I have some exciting exciting exciting news to share! We have decided on a waterbirth at home. I have been seeing a OB/GYN in Arkansas who is great, but I will be moving to Oklahoma and decided that I needed to find a new doc.....so began my quest.
I began watching too much TLC's "A baby story" (I've already decided to stop, as it kind of freaks me out cuz that will be me soon) and one of the mom's did a water birth. I was so moved by the interviews given by the midwife and doula, that I knew this would be something for me. Further research led me to the possibility of giving birth at home-and honestly (to me at least) what better place is there?
Much to my chagrin, there are no practicing midwives in my town and most of the OB offices weren't exactly friendly about it either. However, when I get an idea into my head I blaze forward all engines running with full steam and so I have stumbled upon some pretty neat websites and forums (ie Heaven Sent Births, Mother.com) plus some really fun resources that led me to my midwife.
We (midwife and I) had a brief discussion earlier in the week, and she suggested two wonderful documentaries: "Pregnant in America" and "The Business of Being Born". I have watched the first one, and so has my husband. I really enjoyed it, cried at times (but to be fair I cry at most things lately) and was left with a new sense of purpose. This movie sealed the deal for me....there is just no way I am interested in giving birth in a hospital. I'm not going to be talked into an epidural, c-section, induction...NADA! Please don't be offended, it just isn't the choice for me. So, to be fair I'm going to share that my best friend had to be induced and had to have a c-section because it was MEDICALLY NECESSARY, but on any given day childbirth is not some life and death situation.
My husband and I made the trek by meet with the midwife, and came up with a lot of good questions for her like 1) do we need a back up dr plan? ANS: NO (phew!)
2) what are your stats? ANS: She sends about 11% of clients to hospital, and only 1% of her clients have had to have a c-section (another phew!, she really knows what she is doing)
3) how do we prepare at home? ANS: You buy a kit, pretty inexpensive with everything the midwife will need (another PHEW!, You mean they make kits for this?!?!?)
4) What to avoid? ANS: deli meats, raw fish, raw cheese, all sweeteners-because apparently splenda has chlorine in it, and nutrasweet turns into some formaldehyde derivative in temperature above 88 degrees (ok, I can handle that and a little freaked out by sugar substitutes)
She gave so many other helpful ideas, and of course I'm going to try them all. I'm also excited that she is attempting to get in network with our insurance!
She did also give us a wonderful gift-we got to hear our baby's heartbeat! 166 bpm, so strong and I think Chris was got pretty excited too!
So, we get to the car and he ask me who I want at home with us.....to which I respond "just you and me", and he gets all panicky and says "no way, I can't deliver a baby by myself!" (poor guy, I can only imagine how freaked out he must have been). ME: "Chris, the midwife does that part, you assist" So, with that major crisis averted we went off to lunch and treated ourselves to Jamba Juice! YUM YUM!
