My First Midwife Appointment

A few weeks ago, Chip and I came to the decision that wanted to pursue midwife care and home birth for this pregnancy. This is something that has been near to my heart from the moment we decided to pursue more children. As this pregnancy progressed beautifully….perfectly really…..it became clear that homebirth was actually something that was realistic and safe for us, even with the added “risks” of twin and VBAC.  My weight, the babies growth, my blood pressure and general overall health was all textbook homebirth. We prayed long and hard…..I had really been praying about this since the beginning.  About a month ago we had a very clear cut sign that this was the way to go. I contacted my doula (who as you probably know is also a midwife but does not have experience in twin birth) and she gave me the name of an amazing woman that was destined to be our midwife! Darlene Scrivner (http://biobirths.com) was clearly the answer to our prayers. After researching and speaking with several midwives, Darlene and I together decided that this was a great match! I am so excited about working with this amazing woman and feel that myself and my boys are so safe in her hands. She is taking every precaution including bringing in two midwives as assistants (one of which is my much loved Doula, Shannon, who is excited to have some twin birth experience!), and each midwife is bringing a midwife or doula in training. Shannon is bringing Hunter who I have been working with along with Shannon as a doula and I ADORE her! One of the other midwife helpers is actually an MD but not certified for this country and is training to be a midwife. I am excited to have her there for her experience and expertise. It seems we are really set up for success!
I had my first appointment with Darlene a weeks ago. The midwife experience compared to  an OB practice (where most of the time is spent waiting, waiting and waiting some more) was so much more fulfilling. Though  my OB did take time with me and I never felt rushed, through no fault of his own, the system is basically set up to make you wait. Darlene greeted me at the door and we sat in her office and talked about my pregnancy for about 45 minutes. There were toys and a changing table to accommodate my  Elijah and it was just a very relaxed atmosphere. We went over my history a bit more and talked about our hopes for this birth.  After our visit, we went to the “exam” room which looks more like a massage room (perhaps because of the use of a comfy massage table for exams). It was a gentle exam just checking position (Rory head down and Patrick breech as usual at that time), checking heartbeats and a quick weight and urine check. And then we were done! Easy peasy!
Well the next thing I had to do was tell my OB. I had an appointment already scheduled for the following week (today). I wanted to wait until I told my OB before I went public with this decision although several folks do already know about this. My OB, Dr. Espana, has been AWESOME. He has been super supportive of all my wishes as far as natural birth and encouraged me along the way. I was honestly quite sad to say good bye to him because he has been wonderful and if I wanted to deliver in a hospital, he would be my man! I would still recommend him to anyone wanting to deliver  in a hospital. He empowers you as long as your wishes are based on educating yourself. He will share risks but not in a way that is a “scare tactic”.  I thought it was important that I “break up” with him in person out of respect and because I still hoped to have him as a back up in case I went into labor early. I was so nervous about this talk. But you know, he took it beautifully, graciously. He said he was sad because he enjoyed working with me but that he was supportive of my decision and agreed to be my back up. He even knew who my midwife was and said that he felt reassured because of that! Then he proceeded to do a quick in office ultrasound and found that Patrick (Baby B) was HEAD DOWN! This was the first time he has been head down! Now I realize that can change, but it said a great mood for the day and for the visit. I hope that I do not NEED to go back to Dr. Espana but it is nice to know that I have that option and that he will welcome me with open arms if he is needed. So many OB’s (I have heard) would not be so accommodating.
So now we will prepare our home for birth and well as babies! So much to do! But I feel so much more relaxed knowing that this plan is in place and that we can just relax and enjoy labor in the comfort of our home. WE have an amazing team and are set up for success! We have been very happy with the positive (or at least supportive) response we have gotten from family and friends so far and I pray that continues. This decision was not made lightly and I truly believe that we are doing the right thing for our boys and our family. And now we wait. (I wish that was all I had left to do!)