The birth of our second child was a highly anticipated event for my husband, Chris, and I and especially for our six year old son, William. We began our prenatal care with the Midwife Center for Birth and Women's Health in Pittsburgh because we wanted a personalized approach to our baby's birth. In our second trimester, we moved to Ligonier and felt that we were too far away to continue with that group. The Family Nurse Midwife Associates came highly recommended by their Pittsburgh colleagues and after one appointment we knew we had made the right choice.

Long before it came time for us to deliver our baby, the Family Nurse Midwife Associates made us feel confident and well cared for. Sandy, Nancy and Gretchen made a real effort to include William in our visits and thoughtfully answered his many questions about our growing baby. They encouraged him to feel a part of things by teaching him how to find the baby's heartbeat and how to inflate my blood pressure cuff£ Sue showed ever,v kindness to him on visits when he preferred to stay in the library and play.

As our delivery date approached, I have to admit that I was feeling nervous. Our first son was induced and delivered within six hours, so my fear was that I would not properly recognize the beginning of labor or would not be able to last the 35 minute trip to JDMH. After midnight on Saturday morning, I was having fairly gentle contractions at consistent intervals of 4 minutes. We called in and spoke to Gretchen who was on call for that weekend. She suggested that we meet her at JDMH so she could see where we were in labor.

When we arrived Gretchen confirmed that we were in early labor and recommended that we stay for observation to see how things progressed. Although the contractions remained steady, they did not significantly intensify and by 7 AM, I was only 4 cm dilated. We talked over our options and decided to go home for breakfast and a nap. That proved to be a wise choice because although the contractions never stopped, the intensity did not increase until Sunday afternoon. We called in and Gretchen recommended a warm bath to see if that affected the contractions. The bath felt good, but the contractions remained the same, so we called her back and agreed to meet at JDMH. We arrived around 5 pm and found that I was 6 cm dilated and fully effaced.

During our admissions interview we joked with the nurses that I was a "boring patient" with no interesting health problems. A short time later, I was hit by a particularly hard contraction while walking and criticized so much for being a boring patient. Fortunately, Chris was right there to catch me and the nurses rushed to my aid. They helped me up, gave me some oxygen and put a monitor on to check on the baby.

Things were really happening fast, now. Gretchen checked and found that I was dilating very quickly. In no time at all it seemed, I was nearly fully dilated and was having a strong urge to push. By 6:1 6 PM, our beautiful boy arrived and was immediately given to us to cuddle, warm and breast feed. William arrived with his grandparents a few minutes later and all joined us in meeting our new little one. That was a magical quiet time that we will always treasure.

Robbie is now a sunny and serene 5 month old who delights everyone he meets. We know in our hearts that the loving start her received at the hands of Gretchen and the staff at JDMH was a wonderful introduction to his new world.

Dawn Lamuth-Higgins, Ligonier