this perfectly by sitting next to me and gently reassured me when needed. There were a couple times where some midwives might have wanted to examine me, or might have swooped in to get the baby out of the water quicker, but Jane just calmly reassured me and talked me through any moments of discomfort to support me in having things go the way I wanted them to. The labor was only 2 hours and 15 minutes! It was perfect and amazing and I still can't believe how well it went. They were very respectful after the birth as well. They had us handle the baby at all times and never even touched her without asking. They even made us breakfast after the birth.

So, I recommend Jane and Kim, they were great. Very respectful of my wishes and really worked hard to support me to have the kind of birth I wanted and needed.