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I felt very confident in hiring Karly to be my
midwife for my birth. I knew that she had been
around the home birth experience since
childhood, because her mother had home
births. And very early on she chose Midwifery
as a career. I felt that Karly took this
responsibility very seriously, because she chose
to not only take the route of apprenticing with
other midwives in the community. But to
challenge herself by enrolling in one of the best
schools for her Midwifery Education. She is
not only a licensed midwife, but a CPM
(Certified Professional Midwife) as well. This
made me feel confident because she offered a
higher standard of care in her practice than
many other midwives could in the community.
I had no doubt that she was committed to
providing the best care for me and my baby.
As well as the best experience for a home birth
in San Diego. I also have to stay that I LOVED
the fact that she really worked around my
families schedule for prenatals, and even came
to my home, making it convenient for my
family by adding a personal touch. All my
expectations for my birth were met. We
delivered a healthy 10 pound 5 oz baby at home
safely in a comfortable setting. I'm very grateful
for Karly and her team at Mobile Midwifery!
- A.D. Poway
midwife for my birth. I knew that she had been
around the home birth experience since
childhood, because her mother had home
births. And very early on she chose Midwifery
as a career. I felt that Karly took this
responsibility very seriously, because she chose
to not only take the route of apprenticing with
other midwives in the community. But to
challenge herself by enrolling in one of the best
schools for her Midwifery Education. She is
not only a licensed midwife, but a CPM
(Certified Professional Midwife) as well. This
made me feel confident because she offered a
higher standard of care in her practice than
many other midwives could in the community.
I had no doubt that she was committed to
providing the best care for me and my baby.
As well as the best experience for a home birth
in San Diego. I also have to stay that I LOVED
the fact that she really worked around my
families schedule for prenatals, and even came
to my home, making it convenient for my
family by adding a personal touch. All my
expectations for my birth were met. We
delivered a healthy 10 pound 5 oz baby at home
safely in a comfortable setting. I'm very grateful
for Karly and her team at Mobile Midwifery!
- A.D. Poway
A Christmas Story
When my husband, Tim and I first planned to move from the UK to the USA in
the summer of 2008 with our two little girls, Autumn (8) and Midnight (5) we didn’
t plan on someone else coming along for the ride!
But by August, I was five months pregnant and only just within the limit to travel
by ship to the USA. As I’m not a keen flyer, we seized our chance and arrived in
New York on the Queen Mary 2 and then took the long drive to San Diego in
search of some sunshine – a real change from rainy Yorkshire where we’d been for
the last four years!
As we settled in our new home, we started to look for prenatal care. I have long
been a proponent of natural birth. Autumn was born by emergency caesarean
following a long, long labour, but Midnight was a successful VBAC baby!
I heard of the fantastic birth centers and midwife led units in California and was
eager to find out more, but on enquiry, found I was excluded from birthing at any
of them as my previous caesarean rendered me officially ‘high risk’ despite my
subsequent VBAC.
Oh dear.
So our next stop was with obstetricians. These meetings didn’t seem to go well. An
epidural was encouraged and time limits were mentioned. It seemed that in
hospital, I would be labouring against the clock. I was also most unhappy that
gas&air (Entonox, a form of nitrous), the standard pain relief option in the UK was
unavailable in the USA and I couldn’t imagine labouring without it. What would I
do for pain relief? An epidural and a spiral of interventions seemed inevitable and a
caesarean birth was starting to seem like the only possible outcome.
Remembering my difficult recovery after Autumn’s birth and realising that we
couldn’t get insurance while I was pregnant, we were despondent.
After telling us to consider flying back to the UK (not an option), the final
obstetrician I saw said, “Well, you could consider a midwife.” She rapidly revised
this suggestion, “But not in your case, with a previous caesarean...”
But the suggestion was planted and I turned to Google which serendipitously sent
me to Karly. My research also suggested I wasn’t nearly as high risk as the doctors
had attempted to make me believe. (Rates of uterine rupture are incredibly low and
the symptoms are more likely to be spotted early by the constant care of a midwife
according to www.homebirth.org.uk).
By now, it was November and we were just over a month away from our due date.
Karly invited us to meet with her. Sitting in the sunshine in the garden outside her
office and chatting, she was welcoming, calm, relaxing and had a sensible, practical
approach. She reassured me that I could cope without the gas and air and
painkillers. We talked over my history and arranged another meeting to ‘begin’ my
prenatal care with her.
It was a relief to find someone I felt I could trust and who was so able to answer
our questions (even third time round we had a few and I was feeling anxious!) Over
the next month, she helped us to assemble a birth kit and prepared us for our
imminent home birth. Our other children were getting very excited – about
Christmas and the new baby! They were welcome at our appointments and enjoyed
listening to the baby’s heartbeat, as did my grandmother!
I was still nervous. I dreaded being transferred to hospital, of spending Christmas
in hospital... and of still being pregnant and waiting on Christmas Day! On 22nd
December, something kicked in and I started baking, cooking and cleaning like a
madwoman! Mince pies (a lovely British Christmas delicacy made of spiced fruit
and pastry!), fresh bread, casseroles etc. were churned out of my kitchen.
Of course, at 5am the next morning , I woke up with a tightening in my stomach.
15 minutes later, there was another one. Sure enough, this carried on for an hour or
two. My husband woke up to the happy news that he should think about taking the
day off. He trundled off downstairs to set up the birth pool in our living room and
started filling it. The next thing I heard was five year old Midnight seeing the tub
and yelling, “BABY! YAY!”
The contractions stayed about 10-15 minutes apart all day. Remembering that I
spent the day of Midnight’s birth strolling around a fair with occasional
contractions, we thought a bit of shopping wouldn’t hurt, so early afternoon, we
picked up my grandmother and went to Whole Foods.
We returned home and spent the rest of the day resting and relaxing... and eating
mince pies! The girls were settled into bed and the birth pool bubbled away quietly
in the living room. Once the children were asleep, the contractions finally started to
speed up. By 1am, they were down to a few minutes apart and were starting to get
more intense, so I called Karly up. By the time she arrived, Tim had strapped my
TENS machine to my back and I was bent over the sofa, growling and mooing my
way through the contractions, using the TENS to ‘zap’ them. I remember joking
that it was like a video game – I felt that I could shoot the contractions down with
TENS. Karly brought along two fabulous women – Minette and Sherill.
Their presence was fantastic. Karly set her equipment out and stroked my hair. I
remember her saying I looked beautiful and just being so reassuring. Although I’m
not sure I felt so beautiful in my nightie, mooing into the sofa! It was so good to be
at home though – I remembered in the hospital with Midnight, the midwives had
muttered about the loud woman in the next room. At home, I was ALLOWED to
be the loud woman!
There was a bit of negotiation – at first, Sherill offered to massage me and I was
very reluctant to be touched, feeling quite primal and just using the rhythm of the
contractions and the TENS to deal with them. I’d forgotten all about missing the
gas and air and was feeling quite good and energetic! I had a British news channel
on, just to listen to some familiar voices. The drone of the politicians and pundits
was surprisingly soothing but I’m not sure anyone else agreed!
After a couple of hours of watching me like this, Karly offered to examine me. It
was the middle of the night, I was starting to get tired out and it turned out I was
only 4cms dilated. This was disheartening and visions of Autumn’s birth started to
appear in my mind – I was in labour for days with her during an attempted home
birth and I’d finally been transferred to hospital where I ended up with a caesarean.
Her head had never engaged and she’d apparently just bobbed up and down with
no chance of coming out. The déjà vu seemed like too much.
We tried exercise, lunges, walking up and downstairs, but I was getting exhausted.
It was early morning and I’d been up since 5 the previous day.
The contractions started to tail off and everything stalled. Karly sat with me alone,
upstairs in the bedroom and we talked. My confidence was disappearing and I
started to think a dreaded trip in an ambulance, a stay in hospital over Christmas
Day and horrendous medical bills were inevitable. But Karly said she was
convinced I could do it. And I trusted her. I think it was the best pep talk I’ve ever
had. She also reassured me that the baby was fine – she checked him with the
Doppler and we could hear his heartbeat.
We thought it through – whether we should try and get the contractions going
again or whether I should get some rest. Rest seemed essential. And then she had
the best suggestion I’ve ever heard in my life! Have a drink and go to bed. Brilliant!
So Tim poured me a large gin and tonic. It tasted fantastic and I flopped into bed
with him and fell asleep with only the odd contraction.
A few hours later, I woke up. It was still early but I had an amazingly refreshed,
positive feeling, full of confidence and energy. Karly, Minette and Sherill were
bedded in downstairs, Tim was asleep beside me and the girls were still in their
beds. It was Christmas Eve morning, the sun was just beginning to rise and I was
all on my own and very clearheaded.
I thought, “Right.”
And then I was up and down the stairs. Taking them two at a time, doing lunges,
squatting, bouncing. I stood on our balcony, watching the sun rise as I exercised.
And sure enough, the contractions started to return, slowly at first. Then I saw a
bloody show and it seemed like confirmation that everything was getting going and
this time, it was serious! The TENS helped me manage the contractions as they
started again.
I went to talk to the children who were just starting to stir awake. I explained that I’
d be having the baby today and hopefully it would all go well. They’d hear me say
‘Ow’ but mustn’t worry because that would mean the baby was coming. We hugged
and smiled and chatted for a while.
They made their way into their playroom as my grandmother arrived and Tim and I
joined Karly, Minette and Sherill in the living room. They were shovelling black
cohosh (ERGGGHHH!) and homeopathic concoctions into me. Lots of aconite to
keep my confidence high! I took the TENS off for a while and Karly helped me
direct the pain, focussing it downwards, trying to open everything up and
encourage the baby to move down. Soon, they encouraged me into the tub and the
contractions were fast and intense. Poor Minette was fetching water with Tim and
they were all trying to keep the birth pool hot for me as there was an issue with the
heater! I was fairly oblivious though, breathing into the water and focussing on each
contraction. Sherill sat with me and held my hand. She talked me through each
contraction and kept me deeply focussed and concentrated – and gently ignored my
occasional swearing! I don’t remember what she said to me, but her presence was so
powerful, stopping me from panicking as transition hit and things started to get
serious.
I vaguely remember people occasionally walking through the living room but it was
quiet and that was a good thing. I remember Midnight wandering through at one
point and just cutely waving to me in the tub, smiling and carrying on past. The
children were completely unpeturbed by what was going on, happily awaiting the
arrival of their baby brother.
Mainly though, I just breathed. Watching the water in the pool was calming and
blowing gently onto the surface during contractions was hypnotic. The heat and
water were soothing although the contractions were hard.
Although I didn’t really feel an urge to push as I had during Midnight’s birth, I had
a sudden instinct that the baby was coming and began to push. Karly was fantastic
and so encouraging. I remember her telling me, “You know your body. Push when
you need to, as you want to.” The room felt so energised with everyone quietly
urging things on.
The pushing stage was only a few minutes – things moved very quickly and Tim
was ready to catch the baby! Baby Sid slithered out into the water very easily at 9:
43am on Christmas Eve morning. As I felt him arrive, I yelled for the children.
Everyone came running as Sid was lifted out of the water and onto me. I staggered
out of the pool and onto the sofa, lifting him straight up onto my chest to feed. He
latched on immediately and poor Midnight gasped, “No! Don’t eat Mummy!” We’d
explained all the birth bits but not the breastfeeding – oops! But she’s learned very
quickly! She, Autumn and Tim all were reluctant to cut the cord so Karly did the
job.
Soon, Sid and I were tucked into bed and the girls and Tim were cuddling with us.
Granny made us all eggs on toast. Which was a change from my mince pies which
were regarded with suspicion by the non-British present :)
I’m still in awe of that day. Managing without any drugs seemed like a crazy option
and I didn’t think I’d cope without gas and air, but somehow it didn’t matter as
home felt so safe and I had water and TENS. I did miss the g&a but in fact, I felt
clearheaded and able to concentrate, focus and really visualise how Sid was moving
down and out - like I actually had an amount of control in the process. Waterbirth
is a wonderfully unstressful process. Sid arrived looking beautiful and relaxed and
ready to feed immediately. And amazingly, despite him being 8lb 3oz, almost the
same size as Autumn had been when she had got stuck, I was in great shape
afterwards. Midnight was much smaller and I had second degree tearing and
stitches. After Sid’s birth, I had barely a graze. I definitely recommend it!
And the best bit? Sid smiled at us, just moments after he was born.
K.H. - La Jolla
When my husband, Tim and I first planned to move from the UK to the USA in
the summer of 2008 with our two little girls, Autumn (8) and Midnight (5) we didn’
t plan on someone else coming along for the ride!
But by August, I was five months pregnant and only just within the limit to travel
by ship to the USA. As I’m not a keen flyer, we seized our chance and arrived in
New York on the Queen Mary 2 and then took the long drive to San Diego in
search of some sunshine – a real change from rainy Yorkshire where we’d been for
the last four years!
As we settled in our new home, we started to look for prenatal care. I have long
been a proponent of natural birth. Autumn was born by emergency caesarean
following a long, long labour, but Midnight was a successful VBAC baby!
I heard of the fantastic birth centers and midwife led units in California and was
eager to find out more, but on enquiry, found I was excluded from birthing at any
of them as my previous caesarean rendered me officially ‘high risk’ despite my
subsequent VBAC.
Oh dear.
So our next stop was with obstetricians. These meetings didn’t seem to go well. An
epidural was encouraged and time limits were mentioned. It seemed that in
hospital, I would be labouring against the clock. I was also most unhappy that
gas&air (Entonox, a form of nitrous), the standard pain relief option in the UK was
unavailable in the USA and I couldn’t imagine labouring without it. What would I
do for pain relief? An epidural and a spiral of interventions seemed inevitable and a
caesarean birth was starting to seem like the only possible outcome.
Remembering my difficult recovery after Autumn’s birth and realising that we
couldn’t get insurance while I was pregnant, we were despondent.
After telling us to consider flying back to the UK (not an option), the final
obstetrician I saw said, “Well, you could consider a midwife.” She rapidly revised
this suggestion, “But not in your case, with a previous caesarean...”
But the suggestion was planted and I turned to Google which serendipitously sent
me to Karly. My research also suggested I wasn’t nearly as high risk as the doctors
had attempted to make me believe. (Rates of uterine rupture are incredibly low and
the symptoms are more likely to be spotted early by the constant care of a midwife
according to www.homebirth.org.uk).
By now, it was November and we were just over a month away from our due date.
Karly invited us to meet with her. Sitting in the sunshine in the garden outside her
office and chatting, she was welcoming, calm, relaxing and had a sensible, practical
approach. She reassured me that I could cope without the gas and air and
painkillers. We talked over my history and arranged another meeting to ‘begin’ my
prenatal care with her.
It was a relief to find someone I felt I could trust and who was so able to answer
our questions (even third time round we had a few and I was feeling anxious!) Over
the next month, she helped us to assemble a birth kit and prepared us for our
imminent home birth. Our other children were getting very excited – about
Christmas and the new baby! They were welcome at our appointments and enjoyed
listening to the baby’s heartbeat, as did my grandmother!
I was still nervous. I dreaded being transferred to hospital, of spending Christmas
in hospital... and of still being pregnant and waiting on Christmas Day! On 22nd
December, something kicked in and I started baking, cooking and cleaning like a
madwoman! Mince pies (a lovely British Christmas delicacy made of spiced fruit
and pastry!), fresh bread, casseroles etc. were churned out of my kitchen.
Of course, at 5am the next morning , I woke up with a tightening in my stomach.
15 minutes later, there was another one. Sure enough, this carried on for an hour or
two. My husband woke up to the happy news that he should think about taking the
day off. He trundled off downstairs to set up the birth pool in our living room and
started filling it. The next thing I heard was five year old Midnight seeing the tub
and yelling, “BABY! YAY!”
The contractions stayed about 10-15 minutes apart all day. Remembering that I
spent the day of Midnight’s birth strolling around a fair with occasional
contractions, we thought a bit of shopping wouldn’t hurt, so early afternoon, we
picked up my grandmother and went to Whole Foods.
We returned home and spent the rest of the day resting and relaxing... and eating
mince pies! The girls were settled into bed and the birth pool bubbled away quietly
in the living room. Once the children were asleep, the contractions finally started to
speed up. By 1am, they were down to a few minutes apart and were starting to get
more intense, so I called Karly up. By the time she arrived, Tim had strapped my
TENS machine to my back and I was bent over the sofa, growling and mooing my
way through the contractions, using the TENS to ‘zap’ them. I remember joking
that it was like a video game – I felt that I could shoot the contractions down with
TENS. Karly brought along two fabulous women – Minette and Sherill.
Their presence was fantastic. Karly set her equipment out and stroked my hair. I
remember her saying I looked beautiful and just being so reassuring. Although I’m
not sure I felt so beautiful in my nightie, mooing into the sofa! It was so good to be
at home though – I remembered in the hospital with Midnight, the midwives had
muttered about the loud woman in the next room. At home, I was ALLOWED to
be the loud woman!
There was a bit of negotiation – at first, Sherill offered to massage me and I was
very reluctant to be touched, feeling quite primal and just using the rhythm of the
contractions and the TENS to deal with them. I’d forgotten all about missing the
gas and air and was feeling quite good and energetic! I had a British news channel
on, just to listen to some familiar voices. The drone of the politicians and pundits
was surprisingly soothing but I’m not sure anyone else agreed!
After a couple of hours of watching me like this, Karly offered to examine me. It
was the middle of the night, I was starting to get tired out and it turned out I was
only 4cms dilated. This was disheartening and visions of Autumn’s birth started to
appear in my mind – I was in labour for days with her during an attempted home
birth and I’d finally been transferred to hospital where I ended up with a caesarean.
Her head had never engaged and she’d apparently just bobbed up and down with
no chance of coming out. The déjà vu seemed like too much.
We tried exercise, lunges, walking up and downstairs, but I was getting exhausted.
It was early morning and I’d been up since 5 the previous day.
The contractions started to tail off and everything stalled. Karly sat with me alone,
upstairs in the bedroom and we talked. My confidence was disappearing and I
started to think a dreaded trip in an ambulance, a stay in hospital over Christmas
Day and horrendous medical bills were inevitable. But Karly said she was
convinced I could do it. And I trusted her. I think it was the best pep talk I’ve ever
had. She also reassured me that the baby was fine – she checked him with the
Doppler and we could hear his heartbeat.
We thought it through – whether we should try and get the contractions going
again or whether I should get some rest. Rest seemed essential. And then she had
the best suggestion I’ve ever heard in my life! Have a drink and go to bed. Brilliant!
So Tim poured me a large gin and tonic. It tasted fantastic and I flopped into bed
with him and fell asleep with only the odd contraction.
A few hours later, I woke up. It was still early but I had an amazingly refreshed,
positive feeling, full of confidence and energy. Karly, Minette and Sherill were
bedded in downstairs, Tim was asleep beside me and the girls were still in their
beds. It was Christmas Eve morning, the sun was just beginning to rise and I was
all on my own and very clearheaded.
I thought, “Right.”
And then I was up and down the stairs. Taking them two at a time, doing lunges,
squatting, bouncing. I stood on our balcony, watching the sun rise as I exercised.
And sure enough, the contractions started to return, slowly at first. Then I saw a
bloody show and it seemed like confirmation that everything was getting going and
this time, it was serious! The TENS helped me manage the contractions as they
started again.
I went to talk to the children who were just starting to stir awake. I explained that I’
d be having the baby today and hopefully it would all go well. They’d hear me say
‘Ow’ but mustn’t worry because that would mean the baby was coming. We hugged
and smiled and chatted for a while.
They made their way into their playroom as my grandmother arrived and Tim and I
joined Karly, Minette and Sherill in the living room. They were shovelling black
cohosh (ERGGGHHH!) and homeopathic concoctions into me. Lots of aconite to
keep my confidence high! I took the TENS off for a while and Karly helped me
direct the pain, focussing it downwards, trying to open everything up and
encourage the baby to move down. Soon, they encouraged me into the tub and the
contractions were fast and intense. Poor Minette was fetching water with Tim and
they were all trying to keep the birth pool hot for me as there was an issue with the
heater! I was fairly oblivious though, breathing into the water and focussing on each
contraction. Sherill sat with me and held my hand. She talked me through each
contraction and kept me deeply focussed and concentrated – and gently ignored my
occasional swearing! I don’t remember what she said to me, but her presence was so
powerful, stopping me from panicking as transition hit and things started to get
serious.
I vaguely remember people occasionally walking through the living room but it was
quiet and that was a good thing. I remember Midnight wandering through at one
point and just cutely waving to me in the tub, smiling and carrying on past. The
children were completely unpeturbed by what was going on, happily awaiting the
arrival of their baby brother.
Mainly though, I just breathed. Watching the water in the pool was calming and
blowing gently onto the surface during contractions was hypnotic. The heat and
water were soothing although the contractions were hard.
Although I didn’t really feel an urge to push as I had during Midnight’s birth, I had
a sudden instinct that the baby was coming and began to push. Karly was fantastic
and so encouraging. I remember her telling me, “You know your body. Push when
you need to, as you want to.” The room felt so energised with everyone quietly
urging things on.
The pushing stage was only a few minutes – things moved very quickly and Tim
was ready to catch the baby! Baby Sid slithered out into the water very easily at 9:
43am on Christmas Eve morning. As I felt him arrive, I yelled for the children.
Everyone came running as Sid was lifted out of the water and onto me. I staggered
out of the pool and onto the sofa, lifting him straight up onto my chest to feed. He
latched on immediately and poor Midnight gasped, “No! Don’t eat Mummy!” We’d
explained all the birth bits but not the breastfeeding – oops! But she’s learned very
quickly! She, Autumn and Tim all were reluctant to cut the cord so Karly did the
job.
Soon, Sid and I were tucked into bed and the girls and Tim were cuddling with us.
Granny made us all eggs on toast. Which was a change from my mince pies which
were regarded with suspicion by the non-British present :)
I’m still in awe of that day. Managing without any drugs seemed like a crazy option
and I didn’t think I’d cope without gas and air, but somehow it didn’t matter as
home felt so safe and I had water and TENS. I did miss the g&a but in fact, I felt
clearheaded and able to concentrate, focus and really visualise how Sid was moving
down and out - like I actually had an amount of control in the process. Waterbirth
is a wonderfully unstressful process. Sid arrived looking beautiful and relaxed and
ready to feed immediately. And amazingly, despite him being 8lb 3oz, almost the
same size as Autumn had been when she had got stuck, I was in great shape
afterwards. Midnight was much smaller and I had second degree tearing and
stitches. After Sid’s birth, I had barely a graze. I definitely recommend it!
And the best bit? Sid smiled at us, just moments after he was born.
K.H. - La Jolla