We hired a Doula!

Since we decided not to have a home birth, but we wanted a home-birth like experience, we decided to hire a Doula. A doula, as she describes herself, is someone who mothers the mother during labor and delivery. She is a very well trained support person and also guides the birthing mother in techniques and interventions that may prevent unnecessary medical intervention. Since we want very little medical intervention, this is a good idea. To read more about a birth doula go to: http://www.dona.org/mothers/faqs_birth.php we ended up with Rebecca Schmidt. She is very well-known in Cleveland and was recommended to us by Colleen Brezine, another midwife we talked to and a mom who had used her in the past. If you are interested in hearing more, or want her number, let me know.

Our doula service includes two prenatal appointments and 12 hours of support (or more) during labor and delivery. I had my first prenatal appointment January 29th. WE talked about optimal fetal positioning, a little about pregnancy, labor and delivery, and did my birth plan. My birth plan, in a nutshell, is to have very little medical intervention, natural vaginal childbirth with no medication, and to deliver by water birth in a birthing tub. My practitioner, Collen Brezine is an expert in the Cleveland area in water birth and Doula Rae has assisted in many of these births.

Part of ther reason I want this type of birth experience is because I want to prevent an unnecessary c-section. The c-section rate in America has grown to 30%. Worldwide it is 10%. My midwive's rate is 8%. In America, it is often done routinely in many types of pregnancies and is also done before trying other interventions that the doula and midwife would try first (such as turning the baby manually). It is also because of the disappointment I have heard from many moms who had medical intervention from some to a great deal, compared to my sister and friends of mine who had natural childbirth with little to no medication. My twin sister was one of these, even having her twins naturally. The woman who has had all home births is another. It seems quite preferable to having a lot of medical intervention. (Of course, many women have great birth experiences using medical interventions with an OB/GYN. So this is just a personal preference).

I also have done a lot of research about the lack of necessity of medical intervention in childbirth. Medical intervention is completely overused, in America especially, mostly because women have not done the research, and Americans overtrust medical practitioners, believing they always know best. In reality, birthing has become a business, as much of the medical field has. Much of the intervention is done for the convenience of either the patient, doctor, or both, and not out of necessity. A good documentary which talks about this is The Business of Being Born. It is available through netflix and also through the Cuyahoga County Public Library. Check out the trailer at http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/. It talks about the pros and cons of medical intervention and the questions that go along with it.