Today we’d like to introduce you to April Williams.
Hi April, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was 8 years old when I attended my first home birth. It was for a close family friend planning an unassisted birth which meant that there was no Doctor or Midwife present. To this day, the faint scent of baby powder takes me back to that small bedroom where I massaged her back with the powder as she moaned through contractions. I remember her crawling around on the bed on her hands and knees when the baby’s first leg was visible (Footling Breech). I remember the body slowly sliding out and how hard she pushed to deliver her baby’s head. He was limp and pale. I watched as CPR was performed and 911 was called. What I remember most was how badly I wished that I had the knowledge and skill to save the baby. He was transferred to the hospital, but tragically wasn’t saved.
This heartbreaking event set off a spark in me to learn more. I wanted to hear every birth story, and watch every birth video I could get my eyes on. Before the days of YouTube, I had limited options. In fact, I would beg my mom to let me watch and re-watch my own home birth video. “Only if you watch it without any volume; I don’t want to hear myself whining!” she would say. “Deal!” I loved watching my head emerge before “turtling” as some macrosomic (big) babies do, then hearing Midwife, Skippy King quickly instruct my mother to rotate to her hands and knees to allow my broad shoulders to disengage from her pubic arch. This “Gaskin_Maneuver” was just what she needed to release my 10 pound, 12 ounce body into the world.
By age eleven, I was certain that midwifery was my calling. Looking back I see the little things in my life that prepared me for this path. My mom had a paper route for the “Citrus County Chronicles” with a shift starting at 2 A.M. and ending with the sunrise. I used to insist on her waking me up so that I could have driving lessons on the empty county roads while she tossed papers into dirt-driveways. No matter how badly I wanted the chance to drive, it was always difficult to choose getting out of my warm bed in the middle of the night, but I learned to force my sleepy body up and into motion. During high school, I babysat every day after school and through each summer to save money to pay for midwifery school. The baby sitting wasn’t hard but missing out extracurricular activity was. I remember being asked by my drama teacher to try out for the school play. My dad had always told me I should be a comedian so part of me really wanted to try acting, but I turned it down knowing that the baby sitting money was more important for my ultimate goal.
When I enrolled in the Florida School of Traditional Midwifery, I was 19 years old. Midwifery school was far more challenging than I expected. The 24-7 on-call internship, combined with projects, writing papers and studying chemistry, microbiology, pharmacology and so forth would have been difficult enough, but I decided to add growing a baby to the mix. I had gotten married 6 months into midwifery school, pregnant almost right away, miscarried 14 weeks later and then pregnant again almost immediately. Exhaustion soon became my closest companion.
In the beginning of birth-attending, I didn’t understand the importance of sleeping whenever the opportunity presented itself. After my first all-night-birth, I decided to push through and stayed awake all day so that I could sleep that night. Sure enough as I was brushing my teeth around 8 P.M. before getting into bed, my phone rang with my preceptor on the other line. “Time to go again.” “Oh my gosh…I can do this; I can do this” I told myself. I pushed through the second birth wearily. The sun was just coming up through the fog when we were packing up to head home and a whole 48 hours since I had last slept. “We won’t get another call for a while after this one, right?” I asked, secretly on the verge of tears. “Who knows?” the midwife and birth assistant laughed. I nodded, got into my car and bawled my eyes out the whole drive home. “Maybe I can’t’ do this.”
That 2 hour weekly commute to and from Gainesville for 3 years provided plenty of time to think. I’d run through my doubts. “Would I ever master the skill of placing an IV? Would I be able to make quick decisions when every second counts, Would I pass the NARM examination?” The only acceptable answer was, “I have to.” I graduated FSTM in 2009, passed the national exam my first try and became Licensed Midwife 236 in March of 2010. Being a midwife isn’t really about catching babies although I must admit that it’s my favorite part. Being a midwife is about waiting patiently, ready to intervene in only the few occasions when a complication arises. It’s about keeping the space safe and reminding women that they are strong and capable. It’s about standing back and watching the miracle take place all while being diligent to recognize what’s normal and what’s not. It’s an honor to work in the birth field in any capacity and I feel passionate about my role as a licensed midwife. As of today, I have attended over 450 home births all with healthy outcomes.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When I look back and remember the internship and years of schooling that it took to become a licensed midwife, I’m really surprised that I made it through. One of the lowest points was a day that I was interning at the prenatal clinic (an unpaid 3 year internship) and I had just enough gas to get to the birth center but not enough to get home. My bank account was in the negative and I couldn’t think about anything else that day but how I was going to get home (a 45 minute drive). As the midwife and I were walking out to our cars at the end of the day, I could feel my hands sweating. I took a deep breath and cringed as I asked her for some gas money. She graciously drove with me to the nearest station and filled my tank. Whew!
Besides financial struggles, there were many personal struggles as well. My long term boy-friend at the time was watching his mother suffer from breast cancer and chemotherapy. Being her oldest child, he dreamed of making her a grandmother before she died. We both knew we wanted to marry each other young anyway so we went ahead and got married when I was 19 and he was 22. We got pregnant almost right away, but sadly miscarried around 14 weeks. Midwifery school doesn’t give time off for anything so back to school I went, heartbroken and bleeding. We conceived again just 2 months later and carried that baby girl to term. My husband’s mother died just a year after our daughter turned a year old. As sad as the miscarriage was, it has helped me to empathize with my patients who also have experienced miscarriage. In fact, all of the struggles I’ve been through have in one way or another, helped me to be a more understanding care provider.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Natural Design Midwifery, Inc.?
I am a licensed midwife, specializing in home birth. My practice is small and personal. I am the same provider doing all of the prenatal visits, birth and postpartum visits. I take on a small number of births per month so that the detailed care is not compromised. This is very different from an obstetrical group or even a birth center where care providers are on rotation and the birthing mother may end up with a provider whom they’ve met only once prior to the birth. It can also be difficult in these larger practices to get in contact with a provider whereas in my practice, I am available 24/7 for those in my care. I believe childbirth is a natural process, not a medical procedure.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
There are many online groups for midwives including NARM.org, along with several Facebook groups.
Pricing:
- Direct Entry Midwifery School is about 35k
- Home Birth $5500 for self pay
Contact Info:
- Email: naturaldesignmidwifery@gmail.com
- Website: naturaldesignmidwifery.com
- Instagram: @naturaldesignmidwifery
- Facebook: @naturaldesignmidwifery
- Youtube: April Williams, Licensed Orlando Midwife
- Yelp: Natural Design Midwifery
Image Credits
Ella Lu Photography
