We have a heartbeat!

The unmistakable wooshing sounds of an 11-week-old fetus were recorded by husband's i-phone this week.  We had our midwife and her assistant over to our house for our first listen with the doppler.  It was a nail-biter getting to this point, so far along into the pregnancy.  This baby follows a prior miscarriage and there's always that fear of another loss.  Now, the baby seems "real".  And, being this far along makes me more confident that we'll have a viable pregnancy. 

I wanted to wait until we got to this milestone before I wrote anything about the pregnancy.  One important topic of disucssion is my decision to hire a midwife for a homebirth.  Only about 1% of births in the US are delivered at home.  Though this is quite common in my circle of friends, I realize that this is not the norm for the rest of the nation.  My first child was born at home with a certified nurse midwife, a hospital labor and delivery nurse, and my doula who was also an RN.  I fired my OBGYN after we took the hospital tour at 27 weeks.  I originally wanted an "out-of-hospital" birth but that translated to 100% "out-of-pocket" in insurance terms.  At that time, I went along with the standard OBGYN care until I just couldn't stand it any longer.  There was no way on God's green earth that I would deliver at a hospital in the Houston area.  I called my doula and told her we were birthing at home.  Get me a midwife. Now. She made a few phone calls, gave me a list of midwives, and the rest is a story of a powerful homebirth.  It was worth the cost and then some to have the healthiest and most profound experience of my life. 

With this birth, I wanted to make sure that I had midwife care from the very beginning.  Since I only switched to a midwife at 28 weeks, I feel that I missed out on that early personal care. I did opt out of the usual first trimester tests and early ultrasound.  I really didn't want to waste time and money on bloodwork until I knew we had a living baby on our hands.  Also, I had a difficult time deciding on a provider.  The Houston area is blessed with many skilled CNMs and CPMs, birth centers, doulas, and it took me a while to find the perfect match.  Being a veteran homebirth mom with this second one, I knew what I wanted and what I didn't want in my care and labor. 

Let me say that one of the main differences in midwife care vs. OBGYN care is that with a midwife I have:
--Longer appointments (a few hours long, not a few minutes!)
--Holistic care  (the whole patient is treated)
--House calls (some midwives operate out of offices and this one comes to your house for appointments)
--The benefits of other medical providers if necessary (I can always transfer to an OB if needed, have access to labs, ultrasounds, etc.)
--Informed consent  (technically you have this with a doctor, but it's much more thorough with a midwife)
--A provider who is experienced in the art of delivering a baby while keeping the mother in tact as much as possible (episiotomies are rare)

That's a very abbreviated list, but hiring a midwife instead of the usual OBGYN is worth looking into if you're a low-risk mother.  I would do it no other way.