Finances were a major consideration for us. So, we began our search at the health insurance end. We needed to find centers that were covered by our insurance. There were a total of four possibilities. We visited the first center. It was okay but not a good fit for us. The next—and last—center we checked out was Birth Care.

I emailed Birth Care through their website and set up a "Talk and Tour" with Maren. From the first contact, she was great! When we went for that visit, she gave us a good two hours, taking time to answer a lot of questions. She made both of us feel perfectly comfortable, both with her and with the facility. Before we even left the building, we were agreed that Birth Care was the place for us.

At our first appointment, we met Maribeth, and she made us feel right at home. Her nickname for our baby was “little peanut.” It was refreshing and, at times, amusing to see her interact with our unborn baby. We appreciated that everyone at Birth Care recognized that the baby we would come to discover was Madelyn was already a human being, not just a mass of living tissue. At every visit during the pregnancy, the midwife meeting with us—Maribeth, Jill, Valerie, or Rita, at that time—gave ample opportunity to ask any questions that had arisen, and they made it clear that we were welcome to call any time, although they did ask us to shoot for normal waking hours, as much as possible. Especially as first-time parents, we were relieved just to know that we could call if we needed to, and the midwives and nurses were ready and willing to help us. At Birth Care, we continually encountered that attitude—the belief that “beyond the call of duty” is the norm, and there’s no additional charge for needs outside scheduled appointments.

When the big day came, labor started a few minutes after midnight, so we tried to get some sleep before the real excitement began. Around 5:30am, we called Birth Care. The answering service transferred us to the midwife on call. Valerie had just gotten home from a delivery, but she asked if we were ready to come in. It was pretty clear that we still had some time, so we stayed home to let her get some sleep. It was about 3:00pm when we called her again and decided to head to Lancaster County.

Valerie met us at the center and checked on progress. We were in good shape, so she left us to get settled in and as comfortable as labor would allow. Thanks to the Jacuzzi in the room, we did quite well . . . between contractions, anyway. We were very thankful to have everything we needed in that one room, with Chris leaving only to get hot tea and snacks. When my parents came to the center, they were made to feel just as welcome as Chris and me, and it sounded as though they all had a very pleasant time in the Family Room, waiting for this baby to make her appearance.

When it came time to push, Valerie and our nurse—Jessica—were encouraging, supportive, and calm. At the same time, they were great examples of the "tough love" I needed from them at that point. They helped us through the whole process until we eased the baby out and met the “little peanut” we then discovered was a daughter. Valerie was very careful with Maddie and me. She made sure everything with Maddie was in order, made sure that I was headed the right direction, and headed home. Once Jessica was confident that I was ready to go home, we packed up and said “goodnight” to her, too.

It was wonderful to be able to be in our own home for the first night with our daughter “on the outside.” We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her in the familiar surroundings of our house, and when it came time for our two-day checkup, we were thrilled to not have to leave home and still have our baby get the best possible care. When Kathy came to our house for that checkup, she was an all-around great help and encouragement, chatting with us, passing along some tips, and giving us as much time as we needed to ask questions.