Butterfly Kisses

After I made the choice that I wanted a VBAC for the birth of our daughter I had an extremely difficult decision to make. You see our twin boys had been born with an OB and with as often as I saw him, I felt really close to him. I was comfortable and to be honest I really liked him to. However I knew from our previous conversations that he truly didn't understand the whys of natural childbirth (liking it to getting major surgery without anesthesia) and while on paper he was supportive of a VBAC he had so many restrictions (as long as I went into labor by exactly 40 weeks, as long as I stayed on the monitors the entire time, as long as I stayed in bed, as long as I had IV fluids, any irregularities straight to surgery, etc) all things I knew were not conducive to a natural childbirth, but I liked him and I didn't want to hurt his feelings (this makes me laugh now, but it was a real fear at the time).

After much urging by my friends I finally agreed to make an appointment with the only midwife group in town that would see a VBAC, the midwives at UNMC. I met with Heather Ramsey and was just astonished by how non-medical the whole thing was. We talked about VBAC and birth in general. Every single one of their standard policies was exactly what all the research I had been doing supported. I suddenly realized what it would be like to have care providers who actually supported what the most up-to-date birthing research says. What it would be like to have people supporting me, not fighting me. I instantly canceled my next OB appointment and never looked back.

My pregnancy was amazing and so very normal. Becca was born at 41 weeks and 6 days. Long past when my OB would have insisted upon a section. I was able to realize my dream of birthing my baby with the loving support of my husband and my doula. Becca entered the world so calmly and peacefully. This was such a gift to her and to me given to us by the loving care and guidance provided to me throughout my pregnancy by my midwife. So in honor of "International Midwives' Day" I want to say thank you to all those midwives out there doing what they do. As a mother, a childbirth educator and a doula I say thank you for providing researched based choices when so many do not.