Posted:
9-3-2003
999 babies... and counting
Midwife
Patrice Bobier has delivered 999 babies, with the
1,000th newborn expected to arrive by next week.
Bobier,
who owns and operates Full Circle Midwifery Service,
Inc., celebrated hitting the 1,000-mark Saturday
during a reunion at the Ferry Township home of Patrice
and her husband, Bill.
Moms,
dads and children delivered by Bobier attended the
reunion and reminisced about the home births.
Bobier,
52, began training to become a midwife in 1979 and
started her own practice in 1982. "I attended my
first home birth in 1977 as a friend of the couple
having the baby," she said.
"I
wanted families to have a safe choice about their birth
place and attendant. It is such a special time -
pregnancy and the birth of a new baby - it should be a
loving, empowering, enfolding experience that will bond
the parents and baby for a lifetime of caring for each
other."
Donna
Richert, a mother of four, had her two youngest children
in her Spring Lake home under Bobier's care. "It's
much more comfortable being at home," Richert said.
The stress of having to race off to the hospital to have
the baby is completely eliminated when you're under a
midwife's care, she said.
Erika
Dertien, a mother of three young children, had her last
child under Bobier's care. "The major advantage (of
home birth) is being relaxed in my own home,"
Dertien said. She said it was nice that her husband,
Jeff, was able to hold her during her son Jacob's birth.
"Whereas in the hospital, he could only hold my
hand," she said.
Dertien
said she gave birth to Jacob in the family's hot tub
with Jeff right at her side. "To have Jeff in there
as well was very relaxing," she said. "It was
great - compared to the hospital setting, which was kind
of tense and you don't know what's going to
happen."
"More
or less you put it in the doctor's hands (during
hospital births), but you know what to expect (during
home births), and you're more informed."
Dertien
said she and Jeff are planning to have more children in
the future. "We don't know when, but yes, it would
be a home birth," she said.
Also
at the reunion were the two other midwives involved in
Bobier's practice, Barb Olsen and Laurie Zoyiopoulos,
and two apprentices, Jen Weese and Kirsten Grimm.
"It's
fun to get together," said Weese who is training
under Bobier to become a midwife. "But this is
extra special, because we timed it right around the time
of her 1,000th birth."
Bobier
has had a reunion just about every year to stay up to
date with her clients and their families. In the past,
she has had as many as 150 attendees.
"Patrice
is really knowledgeable," said Olsen. "I
really trust her."
Bobier
said there is no licensing for non-nurse midwives in
Michigan, although an extensive amount of hands-on
training is required.
"I
trained through apprenticeship, working with other
midwives for three-and-a-half years, attending prenatal
clinics and births, doing postpartum care for mothers
and babies, following a course of self-study that we
designed," she said.
"I
am a CPM - Certified Professional Midwife. I also am
certified by the Michigan Midwives Association, and have
to follow state and national standards of practice. The
certification requirements are extensive with written
and oral exams, documentation of education and
experience, written recommendations from clients and
other professionals, etc."
"For
both organizations, I have to re-certify every three
years with required continuing education, certification
in Neonatal Resuscitation and CPR, Peer Review. I have
to provide statistics on every client I have contact
with."
Bobier
has two children who are now 29 and 32 years old.
"They were both hospital-born back when fathers
were just being 'allowed' to be present. Many mothers
were drugged to the point of being physically
restrained, and contact between mother and baby was
severely restricted," she said.
Bobier's
two grandchildren, Jenna, 4, and Tyler, 7, were
home-born right into her hands. Another grandbaby is due
in October.
The
oldest baby whose birth Bobier attended is now 25 years
old, and she has home-born children, ages 3 and 7. The
youngest (number 999) was born last Thursday evening.
She
has delivered babies for mothers 16 to 47 years old.
Although
births are not usually an emergency situation, Bobier
said midwives are always prepared to handle one.
Should
an emergency occur, a midwife would "treat and
transport (the patient) to the hospital and medical
providers accordingly - in a similar way as smaller
hospitals refer patients out to larger ones," she
explained.
Although
she absolutely loves her profession, she does plan to
eventually slow down the pace in the future. "I
plan to gradually cut back as younger women are trained
to take over this wonderful work," she said.
"Midwifery
care is much different than obstetric care - more
teaching, sharing of responsibility and care with the
mother and family, more hands-on, more intuitive, more
common-sense and personal in its approach, less
dependent on medical tests, drugs, interventions, less
'assembly-line' care," she said.
"We
are available for the whole childbearing year to answer
questions, provide reassurance," Bobier said.
"We monitor mom and baby for health, watch for
complications, but in different ways than the medical
way. We spend much more time with clients. I personally
spend about 10 hours with each client before she goes
into labor," she explained.
"When
women are in labor, my associates and I are with them
for as much of the time as they require - no change of
shifts, no coming in at the last minute or leaving
shortly after the birth. We make sure babies and moms
get breastfeeding established, and the family is coping
with the changes a new baby brings as we do home visits
in the first week after the birth."
The
1,000th baby Bobier will be delivering is tentatively
slated to arrive in this world, Sept. 9.
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