why a midwife?

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for this pregnancy we were lucky enough to get in with a midwife.  it's difficult here because our provincial health care covers the cost and they are usually fully booked.  when i was pregnant with liam i waited until after i had my initial doctors appointment to confirm the pregnancy.  big mistake.  i was pretty much laughed at because i was so late in contacting them.  i was almost 10 weeks.  basically i was told that you should contact every midwife practice as soon as you pee on a stick.  so this time round that's exactly what i did.  well i waited until boxing day, but i did fill out online client intake forms for every midwife clinic in our city.  a week and a half later we were accepted into birth partnership midwifery care.  i was so happy and excited.  this is not say that i would've been destroyed if we went through low risk maternity for my second pregnancy.  they were great and i had fantastic care.  i just prefer to have a midwife.

i've been asked a few times why i decided on going with midwives instead of a team of doctors.  my first reason was based on the fact that i would know the people involved in my care and at the delivery of our baby.  when i was pregnant with liam i saw a team of seven female doctors at one of the low risk maternity clinics in our city.  this was fine.  seven isn't a lot of people and i was actually able to see a few of them more than once.  but when it came time to deliver and make some important decisions i wasn't sure who i was talking to.  at then end of my pregnancy (37 weeks) i became hypertensive.  apparently not uncommon in first pregnancies.  but my blood pressure was high enough to be alarming and the threat of induction was made.  throughout the course of that week i was given pros and cons, some told me we should induce right away, some said we could wait a few days or even a week.  it was hard to keep everything straight and difficult to make the "right" decision for my health and the health of our baby.  in the end induction wasn't needed ... just a good rimming of the cervix.  (very painful but definitely worth it) labour started all on it's own and liam was born happy and healthy.  my blood pressure dropped immediately after birth and all was well in our little world.  but going to back to my first reason for choosing a midwife, we had no idea who the doctor was that delivered liam.  i had never seen her before and she wasn't part of low risk maternity ... just part of the larger clinic.

my second reason for choosing midwives is the type of care that i will and have already received.  i feel like this pregnancy is more of a celebration, even when i go in for my monthly appointments it's just a happier, more relaxed environment.  i also love the fact that i can call my midwives at any point if i have questions or concerns.  this has been really good during this second pregnancy as we had some issues early on.  they weren't annoyed with my questions, they provided support and answers.  booked me in for tests right away to be sure.  as opposed to just being told to make an appointment by a receptionist.

my third reason is related to the image above.  when i was pregnant with liam it was my goal to have a natural, pain medication free labour and delivery.  i was very lucky that we were able to do this.  especially since i went hypertensive.  even though i was in the hospital, my sister in law (who happens to be an L&D nurse as well as a trained midwife) was there to help and assist in my labour and delivery of our baby and to make sure that there wasn't going to be anything offered that wasn't absolutely medically necessary.  i believe that i don't need a manager in my pregnancy, or delivery.  i need assistance.  my body actually knows what to do.  but don't get me wrong.  i feel that there are absolutely times when medical intervention is needed (say a 24-40 hour labour, or baby/mommy is in trouble, etc).  otherwise, women have been having babies successfully for thousands and thousands of years. and for me, i realize that i'm lucky to be one who didn't need any interventions.

finally i wanted to explore the possibility of a home birth.  now i'm totally uncertain on this.  but i want to learn as much as i can about the pros and cons so that we can make an informed decision.  and i do mean we.  the husband has just as much say about a home birth as i do.  my labour was fairly fast with liam, seven hours total.  from first contraction to baby.  this is why home birth is appealing.  what happens if we can't make it to the hospital in time?  but then there's the question, what if something goes wrong and we need to get to the hospital?  the good news is our midwife clinic runs a session that we have to attend once i hit 36 weeks.  it goes through everything we need to know about birthing at home, in the hospital or at a birth centre.  honestly i think this will just be a wait and see kind of decision.

in the end i know that we have and we will make the right decision.  i'm really happy we have a midwife for this pregnancy and would absolutely recommend this type of prenatal care to everyone and anyone.