Homebirth, Waterbirth

Last Wednesday evening, we visited another midwife. After spending almost 6 hours on the phone on Monday, looking for a hospital or a doctor or midwife or doula, and not finding a single one, I was wallowing in the depths of despair and didn’t dare hope she would be any good. As we walked up to her clinic, which was an older house that had been remodeled, my heart sank even deeper as I saw some plants dying in her front yard.

We walked in and she had a very loud voice. You think I am loud … well, I’m inaudible comparatively. She was extremely friendly and cheerful, very outgoing but pleasantly non-aggressive. The inside of the clinic was bright and clean and nicely decorated without being cluttered. It was a warm and comfortable place. With her somewhat brash manner, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but she skillfully put both of us at ease, giving Ben statistics about homebirth vs. hospital birth and also telling us comparative safety issues and risks. Then she started talking about herself, her practice, and answering pretty nearly all the questions Ben and I had before we ever asked anything.

Even better, after talking for over an hour, we found out the midwife is a Bible-believing Christian (… charismatic, arminian, premil, pretrib …) which was a great comfort after whacko new-age midwives and doulas (orgasmic birth, female empowerment, etc.) and abortion-pushing doctors and nurses who believe you must have STDs because you must have been promiscuous before marriage.

Anyway … this midwife doesn’t do breech births. She does vaccinations (’cause she’s a doctor), but doesn’t force parents to do any of the STD vaccinations and other shots and ointments and tests at any time and certainly doesn’t recommend doing them to the baby immediately after birth. She doesn’t do aromatherapy, but apparently she uses various herbs for treatment before and after. She also has a birthing pool we can set up so I can have a waterbirth at home … which is what I’ve wanted for a long, long, long time.

So, we’ll be having this baby in a tub at home in the family room. It’s been almost a week and I can’t believe it yet. Thank you, God!!

She has capable hands.