Home Birth

It's June 1st! I've made it to the month Chloe is going to be born! That feels great. Yesterday was my first home visit from my midwife. I believe I've mentioned I am going to have this baby at home this go around. I have several reasons for that.

First and foremost, I nearly had Aaron in the car on the way to the hospital that was 35-40 minutes from our house. He arrived 30 minutes after we got to the hospital, albeit for the second time that evening. They didn't believe me when I said I was in active labor. I was right. They were wrong. We've since moved further away from that hospital, so now it is an hour's drive. I just didn't have an inclination this go around to do transition in the car and be concerned the whole time about how that would go down.

Second, I live in a part of South Carolina that is very underserved for midwifery. I've had all my babies with midwives and I vastly prefer that arrangement to going to an OB in a typical hospital setting. I did have all three others in a hospital, but under a midwife's care. With Aaron I had wanted a birthing center, but finances and the group I picked didn't have their center open yet, so that didn't work out. Anyway, I had a rather bad experience at the beginning of this pregnancy with the certified midwife group I had used last go around and it turned me off using them again. I was left scrambling 12 weeks into my pregnancy trying to find a different provider that I trusted. Turns out the closest birthing center to me is an hour away not factoring in traffic. With as fast as the end of Aaron's birth went, that made me super uncomfortable. Pretty well the biggest stress for me of any pregnancy has been what to do with my kids when it's time to deliver the next baby. It really bothers me, when very little else does.

Second, my husband is a grad student so I qualify for Medicaid when I'm pregnant. It's a nice benefit for being in such a low income situation, I guess?? No really, I'm super grateful for that. Having a baby can be super expensive. The birthing centers didn't take that insurance. So even if I wanted to drive an hour for all my appointments plus to have the baby, I'd have to pay out of pocket. So there I was again, 12 weeks pregnant, not having luck finding a provider. I did a bunch of internet searching and finally found two independent midwives that came highly recommended. I spoke with both of them and one would charge me literally half what the other would because she took my insurance for at least part of the cost. I was sold.

In going with an independent midwife that means I jumped straight into the world of home birth. I'm totally okay with this. It's my fourth baby. I've had no complications with the others. The lack of stress knowing I don't have to go anywhere when I'm in labor is incredible. And if anything did happen, I do have a hospital just ten minutes down the road and my midwife would come along. So really, it took out all the things that stressed me with previous pregnancies. And aside from the financial affordability, I really like my midwife. She is great. She has four kids of her own not much older than mine. She's nice, fun to talk to, efficient, low key, and just a genuinely nice person. I feel really blessed to have found her.

So yesterday was my first home visit now that I'm 36 weeks pregnant. It was amazing to not have to leave the house. She brought the birthing pool. I'm going to try that approach this time. Chloe is looking absolutely perfect as far as this stage of pregnancy goes. She's head down, way low already, and in the optimal position for birth. In fact, she was going crazy with contractions all afternoon and evening yesterday, enough to make me worry just a bit. Bill's headed out to a conference to present and we need her to wait until he comes back to come. I've never had a baby more than a week early, but hey, she could throw us off. Things are all calm today though so I think we're back to the waiting game and I'm not worried anymore. Honestly, if she did decide to come early we would work through it however worked best and have an awesome story forever after. Three weeks left. All good things happening. I'm feeling pretty great.