I made an appointment to meet them around 28 weeks into my pregnancy, a little late to be switching but, I felt I needed to explore this option. I went into the water birth center, it's a very small place about 5-10 minutes from my home, and right across the street from a hospital (just in case - I thought).
I was a little taken aback at how small it actually was, just a reception area, hallway, storage/kitchen/laundry, and three "guest rooms." The furnishings were hotel like - a modestly upscale, VERY homey, and comfortable. Any misgivings I might have had were immediately dispelled with all the women gooing over someone's baby, and the sweetness of it all - just had me.
While in one of the suites, they offered me some herbal tea and I sat on a comfy couch - not a sterile patient's room at a clinic. This room was better decorated than my own bedroom, it had a very large bath tub overlooking wetlands in it for birthing - it was very comfortable and relaxing. Two midwives and two apprentices were assigned to me, for my entire prenatal and birthing care - no one else and no men - perfect. At the first visit one midwife and one apprentice was there and explained how the whole process went and all of my options. I can not tell in words how relaxed, at home and how "right" this all felt for me. I was actually, truly envisioning a really beautiful birth experience and I was excited and almost ready (I really enjoyed being pregnant - up until that last month of being bloated and having heartburn).
I transferred my care over to their competent hands for the rest of my pregnancy and birth. Over the course of the next couple months I met with both midwives and both apprentices for my prenatal care. Every visit was scheduled for an hour, some actually took that long, with all of the questions and answers and some did not. One visit my midwife painted my belly with the postion of my baby - it was very precious.
Amazingly, they never checked my cervix - they left that up to me - if I chose to know how effaced and open my cervix was. From what I was reading - it did not help that much to know, and in some cases knowing hindered the mother to be with feeling like the pregnancy wasn't progressing as it should and could lead to anxiety. I came to trust my body was meant to have a baby and that I could and would do this naturally -no drugs, as nature intended and God/Godess willing. I also, came to the conclusion that my poor sister's doctors just did not know or use the information that the midwives have.
I kept thinking of the over 30% cesarean rate at hospitals and started to believe that something is not working in that system of a natural human event. And given the statistics of our country's c-section, and natural birth mortality rates - it didn't add up. The countries that use midwives and home birth do better over all. Then the drugs, I didn't want my baby to have to be exposed immediately to anything unless absolutely necessary, and having a pain killer is not in my book as absolutely necessary. The Hypnobirthing book really helped me realize that I could tap into my endorphins and to keep fear out of my head (fear causes adrenaline and pain response). I watched some hypnobirth and water birth videos on Youtube and was really helped by seeing the peacefulness of some of the births that were on there.
Our birthing class taught by a midwife was another valuable and insightful experience. We watched videos of natural home births and water births by women all over the world. It was all very empowering to see young children and husband/partners in the tub with the mother to be sharing in the experience of bringing the child into the world.
Part Three: The Birth - next time
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