Midwife

So.. finding an OB/GYN doc that I like in Grove City has proven difficult. I had an appointment with an office that was close. I met with the meet/greet nurse and felt good about it- and then when I told her the doctor that I wanted to be seen by was only available- Every other Friday in the Mornings ONLY. I immediately felt like I was going to be passed around the office of 19 OB's and decided not to make an appointment there. So then #2 office had me confirm my pregnancy via blood draw- and I did that (which honestly took a week because I was so sick and even the thought of being 'pricked' sent me to praise the porcelain king). So when they received my results I got into a lengthy discussion about how I didn't feel that an ultrasound for a due date was a medical enough reason to get a procedure done- it is a planned pregnancy. She was a very protective secretary that wouldn't even consider to leave a message for a nurse or have the doctor call and talk to me about it.
Then #3 wouldn't take on new patients for August, then #4 wouldn't accept me because I was self pay. So finally I sat down and thought about all the things that were important to me. And I felt like since I was 'going against the grain' with these offices- and was planning on having a doula (and speaking with my close doula-friend (that lives out of state) the idea of a Certified Nurse Midwife come into conversation.
Columbus has a total of. . .(wait for it) TWO certified nurse midwives. Yes, all of Columbus! But the super thing about it is that they are paired with an OB office with reputable doctors (which put my mom at ease).
So finally I met with one of two at the office- Emily and I'll meet Becky next week. They have master's degrees in women's health and also medically trained and offer 'full service' for normal pregnancies, but if an abnormality out of their realm happens to happen then I would be passed on to doctor within the practice.
The midwife will be with me and Brey as we are admitted to the hospital (St. Ann's) and deliver the baby. If I was to get an epidural, that is the only circumstance that she would leave and come back for delivery- only because she isn't much use if I'm sleeping. I'm hoping that this will be a water birth since I do have a water tub available and they are authorized to deliver in the tub.
So why am I choosing this? Well, with Leila's birth I had a rather lengthy recovery- and I'm hoping that with a more patient midwife than ob doctor that the baby will come with less interference than last time. I feel that this birth, I will be informed about every decision and know of alternatives for each procedure. I always wonder, what if??..when I think about Leila's delivery- what if they had waited for my epidural to 'lighten up', waited for my body to start labor or not to have used forceps etc..
I want to reassure everyone, that I know the priority is a healthy baby, but it would also be great to not have the recovery that I had to have with Leila- it took a toll on every aspect of my life. I am not angry with OB's or reject them- but so far, I feel there is no need to see a doctor for something as natural as a baby being born. I'm trying to read up on as much stuff and learn all I can about what my body can do. .and hopefully will do.
I look forward to this experience and I know of many amazing women (that are in my age group) that have had wonderful experiences, and I'm just hoping that I can prepare for a good experience also. Please don't misinterpret that I'm going 'all natural' because I'm going to look at all angles to see if some pain medication to take the edge off will help. There is also talk about using laughing gas during labor also- so it's just great to know of my options and feel empowered that my Midwife will follow my desires for a delivery.
We are also planning on a few things that are 'routine' for midwives like delayed cord clamping- which because I had a clotting disorder when I was younger, I can see that the extra clotting enzymes could be beneficial for the delayed clamping.
We are going to have our ultra sound for anatomy done probably 1st or 2nd week in April- so Easter weekend we will cut the cake to find out the gender! Wondering what 'cut the cake' is?? Well, I was blog surfing some friend of a friend of a friend's blog and they had the ultra sound technician write a piece of paper and place it in an envelope with the gender. The couple then gave the envelope to the baker and asked them to make a cake that is gender neutral on the outside, but to do a layer of icing either pink or blue on the inside. They then had family come over for a party and each person had a pink or blue drink in their hands and then cut the cake to see who had guessed right!
Due date 8/18/11