Cognosco

Up until about two weeks ago, I planned to have a hospital birth. I love my doctor. She is one of the few doctors in the Valley that actually acts more like a midwife. But then I started panicking…what if she wasn’t the one on call? Could I trust the other doctors? Would I have to fight to avoid interventions? Would I be diagnosed with "failure to progress"? And thus, I started looking into the possibility of a homebirth. It took about 48 hours, and then I had pretty much talked myself into it.

So now, I have just made couple of appointments with midwives to interview them and find out who I "click" with. I have been amazed at how much more excited I am about the birth now that I have made the decision to homebirth. And really, I had never really given it much thought until my SIL whom I adore had her baby by homebirth two weeks ago. Her first birth had been a nightmare. Premature rupture of membranes. Induction. Failure to progress. C-section. Bah. I am so glad that this time was better for her. And then, I heard that one of my heroes, Ani Difranco, has decided to have a homebirth. And it’s not that I’m like "ooh, all the cool kids are doing it" but more like "wow, you know, this is something that belongs in the hands of women" and even if you have a female OB, the whole medical model is inherently patriarchal by nature. So, all this time, I’ve been a supporter of homebirth, but thought, "oh, but it’s not for me". And then I had to ask, "why not?" and figured that maybe I should put my money where my mouth is.

And have I mentioned my DH? My DH who totally rocks? He was was a history major who also received a Certificate of Concentration in Women’s Studies. He just graduated last May. One of the big projects he worked on for one of his courses was about the history of midwifery. He’s the one who first got me really thinking about the way this whole birth process had been stolen out of the hands of women. He’s the one who ranted about forceps deliveries and septic infections. And thus, he’s the one who was supportive from the moment I uttered homebirth as a possibility and I love him dearly for it.