Birth News

So I feel like I can finally talk about our big change in plans at last! Over the last couple of weeks, some drama has gone down between our OB/midwife team and the hospital. It came to our attention that for the moment at least, we might want to figure out a backup plan. I started talking to our doula Sarah about the possibility of doing a homebirth with Suzanne, the midwife she is apprenticing with. Once I got over the initial shock of having to think about a change in plans this late in the game, I totally threw myself into the idea of making this happen, whether or not the hospital worked out it's issues with our OB.

Homebirth was something that I was interested in from the get go, but was under the impression that #1-it was illegal on the Missouri side and #2-it was definitely NOT covered by insurance at all. But apparently I was mistaken, Suzanne is a CNM (certified nurse midwife) so I guess that makes it legal, as opposed to a "lay midwife", and our insurance will cover some of the cost, probably not alot, but it's worth it to us to make it work financially.

The third reason we didn't seriously consider homebirth at first was that Mark didn't feel comfortable with the idea at the time. After receiving a great deal of childbirth education, and seeing how well the pregnancy has gone, he's now all for it and I think we're both feeling some anxiety lifted from our shoulders. There were so many things about going to the hospital that we were uncomfortable with (despite trying to convince ourselves otherwise) and, if everything goes well, we don't have to deal with all that now.

If something were to happen that required us to go to the hospital, we'll still head over to Olathe. I'm going to continue to go to my weekly appts. at the doctor's office as well as seeing Suzanne, so that if I needed to transfer from the homebirth, it will look as if that was my plan all along. It's very confusing actually.

I'm so excited about the changes that this decision brings. My goal is to actually birth in the water which I'm REALLY looking forward to. Suzanne brings a birthing pool that we set up and connect to hoses running from the washer. It sounds fantastic. Mark is looking forward to being able to be even MORE involved at home than he would have been able to be in the hospital. It will just be more intimate and comfortable for us, and hopefully making the birth safer and less traumatic for me and baby.

We had our first appt. with Suzanne tonite at home. She was very pleased to find that baby is now in the "perfect" position and down quite low. She gave us a list of things to gather for the birth like vinyl tablecloths to protect the floor and bed, towels, baby supplies, snacks, etc. She brings the rest! We'll see her again the 25th for another check.

I've got a doctor's appt. tomorrow that is our big "36 week appt." at which some more tests will be done. Will update on how that goes this weekend. :)

Suzanne's Website