Elaine & Henry - Hatch Midwifery Video Testimonials

Speakers: Elaine & Henry

Elaine & Henry: Honestly, I think looking back every moment or every interaction with Kelly was extremely positive and impactful in different ways. And I think each interaction really highlighted a different facet of how good of a clinician she is and how holistic she is. And so like the first one that comes to mind obviously is the one during our birth. She navigated through a very unexpected birth with just perfect clinical expertise and helped, you know, we are very grateful that she was our midwife and was able to get us through that and we have, have a happy healthy daughter and mom because of her. And secondly, even after all this unexpected birth and very eventful eight minutes, once we were healthy and physically safe her first attention, her first thing that she focused on was just me and helping me emotionally and mentally process what had just transpired. And so she just, you know, took a moment where she just shut everyone else out just to give us a second to just pause and have me be with my baby and just be present and realize that we were both OK, we were healthy and we were safe. Despite the craziness that had just gone on for the last even just couple minutes. And so that really just showed what a patient focused human experience, like she's just really focused on and understands that birth is not really, you know, a physical event, it really is an emotional, mental, spiritual kind of transformation and just understanding the human experience behind that. Also just her amazing clinical skill as well of helping us get through that completely, you know, everyone's healthy and happy. I think there's a part of Kelly that's really just a mastery of the practice of midwifery. But I think maybe equally as important even more important, right? Is I think Kelly's ability to be, be thoughtful about the patient and be present for the patient and make sure that it's not just about that specific incident of birth, but it's about the mom, it's about the baby, it's about building that connection and relationship and making sure there's good communication. And I think Kelly is just incredibly thoughtful and mindful of that and through a more chaotic experience than we expected through the birth process. We would like to say that, with Kelly helping us through that and managing through it, it was really the most peaceful or Zen way that it could have gone and we're glad that Kelly was able to help us through that. Yeah.

Elaine & Henry: Yeah, I think there was a point in time when it was really uncertain whether or not I was going to be able to have a midwife deliver our baby and she was really like her, just her comprehensive knowledge and just being up to date on a lot of literature, she was able to really help us decipher and interpret what that meant in our situation and help us be confident in our decision. So I think just like her breadth of knowledge was super helpful in that in terms of mitigating, balancing risk and safety aspects. Yeah. So it was like that was our, I think our real first sort of interaction with her. That already gave us a little bit of insight into like how well-rounded of a practitioner she is as a midwife. And then I think subsequent to that, we also did our group classes with Kelly. And, you know, we started off over zoom and, you know, even over zoom, she had a really good presence about her and we really enjoyed them and it was, you know, our second birth. And so we were like, you know, what, what are we going to get out of these classes of it? It really turned out to be quite an amazing experience. In particular I remember our final group session, which we got to have in person and we did not think that we were going to be sharing all of our deepest fears and worries and concerns and really talking through them during that class and sharing them with a group of others who are going through something similar to us. But Kelly just has this way of helping you feel at ease and bringing that out of you and really being able to take a hard look at those issues, whatever they might be and help you navigate through them. That's something that's just really extraordinary in our current health care world to have someone who is so honest and really doesn't keep you at arm's length is just really wanting to give you the best holistic experience that you possibly could have through such a big event in your life. And I think in relation to that, you know, it's just, it just shows how much she really focuses on building community and creating these types of relationships. Even like within our group class with her. Just being able to really have a meaningful conversation and meaningful discussion. altogether.

Elaine & Henry: In that process of preparing her birth I think it really changed birth to me from being something that is empowering as a woman and something that I felt confident and comfortable going into versus I think sometimes in our society, it's really portrayed negatively or something that women can't handle. In the last however, you know, 100 years or so that, that narrative has sort of shifted. And so it really was sort of reclaiming my ability as a woman to be able to birth confidently. And so I think that that really solidified my decision, you know, like I'm going to trust in myself, I'm gonna trust in my body and I'm going to make a choice that is going to give me what it is that I aspire for not because I'm afraid of what may or may not happen because I don't think I could do it.