Personalized Birth

When I mentioned to Levi a few weeks ago of my desire to birth outside of the hospital this time around, he was surprisingly supportive! I thought that he would have a difficult time with this concept, but instead has attended multiple consultations with me to meet some of the local midwifery companies.

We have narrowed it down to two different places, One Family Birth Center and Birthways Midwifery (which consists of three midwives who have recently branched off from One Family to begin their own practice) Unfortunately, I am having a far more difficult time deciding than I imagined I would. I have a list of pro's and con's with each place and I feel that where one company lacks, the other prevails....and vice versa. I hope to make a final decision by this week or next so that we can begin their wonderful and personalized prenatal care.

With both places Levi and I will be in complete control of our care from day one. Anything that we choose to have done we can have, and anything that we feel is unnecessary will be left out. It is OUR care, and we personalize it to fit our needs.

Although I have not narrowed down which set of midwives I am going to work with, I have decided on a number of aspects that I wish to be different this time around. I had an amazing birthing experience with Lucas and feel that I want the second to be even more personalized and precious.

Here are my top priorities for birth #2:

* I am really leaning on a home birth. When I was younger I always though that women who birthed at home were crazy, but this is now something that I want to experience for myself. If for some reason we decide against being at home, we have decided on a birthing center (which is just a cozy room with a bed, tub and fire place!) I have no intentions of going back to the hospital until my baby is born.

* I would like to attempt a water birth. This was something I was very interested in doing last time around, but I was so far along when I made it to the hospital that nature just took its course. Both companies offer tub rentals to set up in the home.

* I am going to delay the cutting of the cord until the placenta is expelled. Studies have showed wonderful benefits to allowing the newborn to reincorporate the blood from the placenta back into his or her own blood supply. Not only does it help to regulate breath rate, heart rate and body temperature, but it also reduces the risk of jaundice.

* I want Lucas present. By birthing at home Lucas will be in a familiar environment where he can come and go as he pleases. The midwives all spoke positively of having older siblings involved and said that they are always wonderful during births. I can already envision Lucas hoping into the pool with me to admire the baby once it's out!

* And finally, and most importantly, I want for either myself or Levi to catch the baby. I don't feel there is any reason that our hands can't be the first to touch and welcome our baby into this world. Both companies are entirely supportive of this notion and in fact, they highly recommend it!

I'm not sure if having an existing child already has made me feel the need to take more control, but I have complete faith in my body and its natural process of bringing a life into this world. I had a great labor and delivery experience at the Alaska Native Medical Center, but I feel strongly in my desire to do things a bit differently this time around. If natural midwifery care is what I am striving to achieve in my personal/professional life, I suppose I had better practice what I preach!