We had our in home visit last night with our midwives & doula and I now officially have the "go ahead and go into labor" green light for a home birth. It feels amazing to "be here" in this place, this place of waiting, excitement and anticipation. (PS - my due date isn't for another 3 weeks, so don't expect any sort of announcement like, tomorrow or anything)
The difference between getting prenatal care at a hospital (which I did with my first pregnancy) and getting care from midwives can be summed up nicely in this photo from last night:
Above are my two midwives "listening to the baby" in my son's belly, everybody laughing, sitting on my couch with my big fat black cat hanging out behind them. What a stark contrast to sitting in a sterile waiting room for an hour to be poked and prodded by a different nurse every time and seeing the doctor for all of five minutes. I hate hospitals. I hated going to appointments even. With my midwives and doula I feel strong, supported and encouraged.
Speaking of encouragement, I've also been meaning to share about how touched I was when a group of mamas (that I've never met from the NaturalKids Team and coordinated by Chris) sent me these lovely tokens of support for my homebirth VBAC. Many of them have birthed at home themselves and to feel the outpouring of "you can do this!" was so uplifting and exactly what I needed that particular day when the package arrived.
Just look at these beautiful items (much of it handmade) I received along with cards of encouragement:
