My Bradley® Births...

Now back to the original question – Why did I choose natural childbirth?

Well, at first I figured, this was the way women had done it since the beginning of time, so that's the way I would do it too. This is the way nature intended the birth process to be and who was I to mess with Mother Nature?

Plus, I have to admit, it also had more than a little something to do with the fact that EVERYONE, including my husband, told me I "couldn't do it!" And given my competitive nature, I was determined to prove them all wrong. But as I started reading, I realized not only was it normal and natural, but it was also the right thing to do – for me and my baby!

Luckily, I knew a very wise and wonderful woman who didn't scoff at me or think I was crazy for wanting to "torture" myself. She was a co-worker and fellow 'person of juice' (as she likes to call women like us). She had birthed her two children at home with a midwife and gave me several books about midwifery and natural childbirth – along with lots of encouragement. Genuine encouragement. Which was something I was having a hard time finding.

So, after my first prenatal appointment with the OB, I left and never looked back. I figured if this doctor thought I needed drugs to conceive, I'm sure she'll think I need drugs to give birth and I wanted no part of that.

Now, it just so happened that shortly after my appointment, I was at a concept meeting at Clark Memorial Hospital (I worked as a web designer then). For some reason, maybe it was intuition or maybe I had heard a rumor somewhere, but I asked them if they had a nurse midwife on staff, and they did! I rushed back from the meeting, called the midwife and talked to her on the phone for an hour! She answered every question I had. I couldn't believe she spent an hour on the phone with me.

Then she said to bring my husband into the office to meet her. A few days later we did. And she spent another 45 minutes with us in person. We were sold! And we've never regretted the decision.

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