Lay midwife Susan Rusk: any insights? Or other recommendations?

[brendaemily]

I live in southeast Michigan (south of Jackson), just far enough away from Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo and Lansing that midwives from any of these places will not travel to my home. The only midwives from any of these cities who will serve me are those from New Moon Midwifery, but they are a bit pricey for us.

So, I have two other alternatives. First is a homebirth with Mother's Own Birth Center (I would prefer a homebirth rather than in the center). They're about 1.5 hours from me, though, and my prenatals would be at the center. If anyone's had a great experience with them, I'd love to hear!

Second is Susan Rusk, a local lay midwife (based in Jonesville, I believe). She has no "formal" education or training, is self-taught, but says she's been at at least 1,800 births. A trusted midwife (Pat Kramer in AA) highly recommends Susan. But, this feels like a major leap of faith and I'm not completely comfortable with the idea. Can anyone else offer some first-hand insight into Susan Rusk? It would be very much appreciated! Thank you!

Edited by brendaemily - 11/2/11 at 7:58am

[Rodeo Mama]

Hey!  I've used both midwives....Mothers Own and Sue Rusk.  Maybe we can get together for dinner or coffee or something and discuss?

[brendaemily]

Hi again! Yes, I'd love to get together and discuss! I talked about this with Steve last night for the first time, and he is 99.6% certain that we should go with Mother's Own/Linda, but I think we'll still meet them both. It's an almost-100%-financial decision for Steve, but at least either way it is NOT the hospital! I'm going away this weekend but I'd love to get together ... perhaps a good excuse to cook up another girl's night/sushi visit?

[Rodeo Mama]

Sounds good to me!  Or I'd be up for just doing pizza or something over here with the whole family if you wanted to do that, too.  Just let me know.  Next Saturday is Dale's birthday party, but I don't think we have much going on other than that.

[brendaemily]

Sorry I missed your last post, I don't often come on this site! :( It doesn't seem to cooperate with my computer and I get frustrated at it. Anyway, getting together again sounds like fun! I know that we're into the holiday season now and things can get crazy but we're free this weekend and next. We did meet with both Susan and Linda and it was an easy choice for us. Susan did NOT like us and she ended up not wanting to work with us anyway. I'm glad if she was good for you and I hope that was a great birth ... for us, she came in and it seemed like she expected our immediate respect and praise without any reason for us to give it other that what she told us. It didn't feel right at all. I have my first appt. w/ Linda on Tuesday and I'm going crazy waiting! I'm 12 weeks today and I haven't heard a heartbeat or anything and I don't feel at ease until I hear that heartbeat. But hopefully things will go well next week and I can finally relax a bit! Hope you're feeling well and managing! Are you due next month? Will it be another homebirth ... with Linda? I'm very excited for you! :)