Midwifery Care

With our third planned home birth only a few months away, this felt like a timely post. During our last pregnancy I did an Instagram Q & A on birth and loved the conversations it produced. I've found that most people simply don't know much about midwifery care but are generally curious, even if they'd prefer a more typical birth set up.

First, lets start with the obvious--this is a touchy subject & home birth midwives aren't for everyone. I am aware that while home birth is my preferred birthing set up, it isn't everyone's cup of tea. Not to mention it isn't often an option with multiples, breech babies, high risk pregnancies, and even in specific states. I also recognize my privilege as a young white woman with low-risk births. So many desire home births but aren't able to receive them due to racism, prejudice, or complications.

So while I have had wonderful experiences with our home births--and hope to have this next babe in our home--I never want to give the impression that this is universally possible or everyone's ideal. If you love your epidural and hospital set up, you go girl. If you were unable to have the birth you longed for, I am deeply sorry--feel free to skip this potentially triggering post.

Regardless of your ideals, if you're curious (and maybe even considering a birth center birth or home birth), here are my top five favorite things about midwifery care:

1. Personalized Care:

My midwives knew me. On average our appointments are 45min-1hr. We chat, laugh, and they make sure I'm given ample opportunity to ask any & all questions I may have. While OBGYN's could offer the same appointment length, they often don't.

When your care provider knows you, your history (medical and otherwise), and your ideals, labor & delivery looks more like trusted friends who happen to be medical professionals coming alongside you to help you complete your goal. Are they equipped with the gear to resuscitate a newborn? Yes. Do they know how to stop mom from hemorrhaging? Yes. But they also know SO much more. Like what my fears are regarding birth, who I trust to do what, what interventions I'm hoping to avoid, etc.

The personalized care provided by midwives has been the biggest seller for me. I knew who would be present at my baby's birth and they knew me and my family. That peace of mind alone is worth gold while in labor!

2. Parental Consent:

Midwives are big on consent, almost to the point where it's comical. "Can I touch your arm," "can I roll up your sleeve," and, "can I take your blood pressure" are all regular inquiries during your appointment. And while it might seem trivial to ask for consent to take your blood pressure during your 10th appointment, this level of respect and concern is pivotal, especially when in labor.

My body, my baby's body, and my preferences are respected absolutely. Nothing is done without my permission. There's no need to scramble for basic information or a birth plan when it's go time because your midwives have gotten to know you for nine months. With midwifery care, there's ample room to give space to the birthing mother and wait to ask for permission before intervening.

3. Postpartum Care:

Y'ALL, I cannot stress enough the glory of midwifery postpartum care.

Standard OBGYN care looks like a brief post-birth visit in the hospital and then a follow up appointment at six weeks. Standard midwifery postpartum care looks like home checks (aka they come to you! *insert praise hands here*) at 24hrs, 72hrs, 1 week, 2 weeks, and then at 6 weeks. Most birth centers also offer drop-in breastfeeding groups and parenting classes, and my midwives have always been a quick text or visit away if I've had concerns outside of those typical appointment windows. While the appointment times and frequencies differ depending on the specific midwives you choose, I've only ever heard of midwives being frequently present during the postpartum period.

This isn't simply a matter of appointments being in the ease of your own home. More frequent postpartum visits drastically reduce issues with postpartum mental health, breastfeeding, and postpartum healing. While I still experienced postpartum anxiety after each birth--regardless of where I birthed--my midwives were able to detect and help much earlier than my OBGYN who, unfortunately, was only able to see me six weeks after our son's birth.

4. Submitting to the Process:

Hear me out on this: birth is painful. Often in the crunchy birthing universe, people try to downplay the fact that pushing a human out hurts, or, even worse, they say it doesn't hurt at all. Spoiler alert: it does. It's intense. That being said, I wouldn't say it's the most painful experience of my life (shout out to adult chicken pox that resulted in a face infection for showing me what my "10" on the pain scale is; you the real MVP).

While it's probably weird to admit that the painful intensity of unmedicated birth is, in fact, a benefit, I've always found great peace by submitting to the process.

So often we view pain as a negative entity because, most often, it is. There's no benefit to breaking your leg. There's no silver lining in a concussion. It just sucks. But--here's the cool part--birth pain isn't of the same category.

After you break a bone, you're left with a broken bone. After you go through the intensity of labor and delivery, you receive the joy of meeting your child. Unmedicated birth is hard work, but the reward is worth reaping.

When we chose to birth at home my husband & I had to make a big mental shift: we were not to approach birth with intense fear and reliance on aids. Instead, we needed to approach birth with attentive, professional eyes and a humble submission to my body's capability. We listened to the pain and adapted to it as a means of delivering new life into the world, instead of fearing it as an unwelcome suffering to be avoided.

P.S. I could talk about this specific category all day. If you're curious about pain management, the intensity of labor (it isn't at all like a broken bone), or how undisrupted hormones work in unmedicated birth, I'd love to talk more!

5. A Plethora of Options

While this category may slightly overlap with personalized care and parental consent, I think it's worth it's own mention. Outside the walls of a hospital--where protocol is prioritized because it reduces liability on a mass scale--a birthing mother has significantly more options.

With solid midwifery care *should* come ample choices and flexibility (if it doesn't, switch providers). It should go without saying that in an alarming or emergency situation, the medical professionals should always be enabled to jump in and direct. But in a typical physiological birth, midwives encourage birthing mothers to do as they please. Don't want to drink the glucose drink from hell? Let's chat about other ways to monitor your blood sugar. Want to birth in water? Go for it. Want to eat a snack? Sounds like a great idea. Want to skip cervical checks? No problem; we can look for other indicators of progression.

Throughout all of my care via midwives they have not only asked for permission, they've also always given options. And--get this--those options have always been presented to me before I have to inquire about alternatives. As long as things stayed within the realm of normalcy, I was given the freedom to choose what I believed was best for me and my baby.

Well there ya have it, the top five reasons I love midwifery care. If you have questions, head over to my Instagram stories today for a Q & A. And if you're ever wanting to chat in more detail about birth, I'm always a DM away!