Hooray for Midwives!

It's been nearly 6 years since I had my last baby, but I thought an important kid-related subject to discuss with you is midwifery.

When I was pregnant with William, my first baby, back in October 2004 - I called my best friend right away to share my news.  Carla suggested that I look into a midwife.  The first thing that came into my head what a picture of a Mary Poppins type woman with a big doctor bag and seriously dated birthing techniques.  I'm assuming that because of my silence, Carla knew that I was thinking something very close to that.  She explained what she knew and how they could help and that was enough to make me interested.

Child birth and pregnancy is scary!  I'm an anxious person to begin with, add a baby in my tummy and I'm teetering on neurotic.  I called the Sages-Femmes Rouge Valley Midwives - http://www.yourmidwives.com/ the next day.  And a good thing I did because apparently midwives are in demand, as they should be! 

I met Carolynn Prior - she would later be my midwife and my friend through the whole process of the birth of my two children.  She came to our house and we had an interview.  I signed up and schedule myself in for her monthly appointments, which at the time were done in my home.

Anytime I had a question or a concern, I could call up the midwife's answering service and have Carolynn paged.  She had a back-up (Lisa) that could fill in if she was busy with another client - which is completely understandable. 

I remember when I was pregnant with my daughter, I went to Nova Scotia that summer to celebrate my grandparent's anniversary.  I was 5 months pregnant that week and I started to bleed, fairly significantly.  I called up Carolynn and was able to get support and encouragement.  They checked up on me by phone and I was able to call them anytime of the day and night.  Everything was fine, they were right - but I can bet that no doctor could do what they did for me.

I laboured for William for 36 hours, I was dedicated to having him naturally.  I was sure I did everything right, so it should just be that easy!  I went pain-med free, so I was hurting considerably but the midwives were there to rub my back and talk me through it all.  William was a cesarean birth, which is performed by a obstetrician - who made me cry within 2 minutes of meeting me - but my midwives were there the whole time for William when he was born.

When we left the hospital and went home, Carolynn came to the house daily and then weekly to check on his progress and make sure my emotional and mental health was ok.  I remember sitting with Carolynn and a midwife apprentice and just talking about personal experiences they had with their own infants. 

Such a fantastic experience and I wish my blog will help someone else considering a medical practioner for their pregnancy/labour.