The Birthmate Birth Stool

When I found out that Susan Willis had a Dutch birth stool for sale, I was beside myself with excitement. To think that this fantastic birth stool that Susan brought back from Amsterdam in the mid 1990’s was here in Bellingham, just blocks from my home and our new birth center was unbelievable. I immediately called Susan to arrange a time to see it, hoping not to appear over eager.

I had to wait an entire day! Monday came and I walked to Susan’s Columbia neighborhood home full of anticipation. I was not disappointed. The birth stool is beautiful and impeccably designed and executed.  It even has a cordura carrying case that looks like a hat box!

Sitting in Susan’s dining room sharing a cup of tea, I realized there is much more of a story to tell than even the perfection and potential of this amazing birth stool. I am grateful that Susan has allowed me to share her story.

Susan Willis FNP, CNM has been in the Skagit/Whatcom area since 1979 working as a midwife and family nurse practitioner. Susan is a shy person who has had an amazing career in our community delivering babies and providing primary care to women and families. Susan was born in Kentucky and graduated from the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing. This is the school founded by Mary Breckinridge in 1939 to serve families deep in Appalachia. Susan learned the true meaning of being with woman during her midwifery internships in Kentucky and Cleveland, Ohio.

After graduating, Susan and her family moved to La Conner. They arrived on Christmas Eve 1979 during a gas shortage and were welcomed by Ruth Halvorson CNM, director of the Mt Vernon Birth Center. The Mt Vernon Birth Center, which had opened in 1975, was one of the first facilities of its kind in the country. During the seven years Susan worked there, the Mt Vernon Birth Center averaged 25-35 births per month.  Washington State had only been licensing birth centers for six months when Susan began working there.

Of Ruth Halvorson, Susan says: “Ruth was special. She trained in Scotland as a nurse midwife. She had been a RN in mission service in Africa for years. They asked her to do midwifery training (though she had not thought of it), but it was her true calling. She delivered thousands of babies and while in Africa provided care to high risk mothers and babies who would have likely died without help. Ruth spoke Swahili and had slender, flexible fingers.”

According to Susan, Ruth was the first midwife to deliver babies at St Joseph’s Hospital in Bellingham. Ruth, of course was working in Skagit  County at the Mt Vernon Birth Center and Skagit Valley Hospital. Many Whatcom County families traveled for midwifery care as there were no birth centers in Bellingham and no CNM’s with delivery privileges at St Josephs Hospital. It was to serve these families closer to home that Ruth got privileges at SJH. Ruth’s tenure at St Joe’s did not last long. The stipulation that a physician be present for every delivery attended by a midwife was likely a major factor.

Of her own journey to obtaining admitting privileges at St Joseph Hospital, Susan says, “You know the story, it took years and much research on my part to establish CNM privileges, but times had changed and so I did the first delivery at St Joseph Hospital of the ‘modern era’. “  She calls it the modern era because the requirement that a physician be present was eliminated. On call 24/7 for 7 years beginning in 1998, Susan only missed one delivery but still made it in time for the placenta.  It is fair to say that the work she did was groundbreaking for midwifery in our community.  

Simultaneously, in Holland in the 1990’s, the Dutch midwives rediscovered vertical birth. The Birthmate birth stool was designed by Astrid Limburg for midwives to use in all birth settings, but particularly for home births. I asked Susan how she used it at the hospital. She told me she would share and demo it to patients in the office and take it with her to the hospital if patients wanted it. She would spread drapes on the floor and set the birth stool on top of the drapes. It was quite popular with her patients.

In a few months the birth stool will have a new home at Birthroot Midwives and Birth Center. We will use it much the same way that birth stools are used all over the world. As the excitement builds towards completing the birth center and opening the doors I am very grateful to all the midwives who have walked this path before me. Their courage, perseverance, and creativity are a continuous source of inspiration as we move forward.