I will be forever grateful that I had a skilled midwife by my side at each of my home births. In both cases, she protected and supported my perineum so I didn't tear, and no stitches were ever needed. She also literally saved my son's life during my second home birth.
From the very beginning, I was deeply committed to natural childbirth. …
I will be forever grateful that I had a skilled midwife by my side at each of my home births. In both cases, she protected and supported my perineum so I didn't tear, and no stitches were ever needed. She also literally saved my son's life during my second home birth.
From the very beginning, I was deeply committed to natural childbirth. My philosophy had always been to "follow my intuition", "trust the process", and allow the birth to unfold naturally ~ which is exactly why we chose home birth for both of our children in the first place. I did *not* want any invasive medical interventions that would interrupt or interfere with either the birth process or the bonding/breastfeeding process afterward.
However, I knew the birth process could be potentially dangerous, so we chose the most experienced lay midwife we could find (who also had an ob/gyn on standby in case of an emergency) ~ and I'm extremely glad we did.
Both of my births turned out to be excruciatingly painful: each child presented face up (instead of face down), which meant the child's spine was against my spine (instead of my belly) each time the contractions occurred. (This is called "back labor".)
In addition, my second labor lasted 56 hours (from Wednesday morning until late Saturday afternoon) with contractions starting and then stopping again and again. It is important to note this was full labor, with my cervix gradually opening (not merely "false labor" with "Braxton Hicks" contractions), and my midwife regularly checked the fetal heartbeat to make sure my baby was not in distress.
It wasn't until near the very end of this long and belaboured process that my waters finally broke, at which point my midwife immediately reached in and discovered the cord was wrapped around my son's neck.
Without saying a word to either me or my husband about the grave danger my child was in, she put her finger *between* his neck and the cord to protect him, and then whispered to me I had to start pushing HARD ~ no more "going with the flow" or simply "trusting the natural process".
Only after my son was born, did I realize what had happened: he would not be with us today, if she had *not* been there, by my side, to intervene and protect my precious (now brilliant) son during his life-threatening birthing process.
What is missing in this article is the vitally important distinction between:
> the tremendous value of natural childbirth, at home, with appropriately skilled assistance and support and
> unassisted birth, which throws all caution to the wind and risks potentially horrendous consequences for both mother and child.
I will be forever grateful that I had a skilled midwife by my side at each of my home births. In both cases, she protected and supported my perineum so I didn't tear, and no stitches were ever needed. She also literally saved my son's life during my second home birth.
From the very beginning, I was deeply committed to natural childbirth. My philosophy had always been to "follow my intuition", "trust the process", and allow the birth to unfold naturally ~ which is exactly why we chose home birth for both of our children in the first place. I did *not* want any invasive medical interventions that would interrupt or interfere with either the birth process or the bonding/breastfeeding process afterward.
However, I knew the birth process could be potentially dangerous, so we chose the most experienced lay midwife we could find (who also had an ob/gyn on standby in case of an emergency) ~ and I'm extremely glad we did.
Both of my births turned out to be excruciatingly painful: each child presented face up (instead of face down), which meant the child's spine was against my spine (instead of my belly) each time the contractions occurred. (This is called "back labor".)
In addition, my second labor lasted 56 hours (from Wednesday morning until late Saturday afternoon) with contractions starting and then stopping again and again. It is important to note this was full labor, with my cervix gradually opening (not merely "false labor" with "Braxton Hicks" contractions), and my midwife regularly checked the fetal heartbeat to make sure my baby was not in distress.
It wasn't until near the very end of this long and belaboured process that my waters finally broke, at which point my midwife immediately reached in and discovered the cord was wrapped around my son's neck.
Without saying a word to either me or my husband about the grave danger my child was in, she put her finger *between* his neck and the cord to protect him, and then whispered to me I had to start pushing HARD ~ no more "going with the flow" or simply "trusting the natural process".
Only after my son was born, did I realize what had happened: he would not be with us today, if she had *not* been there, by my side, to intervene and protect my precious (now brilliant) son during his life-threatening birthing process.
What is missing in this article is the vitally important distinction between:
> the tremendous value of natural childbirth, at home, with appropriately skilled assistance and support and
> unassisted birth, which throws all caution to the wind and risks potentially horrendous consequences for both mother and child.