St. Raymonds Home Birthing

I just want to start off by saying Karen is AMAZING. Let me address the very specific issues that a lot of women, including myself, have with doing a home birth, and why Karen is awesome:
I had a loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP), Karen was able to detect any cervical issues and handle them naturally.
I had a previous tummy tuck and I can confidently say that, with Karen’s help, the tummy tuck is as good as it was prior to pregnancy. She encouraged me to stay stress free, healthy, and active, the keys to a postpartum body.
I was diagnosed by another midwife at a local birthing center with Gestational Diabetes and was told I MUST deliver in hospital and receive meds. Karen took one look at me, and told me it was an incorrect diagnosis. My husband and I both appreciated her «we can beat this together» attitude. She altered my vitamin/​mineral/​antioxidant schedule and with in ONE DAY my blood glucose levels never got high again. I’m not even kidding, ONE day!
I had a previous child die from SIDS, and Karen was very attentive and compassionate about my concerns before and after birth. Also my 10 year old was so excited to finally be a big brother again, and Karen was very inclusive with him and answered his questions, treating him just as she would treat me and my husband. She even allowed him the opportunity to cut the umbilical cord! You’d be hard pressed to get a Doctor to be that cool!
Both of my previous children were born ³⁶⁄₃₇ weeks, and after being able to finally relax in Karen’s care, I was able to hold my last one in until exactly 42 weeks!
I had my water break, and Karen was able to keep me calm and relaxed during the 44 hour labor to follow. When we perceived a there to be a problem, we went to hospital. With her 20+ years of experience at St Joes (the very reason I chose her), she gave me and my husband the confidence to get up, walk out out of the hospital, and have our baby at home as we had planned.
When labor stalled, she found a way to get it back on track, when there were too many people around, she found a way to pleasantly shew them out. When his little shoulders were kinda stuck, she got me to push through it and pop that gigantic baby through.
She is fantastic. I’ve done the hospital birth with no meds, then with an epidural, then dabbled in the birth center thing, but never wanted to try home birth. I thought «That’s just too crunchy/​granola for me!» I was wrong, and will never do it any other way!
He was also my largest baby by over a pound, and I didn’t even tear!
With odds stacking against us, Karen was on our side.
I want to point out. when there was a problem, Karen wasn’t too prideful in her skill and if we had to stay in hospital, she would have been the first to make sure we did. I knew with her previous experience I could trust her judgement and I am so glad that I did. Thank you Karen, my family has a healthy, happy, strong little boy to love and cuddle. Finally.