I can’t thank Shannon enough for her patience, knowledge and encouragement throughout my second pregnancy and what was a long, relatively difficult birth (for me). I had a challenging first birth because of an on-call OB who wasn’t interested in simply waiting for baby girl to be born naturally. Thankfully, she fully moved into a better position and got me fully dilated when the doctor was coming in with c-section paperwork, so he “let” me deliver vaginally. But it was a scary moment for me. After having dreams of a home birth (which trust me, wasn’t on my mind beforehand!!), I called Shannon and after meeting with her decided God had led us to the right person. Shannon helped me to stay positive during a 34-hour labor. She had me try lots of techniques and positions to get Baby #2 to turn his head so he could get me fully dilated, and once he finally did, she helped me get through a very painful cervical lip (a condition that sent some of my friends into c-sections in their hospital births) with patience, massage, manual movement and various oils. By far the most difficult part of the labor and birth, I’m so blessed that I chose Shannon as my midwife because I am SURE that had I been in a hospital, the doctor would have cut me open immediately–not just because of convenience but because honestly most OBs have little experience with natural, unmedicated births. They don’t know the norm, so they don’t know when something is abnormal in one. But Shannon does. And after 34 hours, and 13 minutes of pushing, we have our first son! Born at 8 lbs, 14 oz, and 22 inches long, our John Paul is our greatest reason we love Shannon and can’t wait to have her at our next birth! ?  Laura, Pearland, mother of John Paul born on January 30, 201