The Business of Being Born

The following blog is an informed OPINION and should be read as such. Well, today marks the entrance into month seven of the pregnancy for us (well, I'm the only one with the belly;Brian is just patient and kind in dealing with a pregnant wife). I had a midwife appointment where I learned that I had gained 9 pounds (3 pounds more than I should have)! Totally freaked me out-- seriously. I mean, how? What have I done differently to gain that much weight? Our midwife exclaimed, "Jessica, stop freaking out about it. It's okay. Just be sure to watch your simple carbohydrates. It's not a big deal. You're not in danger. I would tell you." I am so grateful for Jenny Allen and other midwives like her. We really researched how we wanted to approach birth when we discovered that God was forming a baby inside of me. I never really knew what a midwife was until my dear friend, Amanda, started sharing with me the differences between midwives and doctors. The differences are mainly a matter of perspective on a woman's body and birth. A doctor's thinking is (at it's core): Pregnancy is very scarry and should be handled as though something could go wrong at any moment. Doctors are trained to treat illness and high-risk patients. They (generally speaking) believe that medicine/drugs are there to help the mother not feel pain. A midwife's thinking is (at it's core) this: Pregnancy is not an illness and should never be treated as such. If at some point something does go wrong, there are educated doctors who can do surgery/other medical procedures, but those cases are rare. We can trust that your body knows what she's doing. This is a part of life, something you were designed to do; therefore, we don't have to step in and "fix" you...We can enjoy watching your body do what it was made to do. There is pain in childbirth, I'm no fool; however, I do believe that I was created by God-- designed!!-- to conceive, carry, and birth children. My body is equipped to handle the pain that is produced by my own body in order to allow the baby to come out at the appointed time. If I have learned anything from research (and from talking with moms), one intervention will probably lead to the next intervention. These are my opinions and I don't think that natural birthing or midwifery is Gospel; however, I will encourage women that I know to study with two approaches to birth because I think that it can be perspective-blowing. =) I received all of this information from : "The Birth Book" Dr. William and Martha Sears "The Business of Being Born" a film about birth www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com