My phone rang (again) while on call, this time around 4:30am:

“Hi, it’s a home birth. I’ll text you the address. They said they can see the head.”

Oye, better get moving. Shockingly (or not), I hit traffic when I got on the highway 15 minutes later and I sped along hoping I could stay awake and make it on time. Was she crowning? Could they just see little tufts of hair? These are big differences when discussing the timeline of birth. I arrived to the home and entered the second floor apartment for the couple and sat down by the midwife. No crying baby, no chatter, nothing was happening. “Guess I made it!” I thought. Luckily, something in me prevented me from asking how the labor was going because a few moments later, the nurse came over to update the midwife about how the baby was doing. Damn! Missed it, and missed it by about 15 minutes. I came to learn later that the midwife arrived not more than 90 seconds before the birth and caught the baby in the tub barehanded. This was the mama’s first birth and quite rapid, to say the least.

In contrast, a few weeks later I received a message while on call that there was a mama at the center who was 8cm dilated. It was around 8:30 at night and we were optimistic about the timing of the birth. Maybe we would have a baby by midnight, we said while sipping tea in the office, rested and ready for the upcoming pushing phase.

Seven.

Hours.

Later.

She started pushing. Two centimeters in seven hours.

Two hours after that, the beautiful baby was born. Everyone was healthy and happy, from both births. Whether rapid or slow to progress, these babies were going to come at their own time. Interestingly, these were both first time mothers, and both of these labors can be considered normal! One just happened to be fast, and the other slow; yet throughout mama and baby were safe and cared for. These two cases are examples of the most common phrase I have heard in regards to childbirth: Variations of normal.

The midwifery model believes that pregnancy and birth are normal life events. As midwives, they are your “lifeguard” during birth, monitoring both baby and mama for any changes, helping when needed, but allowing the laboring women to move at her own pace and give her the space and freedom to do just that. The midwives at SCM treat all clients as healthy until proven otherwise, and minimize risks by eliminating most interventions that would lead to more risks (and more interventions). As always, the midwives are ready for any emergency circumstances that may arise during the birth. Prenatal visits emphasize communication and education, while empowering the soon-to-be mother to make her own decisions about how she would prefer her care to look.

Because this model governs their care, they are well-versed in what is “normal” in birth, and thus know all the ways that birth differs yet still remains normal. They have seen the rapid births, the slow births, prolonged active or second stage labor, back labor from a posterior baby (“sunny side up”), the breech births, the water births, the VBACs. They understand that while a first time mama could push up to 2 hours, a healthy mama and baby can go longer and still result in a successful vaginal delivery; I just had a client push for 4 hours! When you have the experience of supporting so many different paths towards a birth, you have the confidence to know what is and isn’t normal. Most importantly, there is a shared trust between the client and midwife. The midwife trusts the woman’s body, her determination, and her strength; the client trusts the expertise and care surrounding her. When this is present, any variation can be conquered.