Message From Jill

Jill Dillard, CPM

I received a text message from my mother-in-law with a picture of those words on the outside of an envelope. She has been getting our mail for us during our move and said she thought this envelope looked important. Yes! It's the one I've been waiting for since I learned I passed my exam 2 weeks ago.  

Becoming a midwife has been a long journey that started a ways back. I think of the Bible verse, "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." (I Cor. 1:9) Not only is God faithful to His promise of salvation for all who believe in Him, but he is faithful in completing what He has called you to.

As a teen, I started babysitting for and hanging out with a friend of mine who was a doula (labor support person), Teresa Fedosky, after going through her Bradley childbirth classes with a teen friend of mine who was expecting. I had only been to 2 of my mom's births, so before that it wasn't like just because I was around babies a lot I'd had a lot of experience with births. I started going to births with my doula friend though, both in the hospital and at home, and I was introduced to several midwives. After assisting at several births, I started being called upon by midwives to help here and there. A couple years later I was introduced to a midwife, Venessa Giron, and she said I really needed to think about becoming a midwife.

I was content assisting and at that point I didn't like the thought of being the supervising midwife at births and taking on that responsibility. Venessa encouraged me to at least start the paperwork and log my experience for my hands on portion so if down the road I changed my mind then I would already have started counting my numbers. I prayed and talked with my parents and we felt this was a good move.

In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells the story of the talents. He talks about the 3 people who were given money and when the master came to collect it awhile later two of the guys had multiplied what was given to them, but one had buried his money in the ground, afraid that something would happen. The ones who were faithful in the amounts they were given, even in the little, were commended. The one who dug his up and handed back the same amount was rebuked and his talent taken away and given to one of the others. I started thinking about my future and my hope to be on the foreign mission field someday and realized that using the time and gifts God had given me as a single young lady to prepare and add another "tool" to my "toolbox of skills" could be beneficial, like the parable of the talents.

I ended up enrolling in a midwifery school in Texas, where I was required to take classes via distance learning and go there once every few months for a few days of training and tests, while studying with Venessa and a few other midwives to get my hands on experience.

I had finished my clinicals by the time I got married, and decided to switch back to the self-paced study track for the next year and a half so I wouldn't have to do as much traveling and so I could prepare for my big exam. I took one more online midwifery study prep course thru Mercy-In-Action this year before taking and passing my 7 hour exam.

I'm so grateful to God for his grace, mercy and faithfulness thru it all! I want to thank my sweet hubby for his encouragement and help while I studied. I couldn't have done it without you babe! Thanks also go to my parents for their prayers, guidance and support, to my siblings for their understanding during those crazy study days in "the cave" and weird birth hours; to Venessa, other supervising midwives, and labor support people for their patience and amazing teaching; to my fellow students and birth team who could relate to me and were always in the right place at the right time for a shoulder to cry on when things were overwhelming and for the many long conversations and discussions. And thanks to all our mommas and babies who allowed me to be a part of such a special time in their lives!