Choosing the Midwife

I've had a few questions about this decision, so I thought I'd share some of my thoughts and rationality behind choosing a Midwife over an OBGYN. 


First, midwives are not just for hippies. :-) There are LOTS of women in the world, from high-powered corporate lawyers and movies stars to new-age nuts, who use midwives. There are also different kinds of midwives.


CPM - Certified Professional Midwives, traditional midwives. These women are required to take certain tests and be certified. Here's a good list of what they and CNMs - Certified Nurse Midwives - have in common. http://www.texasmidwives.com/TexasMidwivesChart.asp 


My sisters use CPMs, and that's what my mother used. I prefer to use the CNM because (1) they can write prescriptions and order tests through doctor's offices, (2) it makes my husband more comfortable. :-) Because of my prior history with kidney infections, I really like the benefit of being able to get an antibiotic/prescription through the midwife if necessary. I also like that if SOMETHING goes wrong, the midwife is connected to a doctor's office that she can bump me over to without me needing to worry about a doctor looking down his nose at the midwife decision.


I also love the flexibility of midwives - I can change my mind at the last minute and go to the hospital, I can have my baby in the birth center that is beautiful and comfortable, or I can even have the baby in the comfort and privacy of my own home. I like the birth center option because it's as comfortable and beautiful as a bed and breakfast and with just as little work for me. I don't have to clean the sheets, the blankets, the bath-tub. They have it all - birthing tub, shower, bathroom, kitchen, comfy bed. I have my baby, I go home happy.


It is VERY important for a woman to feel safe and comfortable during child birth. My mother recites parts from Psalms 23 - Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.


That's really how you feel. A woman literally puts herself on a sacrificial alter in order to have a baby. That is one of the things that makes a mother's love so unique and beautiful; we prepare to give our lives up for a child to enter the world. It's beautiful.


I want to feel like I'm in an environment where my wishes will be respected and I have the ultimate control of what happens. During the birth of my first daughter, it was drug free but not by choice - by a doctor not wanting to bother with me because of the importance of HER schedule. They control was further rested from me when it was insisted that I PUSH when my body didn't want to and then I was given pain medication when I made it clear I didn't want any and that medication erased the first twelve hours of my baby's life from my memory.


My story isn't even that horrible. I've heard of women ready for a natural delivery who got a C-section and women ready for a C-section who aren't given the right pain meds, and babies pulled out with forceps and then the mother being treated like an idiot. It's a mess out there.


Midwife, at its earliest translation, means "with woman." In these days, midwives are often women of great faith and spirituality. They are truly there to make you feel comfortable and safe, to pray if you want them to pray, to follow the direction of the Spirit and YOUR feelings. They are there to support the woman and to do all they can to bring a healthy baby in to the world. They are not there to medicate, stipulate, manipulate, or decide how it's going to go.


If you want to labor on your side, back, front, all-fours, standing, in-the-shower, in a tub, completely naked, completely covered, with your whole neighborhood, or just with them, they will support you. They will let you light candles, play music, or read a book. They will ENCOURAGE you to eat WHILE you labor - they know what it takes to get energy and they don't have to call in a haz-mat team if you throw up. I hate the hospital thing - only ice chips while you labor. They do that so they can have you on an empty stomach in case they want to give you meds, then they don't have to worry about you being sick on them. 


Another great thing is how fast they let you leave. They are required to keep you for so much time after delivery - two hours. That's it. Then they help you pack up and go. And they still do the birth certificate work and newborn screening. :-) You get to go home and recover in your own bed. Or, you can stay for several more hours at the birth center, if you so wish. 


AND - all midwives are well equipped with life-saving devices. Oxygen for you and baby. Life-saving drugs, for you and baby. Check the mortality rates with birth centers - 99.9% of them have ZERO infant or mother deaths. Now, check the hospital rates. Did you know that the US isn't even in the top ten percent of fewest mortality rates among newborns? Guess who is? FINLAND. Guess why? MIDWIVES attend more than half of all births in FINALND. The USA ranks number 46. We also have one of the highest C-section rates in the WORLD.


Any more questions?


Please watch the film "The Business of Being Born." It's amazing and explains a lot of birth myths and has some revealing interviews with OBGYNs.


I'm not anti-doctor. I've known several women who HAD to have a doctor because of a medical emergency. But, over-all, birth itself is not a medical emergency. Pregnancy is not an illness. It is a natural thing. Do what makes you comfortable and happy.