BORN TO BE LOVED

Faith and I met up a couple of weeks ago at her house/office in Jenks. We talked over iced vanilla lattes in her incredibly comfy prenatal exam room while my two kiddos played with her toys on the other side of the french doors. We Verduzcos were impressed with her space, although for different reasons. Being used to our 1100 square foot Brookside home, Noa and Asher were loving the tall ceilings, big windows, stretch-out-able space, but mostly they were jazzed about the toys. I was excited about the sunny and airy front rooms she uses for prenatal visits--one a waiting area, the other an exam room. It was kind of the perfect set up for a midwifery practice out of your own home. Professional, approachable and comfortable.

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And that's Faith Morie: professional, approachable and comfortable.

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I had such a great time hearing stories of her recent trip around the world where she delivered babies, volunteered and visited family and friends in Brazil, Cambodia, Paraguay and Israel over the course of two and a half months. It sounded both dreamy and exhausting, but I have a suspicion that she's used to that combination, being a midwife.

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On that note, let's get to know more about Faith Morie, CPM!

 

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Hello Sunshine: Hi Faith! I'm excited to talk to you today. Thanks for doing this! So, what’s your philosophy on birth?

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Faith Morie: My philosophy is that a woman’s body is designed to give birth naturally, it is a normal process of the woman’s body. I feel like the more she is educated and supported during her pregnancy and labor the easier and more satisfying her experience can be. So I see myself as a facilitator of that process. Just stepping and letting her know what to learn and how to prepare and how to make it an empowering experience.

HS: So when did you first know you wanted to become a midwife?

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FM: It was a little bit later on. I was very familiar with midwifery and home birth because my mom had several of my younger siblings at home. She always talked about wanting one of her daughters to be a midwife, but I was pursuing music at the time and didn’t necessarily see myself doing that. Then in my early 20s, I got interested in looking for something else besides music and started looking into the medical field. I really enjoy traveling and working overseas and started realizing that birth was one of the greatest killers in the world that could be prevented because so many women still give birth without a trained professional. So that piqued my interest and I started looking into becoming a midwife. My whole philosophy and holistic approach to medicine really fit into the midwifery path over another medical field. I remember when I went to my first midwifery training orientation there was several other women who were talking about how when they were young they saw one of their siblings being born and how they dreamed of being a midwife ever since. I was like, “well, so, I decided to be a midwife like last week, but ya know…” But I just became more and more passionate about it the more I learned about it and now i really love it. I’m really glad that’s where I ended up.

HS: What is your claim to fame?

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FM: I think the couple things I’m known for are 1) that I’m willing to work with a lot of people who might have more complicated histories if they’re willing to make big necessary lifestyle and health changes like focusing on diet, supplements and exercise. Even if they’ve had complications in past pregnancies (i.e. c-section, pre-eclampsia, high blood pressure), we can get them very healthy to where those things wouldn’t be issues in their current pregnancy. Obviously we take low-risk healthy women, so I really encourage women who have had a high-risk and complicated past to make the necessary changes so that they can become low-risk and healthy. So I do a lot of VBACs (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean), and a lot of women who have had previous problems in past pregnancies.

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And 2) I’m also really passionate about training students and expanding the midwifery community. I’ve always had 1-3 students training under me, and it’s really cool because I counted up the other day and there’s something like 10 midwives that I’ve either trained completely or signed off on their paperwork. It’s a great feeling!

HS: So who are your clients?

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FM: It’s hard to say exactly because my client population is so broad! I really enjoy it—it’s one of the great things about my job, being able to meet people from all walks of life. You know, people who have 10 kids in a Mennonite-Amish homestead to doctors and lawyers. I learn new things from all of my clients. It’s really interesting.

HS: Is there anybody you wouldn’t take on?

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FM: Definitely. If there are things in a pregnancy that has to be managed with medications we can’t keep them for home birth. I’ll have clients who have thyroid issues and need medication, but that’s ok. But if it’s blood pressure, blood sugar, gestational diabetes, things like that, I won’t take those clients. Or if I have people who’ve had issues in the past but they’re not wiling to make significant diet and lifestyle changes, I wouldn’t be comfortable keeping them because we’d probably get half-way through the pregnancy and they’d have to transfer back out. So it really depends on their attitude as far as that goes.

HS: Would you do breech or twins?

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FM: I would love to do twins! Somehow I’ve never done twins and it bugs me so bad (laughing!). When people ask me if I’ve had twin experience I have to say no! I need to post online: FREE MIDWIFE IF YOU’RE HAVING TWINS! Just one set—I just need one! When I was a student I assisted with a few twin pregnancies but because I worked with such a busy birth center/home birth practice, and I was just working two days a week, I missed both of the births. It was so sad! But it’s bound to happen one of these days. I’m hoping one of my die-hard home birth clients will have a twin pregnancy and call me up!

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I don’t have a lot of experience with breeches but I definitely want more experience. My stance is that I don’t do breeches with primips (first births). I assisted with 2 breeches when I was a student but that was a really long time ago, both of those were multips (subsequent births) and I wasn’t the one catching the baby. If I had a mom who had a really good pregnancy history, had had babies without any problems, and we couldn’t get the baby to turn prenatally than we’d maybe have a conversation about it. But really we have such good chiropractors around Tulsa that all my moms who have followed my recommendations and the chiropractor’s recommendations have got the baby to turn just fine before going into labor.

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[Editor's Note:  Faith has since successfully delivered both breech and twin clients.]

HS: If you were a car what would you be and why?

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FM: I drive a mini cooper and I love it. I wish it was a convertible but I can’t get my stuff into a convertible, so I have to drive just the regular mini cooper. My friends say it fits me—it’s cute and spunky but also reliable. It can get where it needs to go in a hurry, which is something I need. I’d prefer to drive a pickup truck because I grew up in the country and I love trucks, but it’s not very practical with as many miles as I drive. But you can make a u-turn on a country road like none other in a mini cooper. So I guess I’d probably a mini cooper covered in dirt! People ask me why my car’s always so dirty, but really it’s pointless to wash it. The second I do, I’ll have to drive to a birth on a country road and it’ll get dirty again!

HS: What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened at a birth?

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FM: Oh man, there’s so many funny things…Last year we had a VBAC, one of my students was catching, and we were having the mom push in a few different positions because the baby was asynclitic. My student told the mom to turn a certain way on the bed and I thought she said “turn and face west.” I was like “whoever tells anyone in labor to turn and face west?!” She said No, the dad’s name was Wes! I had totally blanked on his name in that moment. The dad was a total joker—they were such a cute couple. So for the rest of the birth he was like “ok, turn and face south now!” It was hilarious because we were right in the middle of a pretty intense moment of birth. She’s pushing and we’re having to move her around and we were all crying laughing!

HS: What are 3 words that describe you?

 

FM: Passionate. Involved. Available.

HS: What is your guilty pleasure?

 

FM: In the last couple of years I’ve decided that I need something outside of birth to get my mind in a different place when I’m not working. I’ve gotten really involved in the swing dance community here in Tulsa. It’s amazing and I’m made so many good friends. So anytime I can go dancing, that’s my thing!

HS: If you had a super power what would it be?

 

FM: I think probably that I could come and go, appearing suddenly in different places. That’s the one thing—I get frustrated sometimes that I’m not able leave town while I’m on call. If I want to go to a dance event or somebody’s wedding, unless I plan it 9 months in advance and take that time off, I can’t. So if I could just appear in a different state, then when someone goes into labor I could just POOF be there. That would change my life (laughing)!

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That or if I could just make all of my clients eat right! If I could make all of their healthy foods taste like the non-healthy foods they like to eat that would be great (laughing)!

HS: Thanks so much, Faith.

 

FM: Thank you! This was fun.