See the massive room compared to a hospital room? With hot tub and “escape hatch”?
“Don’t you know you’re going to have to drive to Chapel Hill like, once a week?”
“So you want to drive an hour and a half while in labor?”
“Aren’t you worried about having to have your baby on the side of the highway?”
“But the hospital is like 5 minutes away from you guys!”
The above are typical responses when Josh and I tell people that we decided to have our baby at the birth center in Chapel Hill rather than at the hospital in Greenville. Typically, I just kind of smile and nod but I figured here on the blog I could maybe explain myself a little better.
First of all, yes, I do know that I’ll have to drive back and forth to Chapel Hill a lot – once a week towards the end of my pregnancy. Believe it or not, that is something Josh and I considered and it ties in a lot with the answer to the second questions which is no, I don’t want to drive an hour and a half in labor but I think it’s worth it. Why? Because I believe birth is a natural process and that I want as few medical interventions as possible. And I believe, through research and anecdotal evidence, I’m more likely to encounter that attitude at the birth center than at the hospital.
I have to admit, Josh was a bit skeptical when I first pitched him this idea. We had our first “confirmation of pregnancy” appointment at my regular OB/GYN in Greenville and while our midwife was very nice, she talked a hundred miles an hour and left us feeling rather like we’d been through a checklist than interacted with (side note: I know that in the medical field, this is not entirely her fault what with quotas, a busy practice, and limited time for appointments). I scheduled a tour of the birth center, which is required before you can request an appointment, and most of the way there Josh kept asking me questions about why I wanted to do this – and a lot of other questions I didn’t have answers too but felt we could get answered on the tour. He wasn’t against the idea but he definitely wasn’t sold on it until after the tour and the informational meeting. The director of the center explained a bit about how the center was different than a hospital and what to expect and answered probably a thousand questions both articulated and not during this 30 minute meeting with about 15 couples. This is where we learned that we don’t need to be afraid of delivering a baby on the side of the highway – the midwives have had people come from Greenville and further for years and have it down to a science (one that they promise to teach us as well) when to get in the car and get to the center in plenty of time.
Everyone’s biggest concern seems to be “What if something goes wrong?”
First of all, it’s not like I’m going to the woods and some old witch doctor is going to bring along her herbal tea and we hope for the best (I exaggerate to make a point) all the midwives at the birth center are CNMs, just like at my OB/GYN. The center has been around for 20 years and has a long standing relationship with UNC Hospital so that if something should go wrong, they can stay with us all the way. Also, they have all the same things for infant resuscitation and postpartum care that they do in the hospital. A big factor for me was also this idea that it is a rare thing for a normal low-risk pregnancy to jump to high-risk emergency without any other warning signs. The director also made it very clear that they don’t have an agenda at the birth center, they are not out to prove that we don’t need hospitals and OBs so if something looks not quite right, they transfer care – even if that happens before labor and delivery.
When we left, Josh looked at me and said that, for the first time, he felt like he could be a legitimate part of this process. He explains it like this: the midwives at the birth center talked about giving birth like it was a craft and an art whereas the midwife at my OB office talked about birth like a science experiment. That was all the confirmation I needed that this was the right place for us.
So, again, what’s the big deal? I could cite numerous studies that show that a typical hospital birth has a 30% chance of ending in a C-section, major surgery I would like to avoid. Or how the policies governing these hospitals and doctors require a woman to be induced after no more than a week past her due date. How inductions with pitocin can cause fetal distress because the contractions are longer, harder, and closer together than “natural” ones. How getting an epidural often slows labor and hospitals are on a clock to get you to birth a baby. And on and on. I firmly believe that this is the best choice for me and for our family because I believe it will work best when my body can take it’s natural course.
I hope this was a more articulate explanation than I feel it is. I don’t judge other women for giving birth in a hospital or having a C-section, I just know what feels right for me and it doesn’t look like normal – but when have I ever been normal? 🙂
Adventures with the Morgans 