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Welcome Norah Emmaline
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In the beginning of our pregnancy, Dave and I decided we wanted to take childbirth classes together in order to best experience the pregnancy and our growing little girl. I loved the idea of a natural and drug-free childbirth but was deep down a bit nervous, wondering if it was only for those truly hearty women. But as our classes progressed, we both became more and more excited about the benefits of this type of birth. So we were so excited to discover Boulder Nurse Midwives. We were immediately at ease with Merrilynn and all of the prenatal support she gave us, including informative visits and even calls on the weekend...
...the next thing I remember, my tiny, warm and wet little baby was placed on my belly. She nursed immediately and was so alert, even making eye contact!
Though our birth started out differently than we had hoped, it finished so beautifully. And we were thankful for a natural birth, despite the need to be induced. It was ALL worth it! Thank you, Merrilynn, for enabling us to have such a perfect birth experience. We are totally enjoying our giggling 4 month old!
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Annika
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Annika Alys Bucci Jacobson was born on July 19, 2008, at 2:24 pm. It was truly an amazing and beautiful labor and birth. Annika came into the world weighing 7 lbs. 8oz, with a full head of dark hair, and big, cute cheeks!
We're overjoyed by this precious addition to our family. Big Sister Julia is just delighted.
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Porter
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Thanks again for all that you did to contribute to an incredible birth!! It was such a great experience and surpassed ALL expectations.
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Sydney
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I came to see Merrilynn & Chris about half way though my pregnancy and was ecstatic that I would be able to deliver my 3rd daughter with a midwife like I had with my previous girls in Seattle. The both of them were wonderful, caring and sensitive to my needs during the pregnancy and delivery. Their nurturing touch was exactly what I needed. Merrilynn was my calm during delivery, keeping the moment sacred and special as life entered our family making us complete. I loved the experience of having my last child and a healing for me to have such an incredible, beautiful delivery.
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Eloise Elise
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Not only is Boulder Nurse-Midwives' approach to health care revolutionary, accepting both uninsured and medicaid patients, during a time in which the rising cost of health care often prevents low-income and immigrant Mother's from receiving proper prenatal care, their compassion for and attention to each individual patient is a refreshing break from the twenty minute visit typically provided by a more traditional prenatal care facility. Arriving in Boulder just two months before my delivery date, Merrilynn was able to foster within me the trust and confidence necessary for a healthy delivery. Another wonderful aspect of Boulder Nurse-Midwives is their close attention to postpartum care, which so often goes overlooked in the Western model of health care. Merrilynn went out of her way to ensure my continued recovery and adjustment into motherhood.
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Welcome Little Man
Westyn Levi -
I need to write about the labor and delivery of my first son before the anesthesia of motherhood overpowers the memories. It was a wonderful, quick, challenging and athletic event. Sometime early on in the pregnancy we decided to pursue a natural childbirth, and by the end of my pregnancy felt very strongly about trying to have this baby without any interventions, drugs or unnecessary monitoring. Dave and I were looking forward to having a midwife deliver our first child and knew that this would be the best way for us to achieve our goals of a natural childbirth. On February 23rd, after a VERY slow hike on Sanitas...
...Next thing you know they are handing us this tiny, little being with a crazy messed up lopsided, bruised cone head. It tilted super far to the right and had a big purple bruise at the top of the cone. But we loved him so much and snuggled him in. We still hadn’t finalized the name, so we discussed quickly and decided on Westyn Levi because the rising sun had lit up the mountains in the west a beautiful rose pink while he was making his way into this world. It was a tough, emotional and incredible experience and I was so thankful that Merrilyn and her team were there to share it with us.
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Kavi Bryce
May 12th, 2008, 4:03am. 7lbs 4oz -
True to his 2nd name (meaning "swift" in Gaelic), he arrived after less than 1 hour of labor (some of which occurred during the drive to the hospital -- no time for drugs - yeowwch!) We are all doing well, Mom's on the mend and baby's eating (well, drinking) like a champ. Devin is a bit bemused but also happy (note his expression in the pic).
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Lilah
Beatrix
Born March 2, 2008 -
We were so happy to have found Boulder Nurse Midwives during our pregnancy. We were hoping for a natural birth for our first baby, and we knew that we were going to need some serious support if this wish had a chance of succeeding! When we met Merrilynn and Chris, experienced their laid back and conscientious care during prenatal visits, and found out that they'd be with us throughout the entire labor, we felt like we'd hit the jackpot. My labor began at 2:30 a.m. on the day before my due date. I woke up and just knew that these contractions were different...
...We didn't find out the sex ahead of time, so it was really awesome to have the baby on my chest and for my husband and I to discover that we'd had a baby GIRL! We named her Lilah Beatrix, and she was alert and amazing from the first moment. I credit her health ('pink as a raspberry' according to the pediatrician), ease in breastfeeding, and my pretty swift recovery to a natural pregnancy and delivery. It's not the easiest route, but I would definately choose it again.
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Sterling
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First, things are great!!! We feel really lucky and really blessed!!! Breastfeeding, recovery and baby all seem to have shot along swimmingly. Baby Sterling regained his birthweight before his first week was even out. Rightly or no, we attribute much to natural childbirth, which we were lucky enough to swing...
After a night of false labor, we were pretty stubborn about admitting we were in actual labor despite having contractions all day and even through our last birthing class the following evening...as soon as we got home, we tried to stop them with snacks, drinks and a shower... but when I hollered from inside the shower that I was still contracting every 5-8 mins, it was time to send the husband to bed...just in case. :) I wanted to wait until they were 3 mins apart so that the hospital could have as little time to monitor and restrict me as possible, and so that was 2am, when my friend Emily and I finally repacked our hospital bags and woke up Douglas. Of course Douglas was ready to tear sheets and boil water instead, but he managed to keep his cool and get us there. It was dumping snow out, so our midwife...
...We'd arrived at the hospital at 2:45 and had a beautiful new love, new valentine, beautiful baby boy on my chest and in our world and lives by 5:18am!
Anderson
Coyle Brown
January 28, 2008-
Here’s the wonderful
full story
of Anderson’s birth.
When I was 37 weeks pregnant, I witnessed the birth of my niece with Merrilynn’s assistance. It was beautiful and was the type of labor, delivery, and birth that I had always wanted. At that point, I called and asked Merrilynn if I could switch from my doctor’s practice to Boulder Nurse Midwives. I was 38 weeks when I made the switch and I’m so glad that I did.
Anderson was born at 10:45 pm. He was 7 lbs 5 oz and 20.5 inches long. It was everything I wanted and nothing that I didn’t want: no interventions, no iv, intermittent monitoring, I was allowed to labor and deliver where I was comfortable, and most importantly no tearing and no drugs. I did it with the best support I could have imagined: my husband, Merrilynn Artman and my sister-in-law. All were by my side offering encouragement and support every step of the way.
Perfect.
Zoe- My husband John and I had the pleasure of working with the midwives in Boulder.
The care we received was always professional, attentive and very
supportive. Merrilynn Artman CNM, delivered our daughter Zoe in September 2006 at
Foothills Hospital. Merrilynn's presence created an environment that felt calm, grounding,
safe and empowering. Merrilynn is a highly skilled midwife and compassionate woman that
helped create the birth experience that we hoped for and dreamed of. Thank you from the
bottom of our hearts. Lori, John and Zoe
Anders and Savannah- The births of our two children were more than we could have asked for. We were
new to the experience of midwives, but had been told that once we had a midwife birth
that we would be amazed with the care we received. We were not disappointed. We wanted
to have a birth in the hospital. Merrilynn delivered both of our children and every
decision we made she supported. Her genuine care and grace made both of our births
extra special. She supported, without judgment, every decision we made concerning our
own personal situation.
Gia and I lean towards doing this in a natural way but have a moderate approach to all things. We have some reservations about how western medicine looks at a birth but we understand that when it comes to an emergency it is the best. Having a Nurse midwife was the absolute perfect formula for our way. We were able to connect with Merrilynn to guide us through this magical yet scary moment in our bringing children into this world. It was clear as day when we met her, she had all the qualities we were looking for and even ones we didn’t think were reasonable to hope for. She is gentle and keenly aware. We both had a feeling that we were in the presence of someone who was completely versed in all the benefits of a western birth in balance with the natural ways we were aspiring for.
Through out all of our visits with Merrilynn we had the experience of consulting with a friend. Even embarrassing aspects of the process of the pregnancy became subject as easy to discuss as the weather. We spoke about things freely and always had a compassionate ear. The advice she gave covered a wide range of disciplines. From much needed medicine to a good foot rub she always had advice that would address our needs and solve the challenge. Meeting after meeting we developed a friendship which is really what I would hope for all people going through a birth. With this dynamic we felt that our birth could easily stay within our influence.
A birth is an intense process. With our first birth we had prodromal labor which made the process long and slow. My wife wanted to have a birth with out the use of drugs. I thought this was crazy but supported her completely. Merrilynn did everything to help us maintain this process. In the end we had to augment the birth which involved the use of drugs. While this was not our original plan it was what needed to happen. We were in labor for 4 days and my wife’s body couldn’t take it any more. We had a say in how the entire process unfolded. Merrilynn supported all of our decisions and when we said that we thought it was time make a change, there was no sense of failure. Merrilynn moved with us, as we needed advice she would share in a non-persuasive way.
Gia and I are confident that the reason she didn’t have an episiotomy was because Merrilynn spent so much time with us. She took the necessary time to see us through. She spent time preparing Gia in every way. In the most intense moment of our lives we were guided with grace.
Our second child was a little less intense; we knew a little which helps a lot. Gia had given birth 18 months before. Merrilynn understood us and had a way of keeping the information flow in harmony with what we needed to be refreshed on. This was a bit different going through a pregnancy with a baby to take care of. There were different things that became important and other challenges that were inherent with our situation. Merrilynn gave well informed advice. She has children which I know is a big part of how she relates. She is always calm, supportive and concerned. I couldn’t wish for better care through the joyous occasion we had, intense, yet joyous.
I feel as I have been writing about our birth I have been glowing about our caregiver, but I feel the words still fall short. It is so important to have the right people involved in a birth.
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Isaac
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I delivered my first baby with a group of midwives that were doing wonderful work in Arizona. I had an amazing delivery with that group of midwives, I think mainly because I was able to trust their judgments and their philosophies toward birth. When we moved to Colorado and got pregnant with my second child, I was seeing Merrilynn at People’s Clinic.
Merrilynn was able to completely alleviate all my concerns of not having the type of delivery (i.e. in a birth center) that I had with my first child. I trusted her judgment, felt safe in here care and knew that her philosophy toward labor, delivery and birth were close to mine and so I could trust her decisions. What this did for me was to allow me to relax in my pregnancy and when I arrived at the hospital in labor and saw Merrilynn’s face, I was able to relax in to my labor and delivery as well.
I had a beautiful, wonderful delivery of my second child. I owe a lot of its success to knowing that I was well taken care of throughout my pregnancy and that I would be well taken care of in labor and delivery.