When you get married, you quickly find out that there is a right way to be married, and a wrong way, and everyone has an opinion on what is right and what is wrong.
When you get pregnant and become a parent...the opinions grow and intensify.
From "feed that baby whenever they cry" to "let that baby cry it out" to shots, to food, to books...it's never ending! Sometimes I think either Lily or I would have died if it weren't for the advice we got, other times I wish I would have never asked!
One of the most aggravating things I've been told since we got pregnant with Lily was
"Wow...You're really...brave for having a homebirth. I just like the safety of having the doctors there, I guess."
Why is it so aggravating? Because they don't mean "brave". They mean "irresponsible", often times "credulous" or "impulsive", but most likely "stupid."
They think some woman wearing overalls and a bandanna, or a muted dress covering her head to toe will come into our house with a small bag of towels and weed and sit idly by while a mother lays in her bed screaming in agonizing pain. They usually don't understand that they go through many years of schooling and apprenticing, attending dozens [sometimes hundreds!] of births before they are certified [unlike OB's who are trained for surgery, and rarely see a live birth before they graduate medical school].
After doing a lot more research than most people do when they birth in a hospital [IMO], Eamon and I decided very early on in Lily's pregnancy that if remained low risk and healthy, there was no reason I shouldn't use a midwife. And if we were going to use a midwife, I might as well birth at home. [Getting in a car during transition to go to the birth center or hospital just sounds like hell to me, lol!] Our home birth was a huge success, so when we got pregnant this time, we of course chose the same path.
After a few changes in the line up, lots of prayer and joy, I'm happy to introduce my birth team to you :]
Angela Friesen: As you can see, not much brings her more joy than watching a mama pull her baby up to her chest. God told her that she was supposed to be at Lily's birth last time, EVEN THOUGH I had hired someone else, and low and behold, she ended up catching my sweet girl! There was never a doubt we wanted her here to help us bring Number Two along.
