Midwife vs. Doctor? My choice

When I found out I was pregnant with Braedan I looked up OB/GYNS in my area. I ended up picking a young female doctor fresh out of her residency. I loved my doctor. She always answered any questions I had and made each of my visits as pleasant as they could be. She even agreed to have me induced at little early so my mom could be there. I was young and stupid at the time and I'll explain in a later post why elective induction will never happen for me again.

Everything was great...until the day of delivery.

I found myself waiting for over an hour, 9 cm dilated, waiting for my Doctor to come break my water. Apparently that's a task only doctors can do, despite the endless tries by my nurse to "accidentally" break it. When my doctor finally did arrive she came in, checked me, broke my water, and left. She was a busy lady with lots of patients to attend to.

She'd show up again just in time to catch my baby. She stayed long enough to finish and clean me up, and then promptly left again.

I had wanted a lot of things during the birth of my child. I wanted to have immediate skin to skin contact, because I'd read that was good for breastfeeding, and that was something I wanted to do. I wanted delayed cord clamping so he'd get all the beneficial cord blood. I wanted to nurse my baby as soon as possible. I had discussed all of this in depth with my Doctor and she assured me I'd be able to have it all.

I didn't get anything I wanted.

He was taken to the warmer and cleaned up before be handed to me. His cord was clamped immediately. The nurses let me hold him for a minute and then swiftly whisked him away to the nursery. I was too tired and too out of it to fight for what I wanted, or asked why I hadn't gotten it. I'm almost certain they fed him a bottle before he was brought to me to try to nurse. After I was moved to Post-Partum I didn't see my doctor again. I asked for help from the nurses on how to breastfeed but they were busy and couldn't stay long to help me get the hang of it.

Eventually I left the hospital feeling like I'd missed out on something. I still feel that way to this day. We never did master breastfeeding and I gave up.

So when I found out I was pregnant for the second time I had a hard decision to make. Would I go with an OB/GYN and risk feeling like just another patient? Or did I have another option? I'd always heard about midwives, but thought they for natural-water-home-birthing mommas. I certainly don't fall into that category.

I did quite a bit of internet research on midwives. Come to find out they can support hospital births WITH pain management options, or do the natural-water-home-birthing. What stood out most for me is that they seem to be there for the moms, as a support person, not just the person who catches your baby. Not to mention they are there for you after the birth and support breastfeeding in every way possible. I'm also willing to bet a midwife would be all about delayed cord clamping.

I have a friend who is also pregnant and seeing a midwife. I asked her what she thought and she had nothing but glowing recommendations. So, I called and scheduled my first appointment with a midwife.

We get to meet with Tiffini next Wednesday the 19th for our first prenatal appointment. I could not be more excited!