Not just for hippies

Okay, so I started wondering about midwives, and why people choose a midwife over an OB. In my ignorance, I pictured midwives as hippies doing drug-free home birth, bare-footed and not wearing a bra. And listen, I want to deliver in a hospital, and I certaintly want an epidural.

So I asked around, and learned that I was wrong. While some mothers do choose to do home births without the help of drugs, there is a lot more to it than that. A midwife spends more time with you, individualizes your care, and views childbirth as a natural event of life, and not a medical procedure.

I love the idea of seeing the same "doctor" througout my pregnancy, as opposed to most OB's here that work in groups, where you see a different doc all the time and one of them will deliver your baby, but you don't know who. I love the idea of my pre-natal checkups lasting more than a few minutes, and that the midwife will be present through all of your labor and birth, not just at the end.

I learned that my hospital here has a group of midwives, they deliver in the hospital and have a consulting physician. They stay with you, coach you, they can order your epidural, and if something is needed like a c-section then it is handled by the physician.

Appointment with the midwife has been made. :)