Week 10 Midwife Appointment
"Now, don't worry, but sometimes it takes us a little while to find the heart beat at this stage of gestation," my new midwife Amy cautioned me as she put the doppler to my already bulging belly.
Immediately we heard a fast flutter (in the 170's) from the lower right section.
I think it was safe to say that we found the baby :)
My kids were a tad disappointed not to see the baby on the screen, despite me reminding them several times that the Birth Center does not have an ultrasound machine.
I will actually be having an ultrasound at my next prenatal appointment, however, it will be at the hospital setting and there is no way I'm taking my wild kids with me to that one. They couldn't even get along and play with the provided toys at the birth center for 50 minutes!
So, if you haven't guessed yet, I'm one of those hippie crunchy moms who likes to do the natural birth thing (yes, without drugs!) under the care of a midwife and not an OB/GYN. Even though I gave birth to my last two children in the hospital setting with a Certified Nurse Midwife, I knew immediately I did not want to repeat the hospital setting. Since my husband is against home births (because of the mess, not the controversial safety issue), a birth center birth is the perfect alternative. I can take the mess of childbirth over to their house instead :)
Why do I not want a hospital birth?
- I have an extreme lack of confidence in our local hospital system. The personal experiences are too numerous to even count on this blog.
- The hospital's view that a typical birth experience needs medical intervention.
- The pressure to induce, get an epidural, circumcise, and put your baby in the nursery at night.
- The lack of breastfeeding support.
- The pressure to immunize immediately after birth.
- The necessity to stay a full 24-48 hours after birth, even with no complications.
- The constant barrage of nurses, doctors, and interns that come into your room to either bother you or the baby.
- The "no siblings" rule during the birth. (Yes, we are actually going to have Jaina and Jayce present during the birth of this one!)
Please rest assured that we will transfer to the hospital at the first sign of any maternal or fetal distress or complication. Nor will the midwives agree to keep me in their care if my pregnancy becomes high risk.
But for now, I am extremely comfortable with my decision to use lay midwives at our local birthing center. Just not comfortable, actually excited! Maybe because I've forgotten how much birth can hurt!
Soon it will be time to break out the Bradley Method books again!
Immediately we heard a fast flutter (in the 170's) from the lower right section.
I think it was safe to say that we found the baby :)
My kids were a tad disappointed not to see the baby on the screen, despite me reminding them several times that the Birth Center does not have an ultrasound machine.
I will actually be having an ultrasound at my next prenatal appointment, however, it will be at the hospital setting and there is no way I'm taking my wild kids with me to that one. They couldn't even get along and play with the provided toys at the birth center for 50 minutes!
So, if you haven't guessed yet, I'm one of those hippie crunchy moms who likes to do the natural birth thing (yes, without drugs!) under the care of a midwife and not an OB/GYN. Even though I gave birth to my last two children in the hospital setting with a Certified Nurse Midwife, I knew immediately I did not want to repeat the hospital setting. Since my husband is against home births (because of the mess, not the controversial safety issue), a birth center birth is the perfect alternative. I can take the mess of childbirth over to their house instead :)
Why do I not want a hospital birth?
- I have an extreme lack of confidence in our local hospital system. The personal experiences are too numerous to even count on this blog.
- The hospital's view that a typical birth experience needs medical intervention.
- The pressure to induce, get an epidural, circumcise, and put your baby in the nursery at night.
- The lack of breastfeeding support.
- The pressure to immunize immediately after birth.
- The necessity to stay a full 24-48 hours after birth, even with no complications.
- The constant barrage of nurses, doctors, and interns that come into your room to either bother you or the baby.
- The "no siblings" rule during the birth. (Yes, we are actually going to have Jaina and Jayce present during the birth of this one!)
Please rest assured that we will transfer to the hospital at the first sign of any maternal or fetal distress or complication. Nor will the midwives agree to keep me in their care if my pregnancy becomes high risk.
But for now, I am extremely comfortable with my decision to use lay midwives at our local birthing center. Just not comfortable, actually excited! Maybe because I've forgotten how much birth can hurt!
Soon it will be time to break out the Bradley Method books again!
I had to LOL about your husband not wanting the mess. That would keep me from doing that also!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your pregnancy and birth! I took doula certification classes and I can totally understand why you'd want to have midwives at a birth center.
Hmm, having had four homebirths myself, I can attest that birth doesn't have to be messy. You just have to do good planning beforehand. And midwives are wonderfully multi-functional. If there was a mess, we certainly never had to deal with it! That said, a birthing center is a great alternative too, since they design their "house" around birth, they have special amenities that most homes don't have.
ReplyDeleteI attempted the no meds route and failed. But I truly believe that if I wouldn't have gotten the epidural I'd have had a c-section because he was in distress when I got it, I needed it to relax enough cause my back labor was so intense. So totally better than a c-section in my book.
ReplyDeleteI have to say my hospital didn't push for meds and was all about me up walking around, showering or using the birthing ball and not tied down to monitors, so that was nice as well. Could have just been my nurse though.
I already loved you but now I love you like 10,000 times more. I love when I find like minded ladies =)
ReplyDeleteSadly I will probably not be able to find a midwife to take me on next go around considering that I went toxic and almost died after Cam was born. Sigh.
I'm so glad you are planning to give birth at a birth center! I'm also jealous too, as we don't have one nearby. So it's a hospital birth for me (my husband feels the same way about the mess, especially with water birth's! So no home birth! Haha). But we have a really good hospital and OB who does their very best to honor each and every request, unless some sort of complication comes up. Your hospital kind of scares me! LOL
ReplyDelete