Joscelyn Grote, LM CPM

I’m not sure where to even begin. Before I even became pregnant last year I began searching the local area for homebirth midwives. As a health professional myself, I am pretty picky about who takes care of me. As soon as we became pregnant, we met with Joscelyn and immediately felt a connection with her. She is young (but not too young :)), fun, SMART, and excited about what she does. In fact, we decided not to even take the interview with another midwife because we were so sure Joscelyn was the one for us.
From our first visit with her we always felt thoughtfully cared for. She takes time to really educate her patients and families about everything there is to know. She does a fabulous job of including the dad-​to-​be in the visits and acknowledging his important role in helping care for mommies during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. I particularly loved all her herbal supplement recommendations based on whatever particular ailment I had going on. She is easily able to access more «medical» type services when needed. When I started having very regular Braxton-​Hicks contractions early in my pregnancy, she was sure to refer me for a cervical length check before I travelled out of state (my choice). And, as we neared and passed my due date, she was easily able to coordinate non-​stress testing for me to make sure all was well. She also coordinated acupuncture to help stimulate my labor. Everything felt very customized to me as an individual.
In terms of my birth… Joscelyn was amazing. Nine days after my due date, I finally began having contractions. I labored at home for 36 hours with her checking in on me periodically but not hovering unnecessarily. We decided to break my water due to a bulging bag stunting my progress. Unfortunately, there was meconium in my fluid which meant we needed to head on in to the hospital for the birth. I knew this meant a potential battle with medical staff about the kind of birth I wanted. Thank goodness for Joscelyn’s knowledge and support (alongside my husband, of course). If it weren’t for her tenacity, I am 100% sure I would have ended up with a C-​section. Luckily, she stuck by my side the entire time and convinced the medical staff to give me «10 more minutes» to get to 10 cm. My body (and a helpful nurse) finally cooperated and I was able to push out my beautiful 9lb 4.5oz baby girl 11 days after her due date and 48 hrs after my first contraction. Considering I am barely 5’2″ and weighed 110 lbs prior to pregnancy, this was an impressive feat to all! So, while I didn’t end up with the birth I had dreamed of for 9 months, I am so proud of what my body was capable of doing. Joscelyn gave me a chance to have the most natural birth I possibly could have had and I know EXACTLY what my body can do next time around.
The postpartum care she provides is one-​of-​a-​kind. She really takes time to make sure mommy and baby are doing well, provide breastfeeding support, and just provide a chance to reflect on the birth. When my baby was about 3 months old I had some breastfeeding/​pumping questions and was still able to contact her with my questions and a speedy response with herbal recommendations and other support! We have since moved out of state, and my husband and I are already trying to figure out how we can possibly convince her to come to Florida for the birth of our next child. It really will NOT be the same without her. I feel like we’ve said goodbye to a dear dear friend. There’s no way to put into words how much Joscelyn meant to us during our pregnancy and birth. She is outstanding.

I left a message for Joscelyn and 4 days later I finally got a returned call. When we spoke I said I would call her later that same night to confirm our apppointmentt once my husband got home. We called her back and she did not pick up. I heard from her 2 days later. I told her I was new to dealing with midwifes and wasn’t sure if it was normal to have 2 – 4 days before responding to calls. She was irritated and short with me after my question. I still set the appointment because I thought I would give her the benefit of the doubt. Then the day before our apt she canceled on me because she signed on other clients. That was perfectly fine but weird considering she didn’t take apt’s on the weekends and our apt was on a Monday. Oh well… everything happens for a reason. She is newer in the field too so maybe that was the reason for the delay.
Taking so long to respond to people does not seem very professional and neither did her response to my very innocent question.

I wholeheartedly recommend Joselyn as a midwife or doula. She served as my doula at a hospital birth in November. I would have had her as a midwife, but medical issues prevented that for me. Joselyn is amazing. Her care is goes well beyond that of just physical needs; she cares for your emotional well being as well. During my labor I was emotionally hung up on the whole giving birth thing (I thought I had another two weeks), and she helped me get over an emotional hump and get through labor effectively. During the hospital stay, she communicated very effectively with hospital staff to ensure the labor was progressing.
Another big thing about Joselyn is that her actions are preventative in nature. Her pregnancy care includes many elements that make a successful birth much more likely. Her postpartum care is so much better than anything a standard doctor will do. She’ll care for the baby for awhile while you jump in the shower, and discuss issues more intimately and openly than a doctor ever would. She makes sure that breastfeeding is going well and helps you problem solve whatever is going on.
I am now the happy mother of a healthy baby boy, and I know that Joselyn was a big part of that. I honestly cannot say enough about Joselyn’s care and I know that hiring Joselyn is one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.

I had Joscelyn first as a post partum doula after my daughter was born and then as a home birth midwife for my son’s birth. She was such a warm and calming presence in the weeks just after birth. As a doula she is efficient and gets so much done around the house including preparing delicious food and also spends time talking to mom and helping with post partum issues. She brings herbal sitz bathes, gives advice about homeopathic and natural remedies for all kinds of body issues for mom and baby and can give referrals for other needs. As a midwife she was so knowledgeable and helpful as well as caring and thorough. We felt listened to, understood and taken care of. She cares about the families that she works with and this comes through in everything she does. Our water birth felt safe and we most appreciated all her care in the hours, days and weeks after the birth. We would recommend her to anyone.
My husband and I were both sad to see her time with us end!

We can’t sing the praises of Joscelyn enough! Joscelyn, acting as our doula, allowed me and my family to have the birth we had so very much hoped to experience, assisting in our successful VBAC after our first child was born via C-​section. We decided to seek a doula very late in my pregnancy (at 37 weeks). But, even within such a short amount of time, Joscelyn met with us several times in person to talk through the vision we had for the birth, and she even found two back-​up doulas so in the rare case she couldn’t attend we would have support.
What impressed my husband and I most about Joscelyn in meeting with her before the birth was that she exhibited a special mix of scientific, experiential knowledge with an empathetic open-​ear. When labor began, she came to our home and immediately I relaxed, setting the tone for the rest of the birth. She comforted in an assured, calm way, checking-​in with me and my support group — lending tender touch, positioning my husband and mom around me in ways that would benefit my well-​being, and, most importantly, communicating our questions and concerns with the doctor and nurses so that we had our desired outcome — a successful VBAC! During delivery, we had to make some tricky judgment calls and having her there to quickly process the decisions in an informed way was truly instrumental to our success.
Always thinking one step ahead, as baby came out, Joscelyn even captured incredible photographs for our family to cherish. Lastly, because my preoccupation had been on the delivery, I had not thought too much about the post-​partum care she provides. I was so grateful to have her visit me at home three times, plus phone calls and follow-​up emails, in the days and weeks following birth, noting my healing and how my body was recuperating, making herbal remedies for sitz baths, and answering any questions I had.
So, in the end, there is no question that having Joscelyn by our side was the right decision. She was our guiding light. We will always have a tender spot for her in our hearts. If you’re looking for a doula or home-​birth mid-​wife, we give Joscelyn Grote our highest of recommendations, as she is the kind of smart, fast-​acting, energetic, and warm person anyone would appreciate having on her team.

Joscelyn was our midwife for our first child. It was a home birth. We couldn’t have asked for more!!! She was knowledgeable, thorough, caring, easy going … and always went the extra mile.
6 stars! We couldn’t recommend her highly enough.

I am currently pregnant with my first child and my husband and I are beyond thrilled with our choice of Joscelyn as our midwife. We knew immediately that she was the one for us! She is knowledgeable, patient and resourceful all while maintaining a great sense of humor and keeping us at ease. We are so looking forward to our home birth any day now!
I can’t wait to write my «after» review!
In short… Joscelyn ROCKS! :)

Joscelyn is an incredibly professional and competent midwife. I am a therapist and a childbirth educator and I have worked with several clients that have also worked with Joscelyn. I hear nothing but rave reviews about her prenatal care, care during labor, and postpartum care. She has trained with the best midwives around and she has been passionate about becoming a midwife since she was a kid. I had all three of my babies at home and if I were to have a fourth I would work with Joscelyn.