We've found our midwife! It was love at first meeting :-) Her name is Candace and she's a CPM who's been practicing in central KY for nine years. She came to our house for an interview yesterday morning and we talking for over an hour! Her major emphasis is on prenatal care and building a relationship with the family that will allow her to do a "hand-off" birth--we do what we need to do; she acts as our guide. She's experienced with waterbirth, which is definitely a possibily for me; every woman I've talked to who was able to labor/birth in water says it was a great experience and really helped them relax. So besides for liking everything she had to say, it felt right. She had a very calm, strong presence and both Matt and I felt really comfortable with her.
I am getting more and more excited about this birth! A couple from church just had their baby this past weekend and Matt and I got to visit them in the hospital on Monday night. Just being in the hospital (not to mention hearing about the pitocin, the epidural, etc. etc.) made me not want to have any babies in a hospital ever again! Being there, I remembered a very strange feeling I had during our postpartum hospital stay that Abbie didn't quite belong to us. All the rules about when we could have her in our room, not being able to walk with her through the halls...I seemed like she was only half ours until we were on our way home--and then the feeling was scary and overwhelming! I can only imagine how awesome it's going to be to be at home through the whole labor and birth, and to be able to really bond with this new baby right from the very beginning. I imagine the whole experience being calm and quiet and happy. I'm so excited to feel the feeling of labor again--the rush of breaking waters, the powerful force of the contractions, the relief of finally needing to push, the baby's head crowning and finally being born! And I can't wait to ACTUALLY feel all of that this time, un-numbed! I really wonder if normal contractions are anything like pitocin contractions (which is all I experienced last time)--my guess is that they will be completely different, probably a lot more pleasant.
By the way, I'm currently reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, which is really inspiring! Ina May Gaskin is a big name in the midwifery world (she was in The Business of Being Born, which I highly recommend!) and I really like most of what she has to say. She is so respectful of women's bodies and our ability to birth our babies, which of course, I can't get enough of!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
As if he wasn't elitist enough already...
Barack Obama claims that he's a man of the people, who can understand their struggles and hardships. Yet his pompus attitude and his patronizing comments (for example, of course, is his comment regarding Pennsylvanians "clinging to their guns and religion") have continued to shed a steady light on his true character throughout this campaign season.
I find it quite funny and ironic that Donatella Versace has dedicated her new spring fashion line to Obama, saying that he inspired her collection designed for "a relaxed man who doesn't need to flex muscles to show he has power." Now, the major group of the democratic party that was loyal to Hillary that Obama needs to win over are made up of white, middle class, working folks. People that have been flexing their muscles all their lives. People who have to work; who can't "relax" and wallow in their inherent "power." What does this fashion line say to them? Obama doesn't understand you--he's never worked a day in his life! Yet this line is supposed to be inspired by and honoring to him! I must admit, I'm enjoying the fact that such an honor might have such a negeative effect on his campaign!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Midwife limbo
I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by. I'm already at 14.5 weeks and have had two midwife appointments already! The trouble is... Donna, our midwife, broke the news to us during our first meeting with her that she and her husband are planning on moving to South Carolina. In October. Our baby is due in December. So this is pretty bad news for us.
There are a few things you need to know about midwives. There are a few different kinds of certification. Here's agood briefing I found online:
Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNM)
Registered Nurses who have completed an additional 1-3 years of training. CNM's are required to work with a physician, they can obtain hospital privileges, and can write prescriptions. In most places, Certified Nurse Midwives attend both birth center and hospital births, in some areas they also do home births.
Certified Midwives (CM) or Certified Professional Midwives (CPM)
direct entry midwives (trained directly into midwifery without becoming a nurse first) who are certified by their state organization or through the North American Registry of Midwives. They receive their training through various methods such as appre nticeship, certifying programs or schools. Licensed Direct Entry Midwives (LDEM or LM) are Certified Midwives who have a state. They are licensed by a state board. CMs and LDEMs attend births at home. Licensing laws vary state by state.
CNM's, CPMs, LDEMs and CM's are required to pass comprehensive written and oral exams, to attend a required number of births, to have continuing education and peer review, and to practice by specific guidelines and protocols.
Direct Entry Midwives or Lay Midwives
receive their education primarily through apprenticeship with another midwife's practice or through informal schooling. Training and experience will vary among individuals. Some direct entry midwives choose not to get certified or licensed due to ph ilosophical beliefs. They attend births at home.
In Kentucky, the only midwives that can legally practice homebirths are CNM's. Unfortunately, there are a very limited number of CNM's who practice out-of-hospital, and one of them is Donna! :-( Because of this precarious situation, Matt and I have found outselves suddenly in midwife limbo. We are completely committed to planning a homebirth, so at this point it's a question of finding the right (preferably legal) midwife to work with rather than readjusting our hopes for this birth. I'm planning to call one CNM and one CPM today to set up interviews. My next prenatal appointment should be in a week and a half, and ideally I'd love to start seeing our new midwife as soon as possible.
Truthfully, I am pretty disappointed about Donna moving. She seemed to be the perfect midwife (albeit the semi-new agey stuff that I'm learning is usually inevitably linked to natural birth practices--this is so unfortunate; I wish more Christians would step up and reclaim the beautiful gift of birth that God gave us!!!); she was a CNM, had 6 years of hospital experience, had attended hundreds of homebirths, AND had attended several of my friends' homebirths. Plus, we really liked her! What a loss.
So that's where we find ourselves right now. I'll keep ya'll updated!
There are a few things you need to know about midwives. There are a few different kinds of certification. Here's agood briefing I found online:
Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNM)
Registered Nurses who have completed an additional 1-3 years of training. CNM's are required to work with a physician, they can obtain hospital privileges, and can write prescriptions. In most places, Certified Nurse Midwives attend both birth center and hospital births, in some areas they also do home births.
Certified Midwives (CM) or Certified Professional Midwives (CPM)
direct entry midwives (trained directly into midwifery without becoming a nurse first) who are certified by their state organization or through the North American Registry of Midwives. They receive their training through various methods such as appre nticeship, certifying programs or schools. Licensed Direct Entry Midwives (LDEM or LM) are Certified Midwives who have a state. They are licensed by a state board. CMs and LDEMs attend births at home. Licensing laws vary state by state.
CNM's, CPMs, LDEMs and CM's are required to pass comprehensive written and oral exams, to attend a required number of births, to have continuing education and peer review, and to practice by specific guidelines and protocols.
Direct Entry Midwives or Lay Midwives
receive their education primarily through apprenticeship with another midwife's practice or through informal schooling. Training and experience will vary among individuals. Some direct entry midwives choose not to get certified or licensed due to ph ilosophical beliefs. They attend births at home.
In Kentucky, the only midwives that can legally practice homebirths are CNM's. Unfortunately, there are a very limited number of CNM's who practice out-of-hospital, and one of them is Donna! :-( Because of this precarious situation, Matt and I have found outselves suddenly in midwife limbo. We are completely committed to planning a homebirth, so at this point it's a question of finding the right (preferably legal) midwife to work with rather than readjusting our hopes for this birth. I'm planning to call one CNM and one CPM today to set up interviews. My next prenatal appointment should be in a week and a half, and ideally I'd love to start seeing our new midwife as soon as possible.
Truthfully, I am pretty disappointed about Donna moving. She seemed to be the perfect midwife (albeit the semi-new agey stuff that I'm learning is usually inevitably linked to natural birth practices--this is so unfortunate; I wish more Christians would step up and reclaim the beautiful gift of birth that God gave us!!!); she was a CNM, had 6 years of hospital experience, had attended hundreds of homebirths, AND had attended several of my friends' homebirths. Plus, we really liked her! What a loss.
So that's where we find ourselves right now. I'll keep ya'll updated!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Family visits + new heartbeats
My mom, sister, and two nephews came to visit us last weekend. It was so much fun to see Abbie playing with her cousins--who needs babysitters with cousins around?! They definitely entertained each other and wore each other out!
On Saturday we had Abbie's big birthday party. My aunt Diane and uncle Greg came down from Cinci with my cousin's oldest boy, Ashton. He and Isaiah (who is one year younger) had a blast together. Lots of families from church came, and Abbie got so many cute clothes and toys! I was really impressed with how well she held up the whole day. I still can't believe she's one year old!!!
Today Matt's parents left Jersey and will arrive tomorrow for a weekend visit. We're really excited to see them. They've been itching to come down here since my mother-in-law finished her chemo treatments a few months ago. My sister-in-law just had her third baby--a BOY! named Evan, so they've been helping out with the two older girls. I can't wait to meet Evan when we visit Jersey later this summer!
Speaking of new babies, we heard OUR new baby's heartbeat yesterday!! It took forever to find it, but when Donna finally did it was strong and steady :-) Probably in the 140's, which adds more weight to my feeling that it's a boy... :-) It was so cool to hear the heartbeat, especially since we knew what we were listening for this time! The baby is in the exact spot Abbie was at first too--low and on the right. Pretty cool :-)
We have to change midwives, since Donna is moving out of state in October. Boo. BUT, she is referring us to a lady who's good reputation precedes her--two of our friends had a home birth with her, and have nothing but good things to say! And she's a certified nurse-midwife (CNM), which means the whole deal will be legal. Which is a good thing :-) (KY hasn't legalized all midwives yet, which a lot of activist-types around this area have major problems with. I haven't gotten that immersed in the debate yet.) I'm feeling better and better about planning a home birth, while trying to stay realistic-positive and accept that if anything goes weirdly with the pregnancy, that we won't be having the baby at home. That's ok. We can only wait it out and hope for the best! It's nice to be a little out of control once in a while, especially for me.
On Saturday we had Abbie's big birthday party. My aunt Diane and uncle Greg came down from Cinci with my cousin's oldest boy, Ashton. He and Isaiah (who is one year younger) had a blast together. Lots of families from church came, and Abbie got so many cute clothes and toys! I was really impressed with how well she held up the whole day. I still can't believe she's one year old!!!
Today Matt's parents left Jersey and will arrive tomorrow for a weekend visit. We're really excited to see them. They've been itching to come down here since my mother-in-law finished her chemo treatments a few months ago. My sister-in-law just had her third baby--a BOY! named Evan, so they've been helping out with the two older girls. I can't wait to meet Evan when we visit Jersey later this summer!
Speaking of new babies, we heard OUR new baby's heartbeat yesterday!! It took forever to find it, but when Donna finally did it was strong and steady :-) Probably in the 140's, which adds more weight to my feeling that it's a boy... :-) It was so cool to hear the heartbeat, especially since we knew what we were listening for this time! The baby is in the exact spot Abbie was at first too--low and on the right. Pretty cool :-)
We have to change midwives, since Donna is moving out of state in October. Boo. BUT, she is referring us to a lady who's good reputation precedes her--two of our friends had a home birth with her, and have nothing but good things to say! And she's a certified nurse-midwife (CNM), which means the whole deal will be legal. Which is a good thing :-) (KY hasn't legalized all midwives yet, which a lot of activist-types around this area have major problems with. I haven't gotten that immersed in the debate yet.) I'm feeling better and better about planning a home birth, while trying to stay realistic-positive and accept that if anything goes weirdly with the pregnancy, that we won't be having the baby at home. That's ok. We can only wait it out and hope for the best! It's nice to be a little out of control once in a while, especially for me.
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