My name is Carol Gautschi. I’m a mother of seven blessings, grandmother to six and wife to Paul since 1974. My calling to become a midwife began after I had become a mother of two and had experienced midwifery firsthand.

I was given a contrast by comparison…

The fact is, I was sexually and physically molested separately by two different doctors with my first two births – and also given grossly wrong information that caused breastfeeding delay and hindered bonding. I was plagued by fear, again by misinformation. Didn’t take a rocket scientist to see a profound message in that!

My first two birth experiences strongly planted seeds for the need of global reform and I started the reformation there and then in my own body… I was personally moved by the power of birth and right away sensed the sacredness and vulnerability of the moments during, before and after. Those moments had been stolen from me. With my third born – I was swollen with the need for change as was my belly. This time, fiercely protective of my precious blessing within (I had been privileged to attend two homebirths in 1970 and 1973 and knew intuitively the differences), I was determined to do it differently, to reclaim what had been denied me previously. Frustratingly, the closest help was over 60 miles away. All I wanted was someone – a guardian of sorts- to hold this space to cradle my womb as she would like her own to be – to love and trust this power moving in me and the creative force emerging during this time.

Gentle, calm reassuring Joan stepped into my life through an acquaintance. The time spent with this midwife transformed me, helping me see that labor is wondrously spiritual, powerful, and a profoundly healthy force. I, to this day believe that women are being robbed by a society that does not see to care about the uniqueness of this time, this right of passage, and that not treating it with tender, sensitive respect, we are doing ourselves harm– more harm then we can imagine. From that moment on I believed that birth is the highest place a woman can go in her body on this planet. I knew then that all women deserve the type of loving and compassionate care that women like Joan provided. She was the catalyst for my life’s work of service to women during their pregnancy and birth, a life-changing monument that was driven deep within me at that time. I want to send Joanie a big kiss for all her love and the beginnings I received from her, as well as Doctor Ettinghausen and his helpers during my early years.
A couple of people have referred to me as a Christian mystic midwife. Is that different or what?

For me, becoming a midwife was a metamorphosis, coming largely from practical heart-and-hands experience. I‘ve served families as an empirical midwife and doula or Monitrice since 1978. Midwifery to me wears many hats. I am “with-woman” in many capacities… counselor, confidant, nutritional advisor; breastfeeding consultant; childbirth educator; family health supporter; parenting resource, friend, at times her spiritual advisor and more. I am pleased when women come back to tell me they have been nurtured with a sense of personal strength and self-confidence so that they may experience birth with dignity and empowerment. Giving birth at home with most midwives facilitates a gentle and warm welcome for the baby, instills a sense of respect and control for the parents and strengthens the family. I am tremendously honored and humbled to serve women and their families during one of the most important and sacred events in life.

I caught my first baby by “accident”… (*grin* really – by divine appointment). My best friend’s baby came faster then the scheduled midwife arrived. She looked at me and said “you can do it”. That was in 1981. Thus… began my essential midwifery journey. The first 50 births or more were like midwife training boot camp – If you have the opportunity to sit in on one of my childbirth classes I use many examples of that era to let you vicariously experience the depth of that time and why I am who I am today.

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“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” – Albert Einstein

“Anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile…initially scared me to death.” – Betty Bender

“Courage allows the successful woman to fail and to learn powerful lessons from the failure so that in the end, she didn’t fail at all.” – Maya Angelou

“The best way to avoid a cesarean is to stay out of the hospital.” – Brooke Sanders Purves

“There is no scientific evidence that doing over 10 percent of births with a cesarean improves the outcome for the woman or improves the outcome for the baby.” – Dr. Marsden Wagner

“We have a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong.” – Laura Stavoe Harm

“Life only demands from you the strength you possess.” – David Hammarskjold

“Fear and faith cannot coexist and they both demand different conclusions and actions.” – Christy Faber

“Epidurals rip women off of an opportunity to experience themselves as competent adults.” – Margaret Egeland, CNM

“Just as a woman’s heart knows how and when to pump, her lungs to inhale, and her hand to pull back from fire, so she knows when and how to give birth.” – Virginia Di Orio

“Freedom to Choose where, when, and with whom to give birth. True freedom for adult women – an idea whose time has come.” – Gloria Lemay

“You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.” – Christopher Robin to Pooh

“Birth is as safe as life gets.” – Harriet Hartigan

“Father asked us what was God’s noblest work. Anna said men, but I said babies. Men are often bad; babies never are.” – Louisa May Alcott

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” – Frederick Douglas

“A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.” – Carl Sandburg

“A baby is an angel whose wings decrease as his legs increase.” – Author Unknown

“Babies are such a nice way to start people.” -  Don Herrold

“There are three reasons for breast-feeding: the milk is always at the right temperature; it comes in attractive containers; and the cat can’t get it. ” – Irena Chalmers

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. 
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people don’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. 
It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – Marianne Williamson (
1992)

Under Construction

Under Construction

Under Construction