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Midwife
helps women give birth the natural way
By
Gary Cosby Jr.
DAILY
Staff Photographer
photos@decaturdaily.com
340-2374
ARDMORE, Tenn. — No sound is sweeter to a mother than the cries of her newborn. Karen Brock helped bring that special music to two mothers in one afternoon at her birthing house here.
Brock, a certified professional midwife licensed in Tennessee, delivered Tristen Lacy and Josiah Rentz about two hours apart on Jan. 12.
Tristen was delivered at 3:02 p.m. to Keith and Emily Lacy from Henagar. Two hours later, Josiah was born to Leanne and Patrick Rentz of Huntsville. Patrick is an insurance agent based in Decatur.
DAILY Photo by Gary Cosby Jr.
Midwife Karen Brock and assistant Wetawyna Davis check vital signs
on newborn Josiah Rentz.
The families elected home birth for different reasons.
Emily Lacy grew up around midwife-delivered children and baby-sat for children Brock had delivered.
"I was so comfortable with the concept of midwifery," said Emily. "I also knew several women who had used Karen for their babies."
Tristen is the second child Brock has delivered for the Lacy family. The other is son Brantston.
"Karen and Wetawyna (Brock's assistant Wetawyna Davis) treated us like it was normal to be pregnant, not like I was sick," Emily said. "I really like the way they treated me. I am just really happy with them."
The Rentzes approached midwife care from a different perspective.
When Leanne's first daughter, Allana McCullar, was born in California, she was planning a midwife birth. Her plans changed when an ultrasound predicted problems and showed the fetus in a breech position. Her doctor also told her the child might have head problems and he could not rule out brain damage.
"I started with a nurse midwife who worked in a hospital. Because she (Allana) was breech, I had to switch to an OB," said Leanne. "One intervention led to another. They pretty much scared me into a Caesarean.
"That's why we decided to go with a midwife. I wanted to do whatever was possible to avoid another Caesarean."
Patrick was unfamiliar with midwifery and initially was against it.
"Until we met Karen, we had some intense arguments about this. She put Patrick's mind at ease, and I got my way," said Leanne.
One reservation Patrick felt was his wife having a vaginal birth after Caesarean.
"My main concern was that she had had a Caesarean and I was concerned about having a VBAC. Some physicians say you should never do this," he said.
"That was the thing that put me at ease with Karen — her expertise in handling the VBAC. I just felt like we were in good hands all the time."
"With Allana," Leanne said, "I had a scheduled Caesarean. I didn't feel the first contraction. I wanted to know what it felt like to have my baby pass through me. When he was born, it was so wonderful. Everything was natural, and it allowed me to really experience the birth."
Brock finds Leanne's desire to be one of the most common reasons women choose midwife care.
"Most of my clients are very educated people about the birth process," said Brock. "They want to make their own choices and to be responsible for those choices."
Another major factor is clients' desire for non-intervention. A hospital birth might involve electronic fetal monitoring and drugs during labor. Induced labor and Caesarean sections are also becoming common.
"A hospital would use Demerol or an epidural for pain during labor. We would use massage, water therapy and allow the woman to move around," said Brock.
Karen Brock, 48, lives in Cullman with her husband Scotty, and has four children, Tiffany, Seth, Audra and Evan. Three of her children were born at home with a midwife attending.
For more than 18 years, she practiced midwifery in Alabama, delivering hundreds of babies in homes across the northern half of the state. She said the health department frequently brought pregnant women to her home.
That stopped after she was charged with a misdemeanor in Shelby County for practicing without a certification, a certification that the state does not offer.
After entering a guilty plea, she was given a 30-day suspended sentence and 18 months probation. She moved her practice to Tennessee, where the state licenses her as a certified professional midwife and she trains others who are undergoing certification. In 15 months, she has delivered about 40 babies in Tennessee — all but one from Alabama families.
In her 20 years of midwifery, Brock said, she has lost only one baby. She recently worked with a midwife from Nashville who has delivered more than 2,000 babies over a 25-year career and had only two deaths. Brock said this rate is typical of the midwives with whom she has spoken.
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