A mother, a midwife and an allegation of drugging with out consent

Warning: This text accommodates imagery some readers may discover disturbing.

Jennifer Nosek’s being pregnant was all the things she had hoped for. After two miscarriages, she felt grateful and relaxed as her due date approached.

In Sayulita, Mexico, her part-time residence, she and her pals gathered for a child bathe, carrying flower crowns to have fun. She washed gently worn child garments from her first youngster that had been tucked away for six years.  

Nosek, a Canadian journal editor, had discovered a midwife to help her in early labor at residence. Heather Baker was identified in Nosek’s group of Sayulita mothers, and, although Nosek didn’t realize it, Baker’s fierce protection of delivery autonomy had gained her an internet following within the tens of 1000’s.

Trying again, Nosek stated, that was the second all of it fell aside. 

“All the pieces was completely beautiful till I let this particular person into my life,” she stated.  

In April, Nosek’s child died throughout an intense and excruciating labor that Nosek now believes was introduced on by a white capsule she stated Baker gave her shortly earlier than his delivery. In a criticism she filed with Mexican prosecutors, she alleges that Baker described the capsule as a gentle homeopathic however that it was truly misoprostol, a pharmaceutical used to induce labor.

The drug, she advised NBC Information, induced intense uterine contractions that she believes reduce off her child’s provide of oxygen. His government-issued demise certificates lists “perinatal asphyxia” as the reason for demise.

Nosek stated that when she later confronted Baker and requested what she’d been given, Baker denied wrongdoing, insisting she gave her solely the herb blue cohosh. However Nosek stated the capsule regarded equivalent to at least one that Baker later advised her was misoprostol.  

Along with her criticism in Mexico, Nosek has filed complaints with the FBI and the Wisconsin Division of Security and Skilled Companies, the licensing company in Baker’s residence state, each of that are wanting into her claims.

Nosek’s story unfold, first within the tight-knit Sayulita group after which outdoors it, in on-line being pregnant teams and midwives’ collectives. Quickly different shoppers emerged, a lot of whom shared their very own considerations about Baker. 

No less than six, in addition to a former apprentice, have lodged complaints in opposition to Baker with the Wisconsin licensing company, which cited her in 2014 for practising and not using a license. A buddy of Nosek’s inspired the ladies in Mexico to file complaints with the company, which has reopened its investigation into Baker.

A few of these shoppers, like Nosek, say Baker gave them a tincture or capsule she described as a “homeopathic” that they now suspect was a pharmaceutical drug, based mostly on the sudden, sturdy contractions that adopted. A criticism filed by Baker’s former apprentice stated that on many events, Baker really helpful that ladies take the drug progesterone to stall their labor till she may be part of them in Mexico.   

NBC Information interviewed 10 ladies who say they gave delivery with Baker, two in Wisconsin earlier than 2014 and eight in Mexico within the years since. 4 of these ladies have filed complaints with the state licensing company. No less than two of the ladies, along with Nosek, have spoken with the FBI about their experiences. 

Baker didn’t reply to a number of calls or to a listing of written questions NBC Information despatched in search of remark for this text.

On social media, accounts with the usernames “Heather Baker” and “heatherbakermidwife,” certainly one of which had her picture, despatched “stop and desist” messages to Nosek and one other former consumer. Considered by NBC Information, they accuse the ladies of creating “false and defamatory statements.” 

Caroline Clancy, public affairs officer with the Milwaukee division of the FBI, declined to substantiate the investigation, citing Justice Division coverage.

“As in any given matter, if expenses are filed, they may ultimately change into a matter of public report,” she wrote in an announcement.

John Beard, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin licensing company, declined to reply questions on Baker, citing an ongoing investigation. In an announcement, he stated the state’s “choices are restricted” relating to unlicensed professionals accused of violating guidelines outdoors the state and would normally rely on the legal guidelines of the opposite jurisdiction.

The Mexican federal prosecutor’s workplace referred NBC Information’ calls to its Nayarit division, which didn’t reply to questions. The Sayulita police and prosecutor’s workplaces didn’t return calls in search of remark.

On her website, Baker says she isn’t at present attending births in particular person, a change to the location made in April. However Nosek desires to see her held accountable.  

“I don’t even have phrases for the violence that was performed to me,” Nosek stated. “I’m going to spend the remainder of my life attempting to determine find out how to take care of the trauma of what occurred.” 

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When Nosek and her husband, Rene Lemos, an architect, and their son, Joaquin, first arrived in Sayulita, a fishing village on the western Mexican coast, in 2021, they joined a group of expatriates from the U.S. and Canada. The surfers had waves. The foodies had fish tacos. The youngsters had an outside faculty.

And the newcomers keen to begin or develop their households with minimal medical intervention had Baker.

Nosek’s first delivery had been a cesarean part, which she hoped to keep away from this time. However she wasn’t set on a house delivery, she advised NBC Information. She was ready to go to the hospital and even have one other C-section if wanted. She stated Baker assured her she may switch to a hospital if any issues arose. 

Usually, midwifery treats delivery as a pure course of through which little intervention is important. The ladies who select midwives and residential births accomplish that, partly, as a result of they need extra management over their our bodies and births. 

Nosek stated she was OK with the concept of a homeopathic drugs to advance her labor however wouldn’t have consented to being induced with a pharmaceutical at residence, calling such a plan “profoundly unsafe.”

A veteran midwife expressed alarm on the allegations that somebody of their area would give medicine with out informing their sufferers.

“How do you’ve got full autonomy should you don’t have consent to stuff you’re agreeing to?” stated Stephanie Mitchell, who’s an authorized skilled midwife and the founder of a birth center in Alabama. “That’s just like the antithesis of midwifery care.” 

Baker herself gave delivery to 5 kids at residence, she says on her web site. 4 of her deliveries have been unassisted, a practice known as freebirthing. In 2019, she revealed a information to the observe.

“I observe the methods of our elders and ancestors,” she writes on her web site, “utilizing nature and wholesome meals for nourishing, herbs for therapeutic, in addition to our instinct, freed from conditioning by societal constraints.”

On an October 2022 podcast, Baker stated Mexico’s notoriously high C-section charge was one purpose she spent a lot time touring to the nation.

“That is why my coronary heart is particularly on this space,” she stated.    

Her web site notes that Baker was educated as a “conventional midwife” and has been attending births since 1996. Conventional midwives usually study by apprenticeships and sometimes select to not change into licensed due to philosophical, non secular or private causes. 

In Mexico, conventional midwives are normally ladies from rural and Indigenous communities, with information handed down by generations. Whereas the Mexican authorities doesn’t acknowledge conventional midwives as skilled suppliers, they’ve in recent times gotten extra authorized recognition and are permitted to attend low-risk births. 

In Baker’s residence state, Wisconsin, a license is required to observe midwifery.

In 2014, the Wisconsin Division of Security and Skilled Companies cited Baker for violating the regulation, noting that she had “assisted a number of ladies in being pregnant and childbirth.”  

In a signed stipulation, Baker agreed to not observe midwifery within the state until she was correctly licensed, and it’s unclear whether or not her work in Mexico, if it was organized in Wisconsin, would qualify as a violation. 

Baker is open about the truth that she rejects licensure as a result of she views it as a type of authorities interference. “I don’t suppose authorities must be up in our vaginas or uteruses,” she stated on the 2022 podcast.

Describing herself as a “birthkeeper” on her web site, Baker emphasizes tapping into intuition and the atmosphere for solutions. A part of that features her use of herbs and homeopathic drugs. 

Within the podcast, Baker stated she carries herbs to hurry up labor. “It doesn’t imply I essentially use them,” she stated. Three shoppers, together with Nosek, advised NBC Information that Baker really helpful blue cohosh, historically used throughout childbirth in Indigenous communities, to assist encourage their labor.  

Whereas blue cohosh can be utilized to induce labor, “it carries doubtlessly severe although uncommon dangers to mom and child,” stated Dr. Aviva Romm, a midwife and licensed doctor, who wouldn’t touch upon Baker particularly. Analysis has found it might probably trigger a stroke within the fetus or toddler. Although its timing and effectiveness can fluctuate amongst recipients, Romm, who can also be an herbalist, stated “it doesn’t throw any individual instantly into labor the way in which misoprostol or pitocin can.” 

“It’s usually a slower, incremental onset, over a number of doses,” she stated. 

Even when Baker have been licensed in Wisconsin, she wouldn’t be allowed to use “prescription pharmacological brokers” to induce or increase labor, in response to state rules. However in Mexico, many drugs, together with misoprostol, can often be purchased without prescriptions, and midwives aren’t explicitly barred from offering them. 

Midwives typically carry misoprostol in case of postpartum bleeding. Broadly identified for its position in medicine abortions, it is usually used to induce labor. However three docs advised NBC Information it’s dangerous in conditions like residence births, through which it’s harder to observe fetal heartbeats repeatedly. And for sufferers like Nosek who’ve had earlier C-sections, the American School of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says, it shouldn’t be used in any respect.

Baker’s former apprentice, who requested to not be named for concern of repercussions to her household, advised NBC Information that she believes Baker was additionally utilizing it to induce births.  

She pointed to a 2019 Fb message she stated Baker despatched her in response to studying of a tough delivery attended in Sayulita by the apprentice alone. NBC Information considered the message, which comes from an account with the username Heather Baker. “If I have been there I might have given her ¼ miso as a final resort,” she texted, “kick in contrx to see if that labored. if not then we all know c sec is the way in which to go.” 

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Luciana Suarez, who lives in Sayulita, is likely one of the shoppers who now query their births with Baker. In February 2021, when she was roughly 38 weeks pregnant, she agreed with Baker’s evaluation that she was getting “massive.” Baker floated the concept of inducing labor with herbs, Suarez stated, and he or she consented.

Round 9:20 a.m. on Feb. 16, 2021, Suarez stated, she took half of what Baker described as a homeopathic capsule. Nearly instantly, she stated, she started to have contractions. After she took the second half, they turned aggressive, she stated, with virtually no break between them. 

As she started to push, her daughter’s shoulders turned caught in her delivery canal, a harmful emergency known as shoulder dystocia. Baker managed to dislodge the newborn, Suarez stated, who survived. 

That week, Suarez stated, she advised an area midwife serving to with the newborn’s delivery paperwork that Baker had induced her supply.  

When she described what occurred, the midwife grew involved. She requested Suarez whether or not Baker had given her a white capsule. She was sure an herb or a homeopathic wouldn’t work so rapidly. 

“I knew she was proper again then, however I by no means dove into it, and I by no means questioned Heather,” Suarez stated. “I feel I used to be scared and intimidated as a result of everyone else on the town cherished her a lot, and I didn’t need to be the one one who had this actually s—– factor that occurred to them.”

Misoprostol isn’t the one pharmaceutical medicine Baker is accused of utilizing, in response to the Wisconsin licensing company complaints. An nameless consumer and Baker’s former apprentice allege that she really helpful progesterone to stall deliveries. 

One other consumer, Becky Whitmore, stated in an interview that when she went into labor at 40 weeks in 2019, Baker instructed her to take progesterone so she may attend the delivery. In a Fb message to her apprentice considered by NBC Information, Baker stated she hoped the drugs would “postpone” the delivery for 30 hours, sufficient time for her to journey to Mexico.

Two OB-GYNs and a veteran midwife expressed alarm on the alleged intervention in interviews. 

“Progesterone is rarely used to attempt to stall full-term labor,” stated Dr. Kate McLean, a board licensed OB-GYN in Washington state. “That’s not a factor that we do.”

Robin Benedict, one other consumer in Mexico who says Baker suggested her to take progesterone, stated she had a tough delivery in 2021, requiring that Baker resuscitate her daughter. 

Each Suarez and Benedict filed complaints with the state of Wisconsin after studying of Nosek’s allegations and rethinking their very own experiences. The complaints are nonetheless beneath overview. 

“Trying again,” Suarez wrote in her criticism. “I can’t wrap my mind round how harmful all of it was.”

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As waves crashed behind her, Jennifer Nosek knelt within the sand in late March whereas the photographer’s digital camera clicked. Smiling, she posed in a black cropped tank revealing her pregnant stomach.

The delivery was solely weeks away. That they had put in a automobile seat and picked out a listing of potential child names.

On April 8, Lemos paid Baker a $2,000 deposit through PayPal.

Nosek stated she was 40 weeks and 5 days when she began having false labor pains on April 11.  Her contractions would begin up after which cease for hours. The following day, she requested Baker to come back over and examine her.

Baker arrived round 2, Nosek recalled. Round 3:15 p.m., Baker checked her child’s heartbeat and started massaging Nosek’s cervix with arnica oil. Nosek stated she didn’t really feel any contractions. 

Whereas Lemos performed with Joaquin in one other room, Nosek stated, Baker gave her a white capsule with a line down the center that may assist transfer issues alongside, describing it as “a gentle homeopathic.” 

Nosek positioned the capsule beneath her tongue.

She recalled Baker saying, “Your child will likely be born earlier than sundown.”

Nosek left the room, sat on the bathroom and rubbed her abdomen. Then got here a flash of ache. She stated she folded over and cried out in agony.

“It was like a home on fireplace,” she recalled.  

Nosek stated it was onerous to maintain monitor of time. However she remembers feeling like her child was caught. Nosek and Lemos stated they each requested Baker whether or not they need to go to the hospital, however Baker warned that there wasn’t sufficient time. Lemos stated that at that second, together with his spouse in crushing ache, he felt torn. They may go away for the hospital, however what if one thing occurred alongside the way in which? Finally, he stated, he listened to Baker. “It was simply chaotic,” he stated.

In her complaints, Nosek alleges that Baker not often used her fetal Doppler to examine the newborn’s heartbeat. After an preliminary examine when Baker arrived, Nosek advised NBC Information, Baker checked his heartbeat solely 4 instances after her labor started.

For lower-risk pregnancies, the American School of Nurse-Midwives recommends checking every five minutes when patients are pushing. For labor inductions, much more monitoring will be required. In these circumstances, hospitals usually use what’s generally known as steady digital fetal monitoring. 

Simply earlier than 8 p.m. Nosek left the birthing pool to lie on the daybed. When Baker held her doppler to Nosek’s stomach, Lemos couldn’t hear a heartbeat by its audio system.

The couple alleges Baker, nonetheless, stated she heard a faint pulse.   

Roughly 40 minutes later, Lemos watched as Nosek delivered their new child son.

He wasn’t respiratory.  

Baker, Nosek stated, tried to resuscitate him.

Lemos known as an ambulance, however the first responders couldn’t resuscitate the newborn.

Hours glided by as they waited for the coroner. Nosek was nonetheless bleeding so much, an excessive amount of, she thought. She frightened she may die, too. She wanted to go to the hospital however refused to go away the home if it meant leaving their child boy.

“It was the toughest factor ever,” Lemos stated. “You possibly can maintain him, kiss him, really feel him. He’s nonetheless heat.” 

As strangers moved by her residence asking questions and taking photos, Nosek stated, she was scared to maneuver for concern of how a lot blood would drain out of her. In some unspecified time in the future, she stated, Baker gave her a capsule meant to stem the bleeding.

Earlier than she left in an ambulance, she demanded to know what medicine she was given after the delivery. Nosek stated she watched as Baker scribbled down the identify of the anti-hemorrhage medicine: misoprostol 200 micrograms. 

Later, as Nosek tried to piece collectively what occurred, her thoughts would journey again to that second and to the capsules she stated she was given, each earlier than and after the delivery. They regarded equivalent, she stated, however the first had been described as a “homeopathic,” and the second, in response to the observe she recalled, was misoprostol.

She began to suspect she’d been given misoprostol earlier than she gave delivery. When she looked for details about the drug, she discovered a warning that it shouldn’t be used for labor induction in a mom who’d had a earlier C-section. 

The couple additionally allege that after their son’s demise, Baker urged them to not inform the police that she was a midwife or that they’d paid her however to establish her solely as a buddy. Lemos, frightened that an open investigation would delay the discharge of their son’s physique, agreed. There was no post-mortem, and the newborn’s demise certificates says he died of perinatal asphyxia, a situation through which a fetus or toddler fails to get sufficient oxygen.

Three docs advised NBC Information that if she was given misoprostol, relying on the dose, it may have performed a task. One in every of its most harmful unwanted effects is to doubtlessly scale back a child’s blood provide, which might restrict a child’s oxygen.

“It’s past what any individual may think about would occur,” Nosek stated. “You already know — it’s not like one thing simply went mistaken in my delivery and he or she didn’t rise to the event. She created the emergency.”

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Within the weeks that adopted the demise of their son, whom they named Julian Zaire, Joaquin would pat Nosek’s stomach, insisting his brother was there.  

“I don’t even suppose I used to be in my physique, you recognize?” she stated. “I feel I simply separated from myself to outlive it.” 

Nosek shared her suspicions with an American midwife who organized a name with half a dozen different midwives who listened to her story and supplied their help. In the meantime, Nosek’s pals in Sayulita started researching Baker’s previous troubles in Wisconsin and connecting with different ladies who had birthed along with her. 

Related themes emerged. Homeopathics and tinctures. Labor pains that got here on out of the blue. Improper heartbeat monitoring. Births that felt rushed or delayed to accommodate Baker’s schedule.

In late June, Luciana Suarez’s husband, Thai Shaffer, posted a message on Reddit publicly sharing allegations that Baker had given shoppers misoprostol with out their consent. Baker despatched Suarez a cease-and-desist message in response.

In August, in an electronic mail to Nosek, the FBI stated interviews have been underway. Nosek and Lemos at the moment are working with a Mexico-based lawyer, who’s gathering proof within the hope that Mexican prosecutors will deliver legal expenses in opposition to Baker. 

“What I wish to see is for this to be a shadow that she can not outrun,” she stated. “So that everyone is aware of that is her and the way she practices.”

On Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, there’s a memorial backyard constructed by Nosek’s mom devoted to Julian Zaire. It has larkspur, sunflowers and dicentra, generally generally known as bleeding hearts for the form of their flowers. This summer season, Nosek has hung out there with Lemos and Joaquin. 

She thinks again to the household’s personal viewing on April 19 and a listing her sister wrote for her mom to learn aloud about issues Julian would by no means know.

“The sweetness of a peach in summer season.”

“The odor of gum timber on a sizzling day.”

However Nosek has her personal addition to that checklist, one she imagines telling Julian: “Of all of the stuff you’ll by no means know, maybe the worst is that you just’ll by no means understand how cherished you have been.”