WARNING: there is weird, some may consider witch doctor/voodoo, content below. In an effort to document this whole process, the story had to be told. Read at your own discretion.
Our first 5 months of prenatal visits were to a nurse-midwife clinic at the University of Utah Hospital. There. I said it. Recently our insurance changed to an entirely new network. *sigh* In a nutshell that meant I had to find someone else to deliver my baby.
Well, there you have it. A clean slate. Prenatal do-over. I'll be honest, I wasn't sold on the nurse-midwife thing. I
think I liked their philosophy. The U of U is a teaching hospital. That totally freaked me out. Strike one. I had students (very nice ones, but still practicing students) poking and prodding. I felt like I didn't have a lot of control over who was in the room with me. Not cool for a control freak like myself.
In a nurse-midwife practice there is no guarantee who will be on call during your delivery. This didn't bother me, but in preparation for the unknown the clinic encourages appointments with a different midwife every time. I didn't think this bothered me either. I really liked each of the midwives I met. But I wasn't building a real relationship with any of them, and I felt like it was my first visit every time. Strike two.
One of the students had really cold hands. Strike three.
So, I'm not loving my prenatal care and now I get a do-over. Okay, I'll take it. New insurance is no picnic, but not exactly the devastating scenario it could have been.
Our final appointment at the U of U was the 20-week check and ultrasound. We met with a midwife that I now refer to as the Queen of the Gypsies. She was remarkable. I heard she sleeps in foam curlers every night. She's incredibly passionate and engaging. She is a professor of nursing at the U, she volunteers in Mexico, she champions women's research studies, a
nd she graduated from Yale. Duh, she's amazing.
I told her my concerns and our situation. "Walk me through the basic differences between a nurse-midwife and an OB," I told her. She spent over an hour with us and was a
serious fountain of knowledge. I feel much more educated about my decision.
If you're wondering, this is what she told us:
1. A nurse-midwife is a trained labor companion
An OB will be there when you're ready to push. The nurse-midwife shows up when you do. They are trained in labor process and pain management, including epidurals if you choose.
2. A shift schedule shows lower birth complications
An OB can rush or start labor. Because the nurse-midwives are on a shift schedule, there is no need to change or hurry the natural labor process.
3. You choose your labor/birthing position
Fetal monitoring was introduced so you can be monitored (usually while you're laboring on your back) by someone outside your hospital room. Research shows that monitoring the fetal heart rate at regular intervals is just as effective as constant monitoring. The "Hollywood style" labor (lying down in a bed) cuts off circulation to the baby and causes an irregular heartbeat. Regular vs. constant monitoring allows you to labor in your chosen position. When given the choice, women almost never pick the bed.
Husband and I talked about it later and he mentioned that before we started learning about some of this stuff, he would have considered the whole concept of nurse-midwives a total crock of hooey. Following our visit with the Queen of the Gypsies we felt more informed, confident and optimistic. So here's to that whole knowledge is power thing, the Cottonwood Women's Center, a healthy birth and a second try for nurse-midwives.
