Ok so this is all about my experience so far with having a midwife vs. when I had my Obstetrician. This is MY experience. Not a blog to instill my opinions on others or anything just thought some people would like to hear about the differences I have experienced.
Let me start by telling you why I wanted a midwife.
So to start, when Robbie was on tour I went to see an Obstetrician for my prenatal care while living in Mississippi. This was only because that is all Mississippi offers. I actually wanted a midwife because as long as I can remember when I have thought about having a child I have always wanted to do it naturally. At first my reasoning was because my mom did it naturally with all three of us, but then as I researched it more and also watched a documentary called "The Business of Being Born" I started to lean a lot more towards wanting a midwife. Now although I have wanted a midwife I have never wanted to have a baby in my own home, or what many call a "home birth". Just from my perspective I think its crazy to do it at home. First off most people don't live very close to the hospital and second who is going to clean up the mess you are going to inevitably going to make? NOT I!!
However, even though I didn't want to have a baby at home I also didn't want to go to the hospital ha. Here is the reason, I have never been to the hospital before. I have never had surgery, been sick, had a broken bone, basically had any reason to be a patient in a hospital bed. So therefore they creep me out and I just know that I would feel like I was ill or that something was wrong with me.
OK, so I went to my obstetrician in Hattiesburg until I was 20 weeks pregnant, so half of my pregnancy. I then moved to Rock Hill, SC with Robbie after he was done with his tour and had to find a new doctor or midwife. Before I changed doctors 4 weeks had already gone by without me having an appointment because we were waiting to hear about the Greenwood Job and I didn't want to change doctors if we were just going to end up packing up and moving back to Mississippi.
Here is my differences list :)
Responses when calling around asking for a new doctor to get me an appointment when I moved to Rock Hill:
The obstetrician: "We are not accepting new patients until February 1st, so you can call back then" or "we can get you in around the middle of February, is that ok?"
Midwife: " We can make you an appointment this week"
When I was at the doctors office in Hattiesburg there were about 10 doctors that work there, any of them can be on call. So you could end up with a different doctor for your delivery.
At the birthing center with the midwife I was given one midwife. She is your primary caretaker and will be there for the delivery unless she dies or is deeply sick.
The waiting room:
At the obstetrician you wait in this huge doctors office type waiting area and are called in accordingly.
At the birthing center, Leigh(My midwife's name) is scheduled to meet with me on Wednesdays, I walk in and she meets me before I have a chance to sit down in the waiting room. She walks with you to the exam room.
Time spent with actual doctor each visit:
With my obstetrician I spent literally 15 minutes with her. She basically told me I was ok and then that was it.
With my midwife I spend about 45 minutes to an hour with her. She goes over a lot with me and even teaches me about eating healthy and talks to me about natural ways to get rid of things. She makes sure I understand every process and test that is being given and why they do it.
Facilities:
At the obstetrician, its your regular ole run of the mill doctors office. Its very nice and clean and pretty but definitely a doctors office.
At the birthing center, everything is made to make you feel like you are at home. It literally looks like someones bedroom. A very nice bedroom at that.
here is a picture of the birthing center I am currently using's exam room
Calling the doctor:
Every time I tried to call my obstetrician about something I get the doctors office secretary, she then takes a message for my doctor. I then get a call back in about 15 minutes from my doctors personal secretary or nurse who then tries to answer my question for me. If its something she cant answer then she will tell me that she needs to ask the doctor and she will call me back . I do get a call back later with a response but I have never actually talked to my doctor on the phone.
Calling my midwife:
I am not her only patient but she doesn't take many so I am one of her few patients. She gives me her card with her home and cell phone number. Every time I have to talk to her she is always available and I get a hold of her right away. Also she calls me sometimes to check up on me.
Anyways, this has gone rather long and I will give you the details of the labor with having a midwife in part 2. When I say details I do not mean ALL the details ha ha. But I want to show you where we are planning on delivering Ainsley when we move to Greenwood.
Birthing Center in Greenville, SC where Ainsley will be born
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