Musings, Reflections, and Calls to Action

A collection of stories and inspirations about and for my work at Praxis Midwifery and beyond.

A Midwife is Born.

In high school I declared I would become an OB/GYN. I never saw or read about birth – that I remember. My parents worked in healthcare IT and the lab. My uncle was an artist-physician. One of my second moms was a nurse. She and my mom volunteered at the pregnancy aid center in my small north Texas hometown. So, one could draw some loose lines between my professional interests and my youth.

Really I was invested in people, in community. Clinician caregiving was a vehicle for those core values. I was a leader in the Chamber of Commerce’s Junior Chamber Ambassador program and organized fund raisers and volunteer events making meals for families at the Ronald McDonald House serving the children’s hospital. We lived behind a nursing home and in elementary school I spent many holidays baking cookies, making cards, and visiting the residents.

The light of midwifery was ignited when I was a junior in high school. A class project had me shadowing healthcare workers and I was fortunate to be able to observe the nurses in a busy labor & delivery unit. I remember observing the bustle, seeing the monitors and learning about fetal monitoring, and a woman allowed me to be with her and her nurse during her birthing. I remember her laughter, the physical support given (water, repositioning, holding her legs while she pushed), and the limited interaction of her OB. Specifically, I recall him coming to the bedside just as she started pushing, assessing her progress, making comment about how much longer he thought it might take, and leaving the room for us to continue the work.

It was the lack of presence that surprised me and caused me to rethink my chosen path. You see, I was interested in connection, time, physical presence that I recognized would not be possible as an OB. It was the nurses providing that care, that connection. (While I recognize the flaw in generalizing from this one experience in a single hospital unit, the heart of what I sensed was missing – and the possibilities for caregiving as a different kind of clinician – remains spot on over twenty years later.)