If you decide to go with a hospital birth, choose your OB wisely. Try to get referrals from friends who have had positive birth experiences and go into your interview with an OB able to articulate your priorities for your birth so you can gauge a care provider’s level of supportiveness of your priorities (for example, will your OB actually be the doctor attending your birth). The OB who confirmed my first pregnancy told me that I was too small to ever give birth vaginally and she would insist on scheduling a c-section. I promptly changed doctors. Three healthy births later, including an almost 9 pound natural birth, I kind of have the urge to track her down and give her the finger. Yes, the top priority is a healthy baby. But you have a right to want more than just that for your birth experience. I find it kind of mind-blowing that someone who only touched my baby for a second had such a profound impact on him, my family, and me. My birth experiences will be a part of me forever and my gratitude to my OB (Dr. Damon Cobb) for the uniquely compassionate, trusting, respectful, caring and knowledgeable treatment cannot adequately be put into words. Nine months of getting to know me, my family, my body and my baby, discussing options, and empowering me to make informed decisions, were followed by a labor and delivery choreographed to our (my body’s, my baby’s and my) needs, based on our innate abilities and wrapped in personal care, which, I assume, comes from a combination of both his spirit as a person and an intention to change the world for the better; one birth at a time, one question at a time, one hug at a time. I encourage you to seek out an OB who will offer you the same high standard of care. Rachel Rainbolt, M.A. Sage Parenting: where nature meets nurture Chapter: Pregnancy
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 00:23:59 +0000
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