I was so judgmental about home births?until I had an unplanned home birth myself
Photo: Shea Long, Coastal Lifestyles Photography.
The contractions started at 5 a.m., as I was getting ready to do my five-minute segment as a beauty expert on The Marilyn Denis Show. I didn?t realize they were contractions, though. I assumed it was indigestion or maybe Braxton Hicks. I was sure of one thing: It couldn?t be contractions because my water hadn?t broken, and besides, I was still a week away from my due date. Everyone knows first babies always come late! In my mind, I still had three weeks to do all the important mom-to-be stuff, like get a pedicure and pack my hospital bag.
Despite choosing to go the midwife route instead of using an OB/GYN, I was planning on having a hospital birth. Some time after getting pregnant, as I researched the various options, midwife or OB/GYN, I encountered the midwifery ethos that it?s the mother who delivers her baby, not anyone else. I appreciated the feminism that underpinned the theory, but I knew it wasn?t for me. I?m a writer: My area of expertise is knowing how to fix a dangling modifier, not how to coax a baby out of my vagina. That task was better left to the professionals, who I?d always expected to encounter in a hospital. Which is what I firmly stated in all my prenatal classes, every time we went around the circle, saying our names, how far along we were and how we were preparing for the birth. ?Hospital! Hospital! Hospital!? I would chant like an overzealous cheerleader. I was so judgmental?and I wasn?t quiet...
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