My name is Chantal Gauthier-Vaillancourt. I have been a Registered Midwife since 2012 and established a Midwifery practice with Marianne King in November of 2015. At the time there was only 1 practicing midwife in the North zone and she was located in High Level. In our humble beginnings, we rented a small little office from the ACFA at the Philip Menard Cultural Centre. In fact, we ended up having our first unplanned, ‘out of hospital’ vaginal birth after caesarean happen spontaneously in that tiny office right next to our computer. This mama was travelling from Athabasca County to have her baby at the Lac La Biche Hospital with her midwives…at least that was the plan.
However, her labour kicked in in a fierce way and there was no way she was going to make it to Lac La Biche. Instead of having a stressful Highway birth, I advised them to stop in at our office for an assessment and we could call EMS services as needed. As they arrived, her waters broke and she started to push. She ended up delivering her baby in our office while a French summer camp was in full swing. It was in that moment that we knew we needed an ‘in between’ birthing option in our county besides hospital birth & planned homebirth.
It is from this need that the ‘Tree de la Vie Midwifery B&B ( Birth & Breakfast) aka Birth House was BORN ( pun intended). My husband & I purchased a home in a cul-de-sac in Plamondon over looking a field with amazing sunsets and right next to a huge patch of red raspberry bushes and wild nettle ( both ideal herbs for a pregnant woman’s uterus) - it was a sign. We had the home rezoned by the county as a commercial/ residential property and transformed the main floor into a clinic space, galley kitchen and birthing room fully equipped for low-risk water birth. Since we opened our doors in March 2017, our cozy little B&B birthing house has welcomed hundreds of babies from all over Northern Alberta including several from Lac La Biche County of course and well beyond with folks travelling as far as 6-8 hours away from Peace River Area, Fort McMurray, Slave Lake, Two Hills, Cold Lake, St Paul, Bonnyville and of course Athabasca & Boyle. What an exhilarating adventure it has been.
When owning and running a business, clearly there are unexpected expenses that can pop up but also regular maintenance from wear & tear that needs to be addressed. We found out through a couple of friends that Community Futures Lac La Biche Capital Growth Initiative Loan for women. I felt like this was a good opportunity to make some little improvements and the CGI loan incentives made that easier for us. Our experience dealing with CFLLB was quite seamless. It was a very positive and encouraging experience. We were always greeted with a friendly face and helpful advice on how to proceed with the loan application process. We definitely felt well supported throughout it all, every step of the way.
I chose to offer midwife services because I have a deep passion for birth. I truly feel that if we want to change the world, we need to start with birth.
Birth is literally something that touches every single one of us. Birth is not a women’s issue, it is a community issue. Birth & death are universal and they are the only two things that connects us all no matter which language we speak, what country we live in, what colour our skin is. Birthing is seriously the hardest thing we ever do. It is the biggest most intense transition we will ever go through in life. When that transition can be done in a safe, welcoming and gentle environment that puts trust in the process, in the baby, the birthing parent with well trained professionals who are prepared to step in should things go sideways but to not intervene if things are going well. This is the backbone of my ‘WHY’ and this is what has fuelled me to create this kind of space for people to feel safe and supported to do one of the MOST important things they will ever do in their lifetime… bring another human being Earth-side.
