If you’ve been keeping score (and I forgive you if you haven’t been), I’ve been planning on giving birth to Little Miss Cub in a Birthing Centre under a midwife’s care since even before conception. So it’s a huge turnaround for me to suddenly be saying: “I think I want a home birth!” (That was actually the subject of my e-mail to my midwife.)
See, in Quebec, Birthing Centres are paid for by the government, no different than a hospital. When midwives aren’t present, birth assistants are there to ensure care of the mother and baby.
Because Calgary’s Arbor Birthing Centre is privately run, you can only stay as long as your midwives are present. This means that once Little Miss Cub is born, assuming all is well and I don’t need hospitalization, we would be packing up and leaving in 2-3 hours. This fact somehow eluded me when we visited the Centre, but my midwife brought it up at my 36 week appointment. While I don’t doubt that my midwife’s care would have me capable of leaving, packing up and hopping in a car two-hours postpartum is NOT part of my birth plan. I want to curl up in bed and enjoy my baby with my husband, introduce her to Cub and eat lots and lots of food. It seems like the only way I’m going to get that wish (since a hospital bed doesn’t count) is if we birth at home!
The biggest reason I didn’t consider home birth when we were in Montreal was because our place was teeny tiny and not a place I could envision relaxing enough to give birth. We take possession of our new townhouse, twice the size, on Friday, and if baby were to come before then we’d have to go to the hospital any way since I’d still be 36 weeks. While the tub isn’t generous, I’d rather birth in a small tub and not have to vacate the premises than have the spacious Birth Centre tub and a 2-hour eviction notice!
On Thursday I have my 37-week appointment with my midwife, and we’ll discuss my new home birth dream in depth. On Monday, I also have a consultation with an ObGyn who is supposed to clear me for an out-of-hospital birth given that I take a 60 mg dose of Paroxetine (a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor, aka, an anti-anxiety drug). I took the same dose with Cub and neither he nor I experienced any side effects, but I delivered in a hospital. I am very, truly hopeful that she gives me the green light for an out-of-hospital birth!
At my last appointment, my belly was measuring one week behind, and my midwife recommended that I increase my protein intake. I greatly improved my diet, which has left me feeling significantly better, AND my belly is measuring perfectly again!
Did you birth at home, or make a last-minute change to where you wanted to give birth?
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