Natural Childbirth: Choosing a Midwife and being Pregnant

So, I said I would do weekly installments, and it has been...let's just say more than a week since my last post.  Sorry about that.  My last post was about why I chose and became passionate about natural childbirth.  This week, I want to share the actual process I went through to achieve that goal.

I feel really lucky to live in Lexington, KY.  It was almost too easy here to find a midwife as opposed to the traditional OB-GYN.  My husband and I had tossed around the idea of a home birth, but given that this was our first pregnancy and we did not really know what to expect, we were more comfortable going to the hospital.  There is a fabulous group of midwives that operate through Lexington Women's Health.  Fun fact:  Missy (the one with the long dark hair) had delivered Caedmon less than 12 hours before that picture was taken!  I chose Alisha Morgan because she was recommended by a friend.  We clicked right away and I saw no need to continue "shopping."  Alisha is also passionate about natural childbirth.  All of them are.  I knew that she would do everything in her power to help me meet my goal.  This group of midwives practice through Central Baptist Hospital, which I had also heard gleaming reviews of, including the excellent food!  Alisha and I talked about natural birth from the beginning.  It was important to me for her to know what I really wanted up front. 

Things that I appreciated about seeing a midwife over an OB-GYN:
Disclaimer: I don't know or believe that all of these things are unique to midwives.  I am sure there are some OB-GYNs that also operate in this way.  No offense is intended, nor do I claim to "know it all." This is simply my observations through comparing my experience to those of some friends that have chosen OB-GYNs for prenatal care.

1:  Not an excessive amount of ultra-sounds.
I have seen that many OBs tend to do ultra-sounds at almost, if not every visit.  There is research suggesting that ultra-sound my not be as safe as we all think it is.  There is an interesting article in Midwifery Today discussing some of the research.  Being a researcher myself, I am always skeptical of research.  It is important to remember that and actual causal relationship has not been established.  There is some correlation though in the amount of Autism in a population and the amount of ultra-sound used.  I had an ultra-sound at 8 weeks at my first appointment, 20 weeks to find out gender, and then when Alisha suspected that Caedmon was breech (I'll discuss that later).  At that point, there were concerns about my fluid level, so I had a couple more to monitor that.  Total, I maybe had 6 ultra-sounds.  The only reason I even had that many was to monitor a possible issue.

2:  Face-time
My mid-wife chatted with me a lot during our visits.  We would even talk about random things like Words with Friends or television shows.  We built a relationship to the point where I would even consider her a friend.  Building that kind of rapport and trust is completely invaluable to me and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

3:  Not panicking unless there was a good reason.
 So, like I said in the paragraph about ultra-sounds, we discovered that Caedmon was breech, the day before I turned 39 weeks.  He had been head down all along, and flipped.  Instead of scheduling a C-Section, Alisha gave me options.  One of which was to attempt to turn him.  An OB-GYN in the practice was able to turn him and he stayed that way.  Also, when we did the ultra-sound to confirm that he was breech, we discovered that my amniotic fluid was lower than they would like.  I know more than one person who was induced for that very reason.  Alisha gave me time.  She told me to rest and drink water, a lot of water.  My fluid came up naturally.  I also went post-date...by 10 days.  Alisha let me put off induction as long as humanly possible and I went into labor naturally just under the deadline.  All of those factors could have been a recipe for a C-Section or Induction if I had been with someone else.  I was grateful for options and for the fact that I didn't have to fight for them.

Other things I did while pregnant to help toward my goal of a natural birth included researching everything related to natural childbirth.  I took the natural childbirth class offered by the hospital, learned about hypnobirthing, and gathered/burrowed things like I birth ball and essential oils for relaxation from friends.  I also read the most amazing book by the most amazing midwife, Ina May Gaskin.  You can see it on Amazon.  In it was a quote that got me through even the most frustrating times.  "You are not a machine.  Your body is not a lemon.  The creator is not a careless mechanic."  So often, women's bodies are blamed for interventions in the birthing process, but most women are built to have babies.  The C-Section rate in this country is currently 1 in 3.  In Ina May's practice out of 2,844 births, they have needed 50 C-Sections.  That's 1.7%!  Those 2,844 births also include twins and breech births.  See more of their amazing statistics here.  I spent my whole pregnancy with the mind-set that I was not a lemon and that I was completely and totally capable of delivering my baby naturally.  That mind-set helped me to be determined and to overcome whatever hiccups I faced.

My next post (hopefully next week) will be about my actual birth.  Don't worry, I won't be gross.  I just want to tell it like it was.  It was hard and beautiful and perfect.  Also, I have a poll about the name of my blog on the the right.  Please vote!

Why I Chose Natural Childbirth - Part 1: Where the Passion Came From...

Okay, so I said I was going to post once a week, and I missed last week.  Such is life.  Anyway, I have spent the extra time trying to decide what I want to write about.  Let's be serious, my day to day life is just not that interesting.  I decided to write about one of my newest passions.  Over the past 2 years or so, I have become more and more passionate about natural childbirth.  Don't get scared and run away!  I am not a crazy, anti-medicine, hippie.  I am not judging you if that is not what you chose/are choosing/will choose to do.  I am not an expert.  I just learned a lot of information in a relatively short amount of time that opened my eyes to things I never thought about before.  So today, I wanted to share where it all started for me.  What made me curious and what convinced me that it was the right choice for me. 

It all started with a documentary.  I took a semester off between graduating with my undergraduate degree and starting graduate school.  In that time, I had more free time than I had had in a long time.  After I burned through entire seasons of ridiculous shows on Netflix, I decided to give the documentary section a try.  I found a documentary called "The Business of Being Born."  It is still on Netflix if you have it to watch on instant stream.  You can also pay a small fee to watch it here.  You might also be able to find it at the library.  It is worth a watch.  The documentary is produced by Ricky Lake and outlines how births are happening in this country while advocating for natural/home births as an option for women.  Why this appealed to me over 2 years ago, when having a baby was not on my immediate horizons, and when medical-type stuff on TV makes me cringe, I will never know, but I watched it.  I loved it.  Then I made my husband watch it.

Prior to watching this documentary, I was under the assumption that everyone that had babies got epidurals.  Everyone I knew that had babies had gotten epidurals.  I figured it was just part of it.  People had been doing it for a long time, so what could the big deal be.  I was educated.  Every time I watch the documentary, something new sticks out to me, but I would like to share some of the first things that grabbed my attention:

1.  While I was okay with the idea of an epidural, I have always been terrified of a Cesarian section.  Being cut open while awake is not at the top of my list of procedures I would like to be a part of.  One of the first things that caught my attention was the frighteningly high C-section rate in this country.  Also, how interventions, such as epidurals increase the probability of a C-section.  If all those interventions could lead to a C-section, maybe I didn't want all those interventions after all.

2.  The fact that we don't know what causes many things such as Autism and ADHD, but we know that they happen less often when children are born naturally.  Could something in the "modern" birth process have something to do with it?

3.  Being pregnant is not an illness.  If I am a healthy, young woman with a normal pregnancy, I don't really need an OB-GYN.  This was big news to me.  I thought at least most women got epidurals, but I was sure that all women went to OB-GYNs for prenatal care and delivery.  I had no idea that midwives still existed, that they could deliver my baby, and that they would actually be all I really needed.

So, here I was, filled with information that I didn't know that I wanted to know.  I was baffled and I yearned to learn more.  Other than watching the documentary a couple more times, I started reading about midwives and natural birth.  I started reconsidering what I would want when it was time to have my children.  I was filled with the knowledge that women had been having babies long before epidurals and Pitocin and everything worked out okay most of the time or the population would be a lot less than it is now.  I started realizing that I desired to bring my children into the world in the healthiest way that I could possibly do it, for me and for them.  I couldn't let it go, and I didn't want to.

Again, I am not judging anyone for whom this is not the right choice.  Everyone's birth is different.  I just really feel lead to share my experience in this area and my passion for natural birth.  Take it or leave it.  Next week I am going to share about my experience after becoming pregnant.  Further research and finding a midwife are next.