“A Midwife in Amish Country is a masterclass in respectful, woman-centred midwifery, written by a woman whose faith and humility are apparent on every page. Kim Osterholzer shows us the value and depth of women’s knowledge and peppers the pages with juicy tidbits of midwifery wisdom, but without being so unrealistically romantic that she fails to share[…]
From June 10th through June 13th women’s health advocates of every variety and from all corners of the country, as well as from across the waters, will gather for a time of nourishment and growth in Winter Park, Colorado. Janelle Komorrowski’s, DNP, CNM—one of my own favorite educators—is the woman drawing us together this summer. Janelle[…]
My daughter, Hannah, is a midwife, too. Many of you know that already. Hannah’s apprenticeship was born within a conflagration of extremes, representative of nearly the whole of her remarkable life, when a pair of our dearest friends birthed their third baby with us only six weeks after the death of our Brent Woodard—Hannah’s dad and my husband.[…]
We haven’t done a Midwife Highlight in a while, but after being moved to tears by this beautiful story, I can say I’m truly honored to have the opportunity to share the tiny but mighty Pam Crowl with you. Pam was one of the first midwives I encountered after I moved to Colorado. We met at a workshop and she[…]
Welcome to the second half of Steve’s Story. When Steve was through watching the film he describes here, he sat up straight in his seat and said through the lump in his throat and with tear-shined eyes, “What are the chances I’ll be able to attend a birth with you sometime?” I smiled as I[…]
My husband, Steve, has joked for a while now about writing an article for my blog about being “The Midwife’s Husband.” One day recently I said I thought he ought to do it! And he sat down with his computer and some four hours later he’d typed out nearly four thousand words! Four thousand words![…]
In line with the theme of my upcoming book, I’ve built this website and blog around my service as a midwife among the Amish. But today, with the life and dream of Martin Luther King, Jr on my heart, what I want to talk about with you today is a far cry from Amish Midwifery.[…]
I’ve shared birth photographs and films here before, but for those of you who’ve never been served by a homebirth midwife, I thought I’d share a short film that illustrates, in addition to a birth, what our prenatal and postpartum visits look like. May you enjoy this distillation of what we do. We’re celebrating this[…]
But those ten weeks of autumn weren’t spent with my children and grandchildren alone. The time began toward the tail-end of a very dry and dusty summertime. Fairly the moment we crossed the line into Amish country on my first trip down, memories kicked up like the clouds of dust Hannah’s car sent billowing skyward behind[…]
“Don’t pick that up!” “Put that down!” “No, that really IS too heavy for you!” These were the exclamations that filled my ears in the last weeks of my pregnancy as we hurried and scurried to prepare to move as my due date loomed closer and closer! Jesse or Mom would say something akin to[…]