\This is our third pregnancy and birth with the midwives. It was another great pregnancy and birth experience that they provided. My two older children loved coming to the appointments because Sandy and Gretchen let them help check my blood pressure and measure my growing stomach. They also would help find the babyís heartbeat. They were given tape measures to take home and the kids measured me all of the time to see if the baby was growing. My son informed me when he grew up he was going to be a midwife. It was a typical pregnancy and at 36 weeks, I thought I was having contractions every five minutes. I called and Gretchen said to come in right away. I figured I would go fast since my second child I had was in 5 hours and at the last visit at the midwives, I was 3-4 cm and 90 percent effaced. When I got there the contractions stopped. So Gretchen told us to walk around and I did. NO more contractions and I was still 3-4 cm and 90 percent effaced. So we went home. Two weeks later, I woke up with heavy vaginal bleeding. I called Gretchen who said to come right in. Since I was bleeding heavily we decided it was safer to just have the baby. So she broke my water, and I walked using the breast pump for about two hours. Nothing!! We then decided to give pitocin a try. This was the first time I had pitocin to induce labor. It was a hard labor not like natural contractions. Labor went fast with the help of my husband. I got to try the birthing ball, rocking chair and shower. They all helped allot with the contractions. With only 20 minutes of pushing our beautiful baby daughter, Maggie came into the world at 5:27 PM Sometimes we joke we got the wrong baby from the hospital because she sleeps through the night, but I think God knew we needed at least one sleeper. Thanks again to all of the nurses at Mercy Jeannette Hospital, but a special thanks to Sandy, Gretchen and of course Sue. The midwives would not be the same without Sue.

Jamie Shero, Apollo, PA