This Saturday is the Natural Birth and Baby Expo here in Tampa. I'm excited to go and to participate in the Great Cloth Diaper Change. I never thought that I would be excited about an event that features a drum circle and changing a diaper, but there you go.
My journey into "natural" birth and parenting started about twenty years too late. My first three children were all born in hospitals, all induced using Pitocin, and born vaginally under epidural anesthesia while I was semi-reclined in a hospital bed. While all the experiences turned out fine, I never knew that this wasn't the best way to have a baby. No pain? Check. Don't wait for nature to take its course? Check. "Professional" supervision of the birth? Check. I figured those days were behind me, and I viewed the natural birth and parenting movement that began gaining popularity in the 2000s as something that only hippies and granola-chomping folks espoused.
Then I got divorced and later remarried a man thirteen years younger than myself. Life being life, I soon ended up pregnant (we had planned on having a baby together, but not quite as quickly as it happened). The more I remembered my experiences in the hospital, the more I worried about all the intervention. The fact that being 40 automatically put me into the high-risk category made my anxiety even worse. I did the research and knew that having a C-section was a high probability, and that was something I definitely did not want.
The final straw came for me over the summer, when I was about four months pregnant and waiting in my obstetrician's office. I had been there for about 45 minutes so far and knew that when I finally did see the doctor, or possibly the nurse practicioner, that I would get five minutes with him/her and be dismissed. I was done. I felt like a second-class citizen, and I pride myself on being a self-advocate. I walked out of the office without seeing the doctor. After emailing the office that I was severing my ties with them, I began researching and contacting midwives. I found a wonderful midwife about half an hour away, and set up an initial appointment.
People who have used midwives can tell you what a different experience it is. Imagine being the only patient in an office for an entire hour. Imagine your care provider bringing out a Moby wrap to demonstrate babywearing to your husband. Imagine your glucose test involving not a disgusting orange-flavored sugar drink, but a Snickers bar or regular grape juice. It was amazing and empowering.
My birth, when it finally happened, was amazing as well. After three straight instances of being induced (40+12, 40+4 and 39), I was able to trust my body to know when it was time. I do admit to helping my body out with various natural ways of induction, including eating a ton of salsa the night before I actually went into labor, but nothing as invasive as hospitals use. When I awakened at 5 am on 11/27/13 and felt the first labor pains I had ever felt in my life, I knew that I could handle what was to come. Only five hours later, Aurelia was born in our hot tub with only myself, my husband, and our midwife there to welcome her into the world.
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| Sleepy baby only 30 minutes old in bed with Mama |
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| Our amazing midwife weighing Aurelia - bed's eye view |
Now I am confident in the decisions I make for my family. I do my research and am very public about our choices to cloth diaper, exclusively breastfeed/pump, and vaccinate our child. I am a mix of views. I work, but believe in stay at home moms. I cloth diaper, but understand that many others choose to use disposables. What it boils down to is what is best for you, your child and your entire family. I am very careful never to criticize another parent for their choices, because I used to use disposables, feed my children formula, and stay home with them. I've seen both sides, and as I've learned, every situation is unique.
I am looking forward to learning more on Saturday about different options for my daughter, and any other children who possibly come along. It should be a beautiful day and an informative one as well. Hope your weekend is wonderful!
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