Birthing Stories
Mothers’ birthing stories are worth telling
Sandpoint women share their birthing experiences – of joy, gratitude, excitement, concern/worry, pain, peril. Their stories represent the quality of maternal healthcare we had, what’s been lost, and what is still needed in our community.
For me, it was so much more than a place to deliver my babies. Some of the nurses are the moms of the kids I grew up with. Much of the other staff and doctors are my friends and colleagues.
Bonner General is a place that felt safe and familiar to me. This is a loss that is far greater than what is on the surface. This is a family that our community will not be the same without.
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Amy
Dr. Gilbert and Dr. DeLand were my pediatricians growing up. They are also the pediatric docs that did follow-up care for my children and have remained their pediatricians all these years.
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Ana
I had always been afraid of hospitals, but this experience changed me for the better. I couldn't have asked for a better experience at BGH.
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Andrea
One of the only ways that I was able to persevere was with the support and care of our providers at Sandpoint Women's Health. Lots of appointments, lots of disappointment and sadness.
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Jen
And then my labor stalled out. I should have felt the urge to push, but instead there was nothing but pain. So. Much. Pain.
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Jessica
Etta spent three days in the hospital nursery on oxygen. Had we been at home, she would have had permanent brain damage.
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Jonell
The stars aligned and I had a textbook birth, in a tub, on my terms. But I NEVER would have made that choice if I didn’t have access to BGH’s OB care as a back-up.
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Julie
It turns out my baby was the wrong direction. I had not dilated at all. I was potentially septic because there was meconium inside of me and from that moment it became an emergency.
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Kelli
I ended up going from a smooth, uneventful pregnancy to a really scary one where I had to check in with a doctor every day or two and do tests to make sure that Ryder was still progressing and alive.
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Lauren
The closure of Sandpoint's hospital access to medical care through pregnancy and birth has completely altered my birth plan.
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Your Body Is a Battleground
Legal barriers to reproductive healthcare over time.
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Women Weaving Community
Historical contributions of women to our community.
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Maternal Mortality in the US
A look at maternal mortality rates and contributing factors.
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Shame, Stigma, Silence
The moral and social dimensions of gynecology.
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Undervalued, Under-treated, Under-Studied
How we systemically undervalue women's healthcare.
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(CO)Operation
How different care options play out in one's life.
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Map of Gynecologia
The previously uncharted wilderness of Women’s healthcare.
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The Future
What do you want to see for the future in the state of Idaho?
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BGH Birth Stories
Personal accounts and birth stories at Bonner General Hospital.
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Idaho's Expanding Care Deserts
As OB specialists leave, family doctors and midwives are left handling riskier pregnancies without nearby support
