by Derrick Vander Waal
SIOUX CENTER – Babies, babies and more babies.
August 2017 was the month of babies for the Promise Community Health Center midwifery team.
In total, certified nurse midwives Belinda Lassen and Pam Hulstein of Promise attended 12 home births during the baby boom. That was a one-month record for Promise. A third midwife also was on-call in case she was needed.
“August was just an incredible month,” Lassen said. “Thank you to all our families for entrusting your care to us.”
Here are some fun stats for the 12 babies:
- Eight were girls; four were boys.
- The 12 babies were born in 12 different towns. (Ironically, none of the births were in Sioux Center, where Promise is located.)
- Six babies were born in Iowa; six were born in South Dakota.
- The distance from the farthest west hometown (Vermillion, SD) to the farthest east (Spirit Lake, IA) was 129 miles; the distances from the farthest north hometown (Baltic, SD) to the farthest south (Merrill, IA) was 95 miles.
- The largest baby was 9 pounds, 8 ounces; the smallest was 7 pounds.
- The longest labor was 15 hours, 25 minutes; the shortest labor was 2 hours, 17 minutes.
- Babies were born from the first day of the month to the third to last.
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| Promise Community Health Center's record 12 home births for a month (August 2017) were in 12 different towns in two states. |
Here is the tally of home births:
Aug. 1: Juniper – Orange City, IA.
Aug. 4: Lydia – Merrill, IA.
Aug. 9: Kenny – Vermillion, SD.
Aug. 14: Freya – Tea, SD.
Aug. 16: Alivia – Spirit Lake, IA.
Aug. 17: Jefferson – Sioux Falls, SD.
Aug. 17: Matea – Rock Valley, IA.
Aug. 18: Waverly – Harrisburg, SD.
Aug. 23: Ivan – Sanborn, IA.
Aug. 27: Olivia – Baltic, SD.
Aug. 29: Sawyer – Boyden, IA
The families were highly appreciative of the personal care that they received from their midwives and nurses.
“Alivia’s birth was an absolute dream,” Emily Lungren said. “It was so wonderful to labor, deliver and recover in our home. From the first appointment through the delivery and aftercare, Belinda has been absolutely wonderful. She is so special to our family.”
Promise Community Health Center of Sioux Center is the only Federally Qualified Health Center serving the far northwest corner of Iowa — and beyond. To learn more about Promise's midwifery team and prenatal services, visit www.promisechc.org/services/prenatal.aspx. For more tips and advice on various topics from Promise's midwifery team and baby announcements, visit promisechcmidwives.blogspot.com.
