Birthin' Babies

I watched The Business of Being Born yesterday and actually felt quite proud of the birthing choices I had made.  I had three of my babies at home and all of them natural and would have had the fourth at home except for several factors that played into it:  living in Colorado away from the midwives, being in labor and not knowing how bad it was going to get, stopping in Roosevelt, having to travel many hours in the back of a van to get to Salt Lake.  All these things played into it.

As a young girl, when I read Mrs. Mike that was the first time I thought of having babies at home.  Mrs. Mike was married to a Canadian Mountie and had no choice except to have a midwife with her for the birth of her babies.  The romantic factor that played into it was when the Northern Lights danced when her babies were born.

Before I was even pregnant I bought a book Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin.  I read it from cover to cover several times.  Ina May lived on the "Farm" which I think was a hippie commune.  She was a midwife and delivered babies all the time without incident.  At the end of the book it says, paraphrasing:  "If you are pregnant and can't take care of the baby, please come to the Farm and have the baby and let us take care of it.  Don't have an abortion."  I loved Ina May at that point.  I loved the Farm and the idea of having babies at home.  I knew my mom was going to have a problem with it though and she always did.  I was the first person I knew in my generation to have babies at home.

When I was pregnant the first time, I went to a medical doctor and tried to express some of my interest and fears, and he blew me off and said, we will talk about it when you are closer to having this baby.  I walked out of his office feeling like a cow in a herd.  I started searching for midwives in Utah and I found some incredible organizations and women.

So as I watched the movie yesterday, all the feelings came flooding back about birthin' babies.  Even though baby #1 was born in a hospital, I did not take drugs, so I have never had a drug induced birth.  Let me tell you, they were painful.  After baby #1 was born, I talked to my mom and said, "I can't believe you did that 5 times!!!!"  All the books I had read talked about moving, and walking, and being an active part of the birth rather than laying there like a slug.  I didn't want to be a slug.  I didn't want the drugs I took to have an affect on my babies.  So those are the reasons for my choices.  Husband, at the time was very supportive because we had no insurance and because a home birth was only around $1,000.  Cheap!

Please do not be offended by anything I have said here.  This information is based on my life and my choices at the time when I was having babies and does not reflect any negative sentiment on having babies in hospitals or with drugs.  It is always your own choice and however you choose to have your baby is perfect.