midwives: helping people out

That may be the best bumper sticker I have ever seen.

(I’m going to try out some new blog names and see how they feel. Today, I am Salty and the other is Savory.)

So, the other day, Savory and I went to a free consultation at the local midwife practice. I think I’ve mentioned here that we have already set up an appointment with an OB affiliated with Park hospital, our favorite so far, but that appointment is not until January, so we thought we’d go ahead and see about this midwifery practice, even though the practice is affiliated with University hospital (which we are also touring in January, just to see). Two other couples were there, and one of the midwives sat down with us and talked us through their philosophies and the benefits of choosing a midwife. For us, there are definitely some pretty strong pros and equally strong cons associated with taking the midwife route.

The pros, in no particular order:

• Midwives typically spend more time in visits, and take a holistic approach to care. They see childbirth as a natural process that doesn’t require a lot of technology or intervention.
• The intervention rate for this practice is low: 10-12% C-section (I think my jaw dropped at this number); 10% induction; practically no episiotomies.
• Should the laboring mom want it, however, epidurals are offered, and they have a 50% epidural rate and support whichever decision—natural or medicated.
• They do not do IVs or fetal monitoring automatically.
• The hospital where they have delivery privileges has a laboring tub, available on a first-come, first-served basis. This is the only laboring tub we have found in our city.
• They are not big on constant vaginal exams during labor; they would do a baseline when admitted, and then not much after unless the laboring mom requests it. This reduces the chances of uterine infections.
• They are very pro-early bonding, and lactation consultants are available.
• They are not aggressive in terms of a labor timeline–they will let labor go on as long as everything seems good. If labor needs to be sped up, they do not automatically jump to pitocin; they try other non-medication methods first.

The cons, also in no particular order:

• There are 4 full-time and 6 or 7 part time midwives on the staff, plus new students coming in every semester and in the summer. They encourage a lot of student involvement, and students become more involved as they have more experience. This is, in abstract, lovely: I am totally down with the training of more midwives and I love the idea of collaboration. I’m just not sure I am willing to be trained on. I know that is hypocritical.
• Because there is such a large number of women in the practice, they want you to see a different person each time you go in for an appointment, so you can meet all the possible people who may be present at delivery. This is not my favorite. I know myself well enough to know that I would rather see the same person as much as possible before labor.
• Labor and delivery is on 12-hour shifts, so it’s never known who would be delivering beforehand.
• The practice only has delivery privileges at University hospital. (We all know how my dad feels about that.) I asked about hospital-borne infections, and the midwife said that their floor is pretty free of such infections. The big con here is the fact that should I need a C-section, a resident would do it. In any other case, such as in delivery, if medical students or residents wanted to observe or participate, we could say yes or no, but she was pretty clear about the C-section thing.

So, that pretty much sums it up. I love their philosophy, the low intervention rate, and the fact that a labor tub is available. The C-section thing worries us, however, and it may just be a deal-breaker. However, I think this may be a good option for us if 1) our OB is not all we hope and dream she will be and/or 2) if the labor/delivery floor of University hospital requires all of their nurses to be lesbians from Boston. We will find out the answers to both of these questions very soon.

After the appointment, Savory and I did what you would expect: discussed how weird the interactions were. I think Savory alluded to this in her post about Saint hospital, but I can’t remember if she said it explicitly. Anyway, one of the things she studies is interaction analysis, or how people talk and gesture and communicate with one another, and how such interactions influence the flow of conversation. Or something. I’m sure I’m not explaining it well. At any rate, now that she has that knowledge, she uses it pretty constantly, and we talk about it a lot. It’s really fascinating to think about, and this whole process, from TTC onward, has been a constant source of weird-ass interactions that serve as fodder for our discussions.

So, at this appointment, when the midwife sat down, it was us and two straight couples. She said something along the lines of “Now, is everyone here pregnant?” or “Who here is pregnant?” which we were pretty impressed with—it seemed like a good and inclusive way to deal with the fact that a same-sex couple was in the room and it wasn’t obvious which of us was pregnant. Of course, the total doofus to our left had to chime in with, “Well, I’m not. Har har har.” He later asked a question that was basically like, “My wife thinks she wants natural childbirth, but since I’m smarter than her, I know she’s going to want pain medication. I will probably want to hit her upside the head [he literally said that]. In that case, do you withhold medication because that’s what she said she wanted beforehand, or do you give it to her when she’s asking for it in the moment, even if she said not to do that?” Oy.

The couple to our right asked some pretty random questions, which appeared mostly to come from stuff she’d read on other people’s facebook posts.

The midwife was chill to the nth degree, and had a weird habit of saying “yeah….” in a really soothing voice after pretty much every sentence. So that was fun to poke fun of. (we are so mean)

Next week, Savory and I head to Connecticut to spend the holiday with her family. The week after, we can start telling people. Hooray! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday.

ETA: quick public service announcement—2 Chicks, 1 Hatchling, I have not been able to comment on your blog for quite some time—I can’t ever see the word that you’re supposed to type to prove you’re not a spammer. Just wanted to let you know that, and to say that I hope your first TWW goes smoothly and is full of great distractions.