09/16/2026
I always knew I wanted to have a midwife be part of my birth story, but I wasn't sure if it would look like a homebirth or birth center. That decision was made pretty quickly when my husband Jonathan and I met Elizabeth for the first time. About 15 minutes into the appointment we gave each other the “look” we knew we had found our person. She was so knowledgeable about birth, explained clearly what interventions would look like if things didn't go to plan, and just had this sense of adventure that made all of this less scary and so exciting. The more questions she answered the more I felt my fear dissipate and my excitement for what was coming begin to rise.
That excitement quickly turned when I was about 6 weeks pregnant and began spotting and cramping, at this time we had also tested my progesterone which Elizabeth noticed had started out low and dropped significantly over a couple days. She immediately put me on progesterone pills , we were all hopeful this would be what the baby needed but she was also honest that there was a possibility it may not be enough and we would cross that bridge when we got there. We were scared but hopeful as my cramping went away immediately with the progesterone. Around 10 weeks we nervously got an ultrasound to see if the baby was still growing and to our surprise we saw a beautiful healthy baby with a strong heartbeat (and even measuring a couple days ahead, but did not co-operate when it came to finding out gender!). It was a feeling I'll never forget after weeks of uncertainty to see that little heart beat was everything.
The rest of my pregnancy was pretty simple, most symptoms I encountered Elizabeth had an herb or a tincture I could take to help with that. I was always anticipating the all-too-common response to pregnancy symptoms of “well you are pregnant, it happens!”. Instead Elizabeth always had something to try to help with whatever I was dealing with and that was always a blessing (but getting rid of my heartburn was the biggest blessing ever)! Aside from that it was wonderful to spend most appointments laughing, crying, chatting about all the random things and just getting to know each other.
Toward the end of my pregnancy I began dealing with some higher blood pressure and by 36 weeks we were starting to talk about if homebirth was still going to be an option if it continued to rise. I was sad about the thought of not birthing at home, but in the end just wanted our baby to be okay. A couple days later I began experiencing light contractions, I let Elizabeth know and asked if it was possible this could be early labour that would last a couple weeks (because I was indeed not ready to do this yet!). She laughed and said maybe. I knew at that moment we were probably having a baby that week.
Well the morning I hit 37 weeks (3 days later) My water broke at 5 am. I was still recovering from a terrible chest cold and could barely breath without coughing so I was not very excited about breathing a baby out when my lungs were on fire. From the very beginning my contractions were close together, we thought they would eventually space out (they didn't). Around 11 am Elizabeth and Jackie came to the house, they checked me and the baby and everything sounded good on the doppler. By this point I was struggling to talk through contractions and utilising every tool I had (the birth comb, tens unit, birth ball, music) I felt like there was no way I was going to make it through later stage labour because early labour was kicking my butt. Well what we didn't know until later was that it was not early labour, and I’m really glad they stayed in town.
Soon after they left to go grab lunch I transitioned to the shower because the birth pool was not put together yet, I spent an hour labouring in there while Jonathan read affirmations over me. By the end of that hour my contractions were about 20 seconds apart and ferocious. At this point I still thought I was in early labour and was going to spend the next two days like this, turns out this was transition and the baby was almost here. During that time I began to bear down and push. Jonathan quickly called Elizabeth explaining that this was happening and telling me to stop (which wasn't going to happen!). The team came in at the right time to transition me to the birth stool which ended up being the most perfect thing for me. We quickly realized the pool was not going to happen as the baby was coming. While pushing Elizabeth just kept reassuring me that I had it within me to do this and the baby had enough room. I didn't realize until later how much those comforting words took all the fear out of me while pushing and within 20 minutes baby Eloise made her appearance. I truly couldn't believe she was really there and the labour was done.
When she came out we still didn't know if she was a girl or boy, and were so delighted to find out she was a girl and she was healthy. We found out later that she had the cord around her neck, the team handled this so well it was not an issue at all.
I also began to bleed a decent amount which was something that worried me about homebirth, but Elizabeth assured me she was monitoring the amount and gave me things to help with the bleeding while we waited for my placenta to come out. The entire time she was calm which made me feel so calm and at peace, I didn't have to worry about if i was safe cause I trusted that she would make the call to transfer to the hospital if needed, I also knew she would try what she could to control the bleeding before that happens. It ended up not being an issue once my placenta was delivered and we got to spend the rest of the day snuggling our baby in bed. It was the most magical experience. Within minutes of Eloise being born I knew I wanted to do it again, and even said “ that wasn't that bad, ill do it again”, which was a surprise to me because I did not love the way I felt during pregnancy. I then spent the next few days feeling “high” on all the hormones. At one point I remember asking Elizabeth if I was okay because it felt like people were floating and it was hard to keep conversation. She assured me that I wasn't dying but was in fact enjoying all the birth hormones.
I am forever grateful for Elizabeth and her team. I truly believe my beautiful baby would not be here today if it wasn't for her testing my progesterone so early and putting me on medication. It was a simple fix, for which I'm so grateful. My pregnancy and birth experience is something I look at with so much joy, working with this team made pregnancy so much better. We spent many appointments just chatting about life, fears, laughing, crying and just getting excited for what was coming. Elizabeth held space for the fears and also the excitement. In postpartum Elizabeth and Jackie were there for the panicked phone calls, the pressures of breastfeeding and the wins. They gave me peace that my body was doing what it needed to do and it just needed more time. I'm so grateful for a team that believed in me the whole way through and helped me figure out how to care for my baby. Thank you for all that you do, my family is here because of you all. We look forward to working with heartstrings again in the future!
