Heading Down the Midwife Path

Being a woman it's not like I had never considered labor or having a baby before I got pregnant. I had thought about it. With having friends that had babies, just being curious and in the past year or so of knowing we would want to get pregnant soon, it had been on my mind.

Fast forward to this:

and it was time to seriously start thinking about options. I made an appointment with a doctor that my friend and a few acquaintances had gone to.

I had watched part of the movie "The Business of Being Born" and while I realize that a lot of documentaries have a biased opinion, a lot of the points they made hit home with me. We went to our appointment with Dr. N excited to see our baby on an ultrasound and assuming that this would be our provider. I had for a while thinking if/when I delivered that I would want a natural birth and he did mention something about induction if we went a week past the due date but I figured these would be subjects we could discuss at a later date. We left the appointment happy with him, comfortable and with a couple more appointments scheduled.

A girl that I graduated high school with's mother has a birth center just a few blocks from the hospital where we had planned to deliver. The thought just wouldn't leave my mind. One day, my mom and I were out to lunch and I looked across the street and there was the birth center. I didn't know exactly where it was but then I did! My mom and I walked across the street just to take a peek inside and K, the girl I graduated with, was working and was happy to give us a quick tour, was so excited for me and very inviting. I set up a meeting with the senior midwife, her mom, for Hub and I to go in and ask some questions. He was a little apprehensive about the whole idea but said he was more than happy to go see what it was about if I was really curious. I felt that if we didn't check it out, it might always bother me and I might always wonder what could have been.

At our meeting, D, the midwife, answered so many of our questions, explained the differences in care between the midwives and doctors and made us feel so comfortable right away. We like the close to non-existent percentages of cesarean sections, the fact that they dodn't even administer epidurals, and a very low transfer rate to the hospital. The rooms are just like bedrooms in a home, are spacious and have huge bathtubs. I can eat during labor, walk around or do pretty much whatever we feel comfortable with. We left there with a great feeling and said we would take a couple of days to think about our options. Hub's response when we walked out of the birth center, "Okay, I am missing something here. Why doesn't everyone go there to have their babies instead of the hospital?" 

I smiled and replied, "Because we are supposed to have babies in a hospital."

We went home and watched a documentary together called "Pregnant in America." This documentary followed a couple who was pregnant on a journey to find out why the US handles pregnancy they way they do and even compared it to that of pregnancies in other countries where the majority of births are at home. Hub and I went back and forth. And back and forth. And back. And forth. Would we feel safe at the birth center? How would we create a birth plan for the hospital where we didn't feel like we had to battle hospital staff? If we went to the birth center, what if I got to a point where I felt I needed drugs? Were we weird for even considering a different option than a hospital?

We went around and around but a few days later I called and canceled my appointments with the OB/GYN and made an appointment with the midwife. We were 100% sure of our decision and were very excited about it. We came to the conclusions that as far as we can tell I have a normal pregnancy and am a healthy woman. Therefore, I don't need to be treated in a hospital. The midwife explained to us that if at anytime we see something differently, she has no hesitation in going to the hospital during labor or sending us there for prenatal care if she sees fit. We like the idea of an experienced pair {over 1200 natural births between the two midwives} providing our prenatal care and attending our birth. They will know so many tricks and trades of natural births that many OBs don't because they don't see as many natural births. By a long shot.

I want to clarify the fact that I am not some crazy person who thinks hospitals are el diablo. They are obviously very important places that provide very important care to many patients. Also, if you have had your baby in a hospital or will have your baby in a hospital, I have absolutely nothing against you. Many women, including my best friend, feel very safe and comfortable in a hospital. Also, many deliveries require being in a hospital and I understand that. Hub and I also probably would have considered the birth center for a lot longer or have decided against it altogether if it had been further away from a hospital. It is literally five minutes.

So, there we have it. Our decision process on how we decided not to deliver in a hospital. We have been very happy about our care up until now and are excited about what the future of care holds there for us.

If this is relevant to you, did you or will you deliver in a hospital? Have you ever thought of an alternate route? Do you think I'm crazy?! :) {you don't have to be honest on that last question...}