My Emphatic, (resoundingly enthusiastic) Case for Midwives!

This is a tad long, you have been warned!
I was sharing my comparison of home birth to hospital birth with a friend this morning, it was this:
Going to a midwife, and either having a home birth, or having a hospital birth with a doula/midwife speaking for you when you and your hubby are pre-ocuppied with labor, is like having your wedding day all over again. Midwives make the pregnancy and birth about YOU! OBGYNs and Doctors and hospitals are like having a baby at the the Motor Vehicle Dept... take a number and make it quick! (why do you think the number of C-sections are rising:? It's because doctors are taking precedent and demanding babies be born on THEIR schedule), which we all know is NOT how it is; babies come, when they want to come;] and all midwives build their practice on this philosophy! 
Here is my story!
I have always had a deep disdain, from childhood, for doctors, hospitals and the painful, expensive western medical practices. I already knew in my teenage years that I would want something different for my birth...I just didn't know there were other options than the hospital, even when I was married! THEN, one night after work, being bored and hubby away on a work trip, I was doing some internet searching, especially after talking to a dear friend who had just had her first child in the hospital, and even though she said it wasn't a horrible experience, she was longing for the experience a lot of her mama friends had enjoyed with midwives at home and birth centers!
I tucked that info, and other birth stories I came across online, away in my heart for when "my time" came, down the road.
And then it finally came! Actually, what happend, is that my younger brother and sister-in-law got pregnant and I told  hubby the time is NOW! God was kind to us, and it only took us two months to figure out how to get pregnant;] It probably helped that I had never been on any type of birth control, was also in the best "toned" shape I had ever been, and I had also stopped using tampons and paper menstral pads for over 3+ years (I started using resusable cloth Luna Pads, and still LOVE them today). And yes, I do believe that everything un-natural that we use on and in our bodies contributes to our fertility, or infertility!
Anyhow, I was finally getting the one thing I had always prayed for. But now, how to best protect this growing babe inside of me? I directly called the Midwifery center in town and set up a consultation. However, even mentioning this consultation brought my family up in arms against the idea.
When I sat down with the lovely lady, mother of six (3 hospital birth, 3 home birth!) and grandmother to many, also the wife of a pastor in town, she actually suggested a homebirth, even with this being my first baby!
But as she went into the lovely details of giving birth at home, and she stated that if my pregnancy went along safely and without any adverse happenings, there would be no problem being at home for my first birth! I already was uncomfortable with hospitals. That being said, she let me in on a midwife secret. Where ever you are most comfortable, is where you want to give birth because stress makes labor more painful. Let's face it, stress makes everything more painful, but more so, physically painful for birth!
I was sold.

Even though my parents, my in-laws, and even my grandparents...pretty much everyone in my family was against it! Everyone but my best friend, and hubby Beau. That was all that mattered, so we went for it!
The pregnancy was pretty mellow and undramatic. I saw the midwives once every two weeks in the beginning...I would go in, have my weight taken, chatted with them about my diet, how I was feeling overall, and they would suggest things I should be eating for the baby and my body's needs (don't think OBGYN's take the time to do this, do they?), the would also listen for the baby's heart beat each visit, and after an hour of talking about the next things to expect in the pregnancy journey, I would go back to work after a nice hour long visit/check up. Though I was nauseas up until 20 weeks, and constantly had to eat to feel decent, the pregnancy was very chill. Finally my due date came! And went! Though it was fun to go out to eat or just be chatting in public and see people look at me in fear that I would give birth on the spot, at any moment! Like a live bomb. Haha.
I had everything the midwives required for the birthing kit at home, and my mom was on stand-by to drive up from Oracle! She ended up coming to Flagstaff to visit for a few days and on the last night, before heading home, asked me to go into labor so she wouldn't have to drive home;] Contractions had started and stopped multiple times through-out the last few days, and they would stop every time I ate! So during lunch that day, while also talking to a dear friend in California, who was also a month out from being due for her baby girl, I shared my delima and she suggested to stop eating, so I thought that was a decent idea, especially since I already felt strangely nauseas, more so than usual! And that's what I did, skipped dinner and it didn't both me a bit. And...I went into steady labor at midnight exactly! I had those contractions that actual hurt "all the way down in the boondocks". That's how I knew it wasn't just playing the Braxton and Hicks tune! Not to mention the 1-3 minute time break, which was no break at all.
Ok, so I'm going to try and give the "quick" version of my birth story here because I want to focus on the wonderful-ness of my midwives! It was a 9 1/2 hour labor. I popped in 'Lord of the Rings' because that is what I wanted to watch, and knew it would keep me at peace, for some reason. Hubby and my mom helped me get through the contractions with various pressure points, by pushing my hips together (would you believe it cut the pain almost in half?!) That was another nifty trick the midwives had up their sleeves and they teach such things in their awesome birth classes. It was the secret of listening to your body, telling you that you are in pain, and then letting your body react in the way that it naturally does, to instinctively show you how to reduce or handle that pain! Well, because I was breathing through my contractions instead of screaming through them, my "team" thought I wasn't progressing enough to warrant a call to alert the midwives, even though I felt a tad differently, but was a bit distracted by the rolling 1-3 minute contractions!
By the time I was seriously in pain, I was getting into the warm water tub we had rented, and I was pushing! The dear midwives had missed my first birth. It was 15 minutes and 2-3 pushes while on all fours in the tub, and hubby had to catch our baby girl, hehe. After that, seconds later actually, the midwife came through the door! You see, hubby had called the midwives just as I started pushing. AS soon as she walked through the door, she took action. She demanded that I instantly put baby girl on my chest, and lay in bed. From there it was 3 wonderful midwives cleaning me up, helping me to start nursing, and they even sewed me up because I tore a bit in the quick arrival of my babe. Then, they left me to sleep once everything was clean and quiet. I cuddled with my baby and slept like one too!
My favorite part is that they were readily available for questions at anytime and came by daily the first week to check on us. I loved every bit of their care. And though my pregnancy and birth were very un-dramatic, we were all prepared to go to the hospital if necessary. The midwives had me register in my 36-37 weeks as a back up plan (that is also their mode of operation btw). But I also feel that being confident and comfortable and unstressed about your birth plan goes a long way with having an uncomplicated birth. Half the battle is a great mental attitude.

Another bit of history that began to turn my heart towards home birth was a sweet girl who I worked with at State Farm. She has 7 siblings, who were all born at home, un-vaccinated, and all SUPER healthy. The thing that caught me most when she would talk about her family, was that she enjoyed being near by when her siblings were born, and she mentioned how her mom LOVED being at home, being taken care of by the midwife, and most importantly, having her babies born in the household with their own germs. Unlike the scary germs floating around at the hospitals! Kinda gives a mama insight as to why the hospitals now push the Heb B vaccine on 24 hour newborn babes...cause they are most likely covering their butts in case poor babies happen to catch nasty things at those not-so-clean hospitals! I have to say, the most nerve wracking thing of the entire home birth was feeling "forced" to take my 5 day old into the pediatrician for a check-up because we were days away from Christmas and were told we needed a Pediatrician to see us in case anything happend over Christmas. What scared me to death was having my 5 day old in that office with a waiting room full of sick babies and kids! I want to say "never again", and I'm hoping with the second child we won't have to do this and stay at home with the babe as long as we want!
The other lovely lovely thing about midwives? They tell you ALL about what the hospital gives to newborns (Vitamin K shot, Hep B, eye drops) and tell you about alternatives to those vaccines and meds (like the fact that breast milk has plenty of vitamin K in it, and that 99% of the time our breast milk takes care of the babies deficiances, if there are any in the first place. AND that the eye drops the hospital wants to give all newborns for possible eye infections, can be substituted with breast milk!) Then, the midwives ask if you want it or not, and all you have to do is sign the needed paperwork, and you will be done with it!
Another thing I LOVE about our midwives here in Flagstaff especially? They ask parents to educate themselves on vaccinations and do not say good or bad about it! They just give you sites to check out that have info about vaccinations for both sides (such as the CDC and Dr. Sears).
They also encourage new parents to sleep with or very near by our babes the first few weeks of birth to correctly bond for the breastfeeding and sleeping aspects of our newborns. I LOVE how seriously they take breast feeding and how lovingly persistent and knowledgeable they each are on getting babies to feed! They are tireless, because they know how important breast feeding is, compared to hospitals (who much prefer to "supplement" a struggling mom with formula at the drop of a hat) where as the midwives consider formula the last resort!
By the way, did you know that when you have a natural birth, the hormones that are released with the adrenaline from giving birth are what is needed to successfully bond baby and mama for ease of breast feeding? This is why midwives are SO animate about getting baby on mama's chest ASAP after birth. And this is most likely why mamas have trouble breast feeding not only after C-sections, but even natural hospital births because the baby is taken away either directly or within the 1st hour after birth. It is the 1st few hours that are so crucial for just mama and babe to be together...it is like the wedding day...the day to enjoy each other and love on each other! SEE, this is the information you will get from midwives! I LOVE my midwives. I love that they make your birthing day about YOU and your babe. No one else. It is like your wedding day (or the way it should have been;) but better, because you HAVE fallen in love again...
Make it your BEST day by finding a wonderful midwife or group of midwives near you, to support the birth the way you want it!! Hospital, birthing center, or at home.
Also, if you want even more experiences and hard facts on hospital vs. midwife births, check out these
AWESOME documentaries, which most likely can be found on Netflix and Hulu!
"Pregnant in American"
http://www.pregnantinamerica.com/
and
"The Business of Being Born"
http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/
I hope and pray you, who are reading this, will have a wonderful, peaceful, and LOVELY birth day with your new babe!
xoxo
-Melissa