I've been meaning to tell you for a long time now (if I haven't already) how much I love-love-LOVE your advocacy for normal birth and breastfeeding.
I've never given birth myself, so all I know is what I've seen or been told of family births. My inclination toward births without medical intervention initially stemmed more from a distrust of doctors and hospitals than anything else (my family spent a lot of time in hospitals during my childhood).
For her most recent pregnancy, my sister Elissa chose to seek out a midwife. She'd given birth to her two daughters in a birth home run by a doctor nearly twenty years prior to this pregnancy and had nothing but good things to say about the experience.
She found a school of midwifery in a birth home about 1.5 hours from where she lived and, over the course of her pregnancy, developed a bond with the ladies who were caring for her. Sometimes we (the women in my family) would go with her: my mother, my sister Miriam, my two nieces (both also pregnant at the time) and myself. It was very interesting for me to participate in even something as simple as a pre-natal checkup with the women of my family. It may seem foolish to say so, but it gave me the impression of being one of the few times we've ever interacted on a completely even playing field...as women first and foremost.
When Elissa gave birth it was in a bedroom facility at the school...to a crowded room and with my brother-in-law at her side. She's said it was the best birth experience of her life and that, unlike with her other two children, she actually felt the baby pass through her birth canal.
Around the same time, both my nieces had daughters as well. In the hospital. One niece was induced three full weeks before her due date simply because she was having mild contractions and they "wanted to get it over with."
The other niece, who might have chosen a midwife instead had her (military) insurance not insisted otherwise, was so stressed out by the conditions imposed on her by the hospital that her daughter's birth was far more difficult than it should have been. Her partner wasn't present for the birth (being in basic training at the time); she only began to calm down somewhat after her father was allowed into the room.
Both nieces are expecting their second child. Both will be having them in a hospital. Again.
However, my sister Miriam was very impressed with the midwives and will be using them for her own childbirth come July. Unfortunately, the school of midwifery no longer exists. Miriam has the option of driving over an hour to the midwife's home for labor or having the child in her own apartment. We've been strongly encouraging her to do the latter.
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I've never given birth myself, so all I know is what I've seen or been told of family births. My inclination toward births without medical intervention initially stemmed more from a distrust of doctors and hospitals than anything else (my family spent a lot of time in hospitals during my childhood).
For her most recent pregnancy, my sister Elissa chose to seek out a midwife. She'd given birth to her two daughters in a birth home run by a doctor nearly twenty years prior to this pregnancy and had nothing but good things to say about the experience.
She found a school of midwifery in a birth home about 1.5 hours from where she lived and, over the course of her pregnancy, developed a bond with the ladies who were caring for her. Sometimes we (the women in my family) would go with her: my mother, my sister Miriam, my two nieces (both also pregnant at the time) and myself. It was very interesting for me to participate in even something as simple as a pre-natal checkup with the women of my family. It may seem foolish to say so, but it gave me the impression of being one of the few times we've ever interacted on a completely even playing field...as women first and foremost.
When Elissa gave birth it was in a bedroom facility at the school...to a crowded room and with my brother-in-law at her side. She's said it was the best birth experience of her life and that, unlike with her other two children, she actually felt the baby pass through her birth canal.
Around the same time, both my nieces had daughters as well. In the hospital. One niece was induced three full weeks before her due date simply because she was having mild contractions and they "wanted to get it over with."
The other niece, who might have chosen a midwife instead had her (military) insurance not insisted otherwise, was so stressed out by the conditions imposed on her by the hospital that her daughter's birth was far more difficult than it should have been. Her partner wasn't present for the birth (being in basic training at the time); she only began to calm down somewhat after her father was allowed into the room.
Both nieces are expecting their second child. Both will be having them in a hospital. Again.
However, my sister Miriam was very impressed with the midwives and will be using them for her own childbirth come July. Unfortunately, the school of midwifery no longer exists. Miriam has the option of driving over an hour to the midwife's home for labor or having the child in her own apartment. We've been strongly encouraging her to do the latter.