“Got a baby right here but I’m ready,” was Sam Hawkinson’s reply.
Of course she’s ready. She’s a mom.
Hawkinson is the proud mother of 11-month-old Louie.
She’s proud of her five-year-old son Finn, too.
And Archie, age seven.
Jack too, who’s nine.
“My husband is one of three boys, and his dad is one of five boys, and his dad’s dad was one of eight boys,” said Hawkinson. “I prepared myself for boys.”
Following the delivery of boy #1 (aka Jack) by her regular OB/GYN, Hawkinson needed to find another provider—not due to anything negative, simply retirement. While Hawkinson was satisfied with the new obstetrician she started with during her second pregnancy, due to unforeseen circumstances she was unavailable to meet with Hawkinson at several appointments.
Enter midwife Kay Weina, who stepped in and introduced herself at Hawkinson’s 20-week appointment.
“Kay walked in the room that day and I don’t know what it was. Her overall presence, an aura of calm,” said Hawkinson. “Whatever it was, it just made me feel like she was who I needed to have deliver the baby.”
Admittedly, Hawkinson had been curious about midwifery and had pondered how that approach might impact the journey. Their initial conversation proved to be a tipping point.
“Meeting Kay and understanding the midwife’s point of view, which is to be there with you and for you, was an immediate aha moment for me,’” she said. “Kay’s calm and loving presence, and the fact that she began by taking time to get to know me, was a huge difference-maker.”
Following that appointment at 20-weeks, Hawkinson made the provider switch.
“It wasn’t that my provider wasn’t a good fit,” she said. “It was that Kay was the perfect fit.”
Fast forward to the birth of Archie (boy #2), where Hawkinson went into labor but her contractions ended up stalling. Kay was with her through the entire night in what culminated the next day in a somewhat non-traditional birth.
“Well, I started to birth right there in the shower,” Hawkinson said. “This baby was coming out, and there we all were—Kay, my doula, the birth team, my mom and my husband—all in this small bathroom. Pretty wild.”
With baby boy #3 (Finn), Hawkinson went into labor, got to the hospital, and the labor stalled once again. Kay (“calm and collected as always”) broke her water, and Finn was delivered.
She noted that there was another similarity with those births.
“I was standing up both times when I delivered,” Hawkinson said. “Using gravity seems to work for me.”
And let us not forget boy #4, baby Louie who, at 11 months now, was in mom’s arms during the interview. Hawkinson described the birthing experience with Louie as the toughest yet—“He just really didn’t want to come out”—but he’s doing great and growing well.
Hawkinson ends with a comment about Kay that aptly punctuates the discussion.
“Kay just makes you
feel really grounded, basically like you can do anything,” she said. “Like have
a baby!”
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