But she was resolved. Ruth Cobb had delivered all of her brothers and sisters so for her it was a simply choice.

Our first 2 children were born with a midwife attending the births while living in Vermont.

Ruth delivered our 3rd child, our first son.

I count those days as the most amazing moments of my life and our life together. I remember us napping between contractions. I remember laughing and joking when things were slow. I remember marveling at my wife when she was doing the hard, good work of birth. I also warmly remember holding our children for the first time immediately after they were born and wrapping them up in our own bed, in our own home.

For our son’s birth, our daughters were actually in the room and helped to wrap him when he was merely a few minutes old. The pictures, the memories, the love…those are the parts I remember from our home births.

If we were to have another baby, we would absolutely contact Ruth Cobb and marvel once again.

Here’s a story for you…..

I was visiting Rachel in South Africa this past June where she is a graduate student at the University of Cape Town. We decided to take a trip to Cape Agulhas, the very isolated, southern most tip at the bottom of the continent’s land mass, when we stumbled on a group of 4 ladies taking a dip in the rather chilly water there.
We struck up a conversation with them and discovered they were in Durban for a midwife conference.

Rachel related how she was born at home with the help of a midwife, and the part they celebrated with her the most was that she was BORN BREACH!…. .that brought a hoot and a holler from all 4.

When we mentioned it was Oklahoma, one of the midwifes, Diane Small asked, “It must have been Ruth Cobb.”

Sure enough. You are WORLD FAMOUS.
Greetings to you from Gary and Cindy Piontak…now in NC