Midwives

When I got pregnant with Hudson I knew that I wanted to use midwives this time around instead of an obstetrician. Two of my friends had used midwives with their babies births, and did not have anything but amazing feedback about their experiences...I knew that I wanted a very similar experience as well, so I called as soon as I found out that I was pregnant since spots fill up very quickly.

My family had their reservations, but I challenge you to ask them now if they would recommend midwives, and I am positive that their answer would be a whole hearted yes!

 Now the question is likely why? The care at its core is the same, they both care about the well being of the pregnant woman and baby, but the quality of care is strengthened (in certain cases, keeping reading for an explanation) with the midwives. They provide you with more time during appointments, which begins at 8 weeks; with midwives you can also guarantee that two of your three midwives will be present at the birth (I had a student midwife as well), with an obstetrician, unless they are on call during the time you give birth, you will have a OB that you do not know deliver your baby, this being said however, I do have to say that having this experience with Loralai, it did not matter so much because they were only there during the last 10 minutes of pushing and at that point you do not necessarily care you just want the baby out...so the real reason is that midwives not only take the place of the OB but also the nurses, but unlike nurses who of having other patients to attend to during your labour, your midwife is there with you the entire time of active labour. They also are with you during day 2, 3, & 5 for HOME visits, are are available for you to call them at anytime during day or night if something is wrong, and then you continue care with them until 6 week postpartum, then your and the babies care gets transferred back over to your regular physician.

Now of course the quality of care is dependent on your level of risk, if your low risk for any complications, etc. then a midwife would be an excellent choice, but if you are high risk for any reason then your quality of care would be better suited for an obstetrician. I was very lucky that my pregnancy was low risk, but I still had the baby at the hospital as a proactive measure for anything that we could not anticipate (baby going into distress, etc) whereas my friend had two out of three of her babies at home and had beautiful, uneventful experiences. So that is another option that you have with a midwife, you can choose to have your baby at home or at the hospital. 

My team was fantastic:

Andrea - main midwife

Agnes - secondary midwife

Kristen - secondary midwife

Emma - student midwife

Andrea and Emma were both present at my birth, which I was thrilled about! Andrea delivered Hudson and was the midwife assigned to take care of me, and then Emma was assigned to Hudson and took care of him, and did his check, etc. Emma was also the one who came and did all of our home checks. I am sad that I did not actually take any photos of our home visits, but I know that I was very grateful for them. 

I was very sad on my last visit when Hudson turned 6 weeks old, there were a few tears shed. I am happy with my birth experience, it did not go quite as expected, but my support team throughout the entire labour and delivery was amazing, my heart is full!