Again, why trust the salesman to make your decisions for you?

At the cloth diapering party, one of the side conversations was very interesting, and strange. These girls were all telling me why they "couldn't" have homebirths, or water births, or whatnot. It was all stupid reasons, too. This conversation is usually what follows when people find out I'm planning a homebirth. They have to tell me why they can't do it, for some weird reason. I've noticed that it happens in many cases. This time, due to the sheer number of people, was particularly interesting, though. You're not going to believe some of these.

"I'm adopted, so I have to do hospital births."
"I had a previous high risk pregnancy."
"I've had a c-section."
"I don't go into labor on my own. I have to be induced or the baby will never come out."
"I am diabetic."
"I am overweight."
"I had an eating disorder in high school."

All of these are exact quotes. Once I picked my jaw up off the floor, I asked these people WHO they asked if they were homebirth candidates. The answer was universal. "My OB." or "My midwife." OK, your midwife? Did you have a hospital birth? Of course they did. DO NOT trust that midwife. Hospital CNM's are nothing more than poorly paid doctors. What they practice is not midwifery. They induce people, use all kinds of monitoring, demand IV's, and some even cut episiotomies. You really can't call that a midwife. Granted, in a hospital setting in the US, it is nearly impossible to actually use most midwifery techniques, but those who have chosen to practice only in hospitals must have done so for a reason, and hence, they are not really midwives in the truest sense. In fact, a lot of hospital CNM's have a lot of bad things to say about birth center and homebirth practices. So basically, in asking an OB or a hospital CNM whether you are a homebirth candidate is like asking a Dodge salesman whether you should buy a Chevy. What do you think they're going to say? If they make money if you buy a Dodge, and none if you buy a Chevy, obviously they're going to tell you everything they can to make sure you never stray from Dodge. Same principle applies. These people make money off hospital birth, and every intervention they can get you to accept lines their pocket just a little more. Of course they're going to tell you that you aren't a candidate for anyone but them!! They are making a ton of money off you!!

The problem is that so few people truly choose to educate themselves on the reality of their own situations that they fall for this garbage. In all honesty, with the right midwife, any of the women there would have been great homebirth or birth center birth candidates. In fact, I, um, happen to know a local midwife who has successfully assisted homebirths and birth center births for clients in all of the above categories, and she's military friendly, and accepts payments.

I always ask these people if they actually spoke with a birth center or homebirth midwife to find out if these were options for them. They always say no, because the hallowed OB or hospital CNM said they were not a candidate for anything other than the full cart of hospital nasty. That slays me. When I was pregnant with Orren, and the people at Winn Army Community Hospital said that I would nearly definitely be induced that time around since I had passed 42 weeks with Erin, the FIRST THING I did was call the only birth center in the state, and talk with the owner (who actually did end up attending my birth!) She affirmed what I thought, that the hospital staff was full of it, and that I would be far better off at the birth center. I switched that day, and never looked back. How on earth would anyone know if they're too risky for any type of birth if they don't ask a person who attends that kind of birth? How would some OB downtown assume to answer for every homebirth midwife in West Texas, and all three birth centers? That's quite an assumption. I wouldn't believe anyone who thought they could speak for so many, without even knowing any of them, and having very little idea of what they're really about. (Watch "The Business of Being Born". They ask OB's questions about homebirth. They are SHOCKINGLY ignorant to the reality.)

Another thing to remember is that if one midwife won't take you, or you don't like what she says, then interview another, and then another, and still more until you exhaust all your options. Believe it or not, every one has different ideas about what kind of clients they are, and are not, willing to take. Some are happy to take people who are diabetic or preeclamptic, while others will not touch either of those situations. Most will take clients who have had c-sections before, but a few won't. Some will gladly deliver breech babies at home, and a few, even twins. Some others will only take singleton births where the baby is coming head first. Every midwife is different. If you consider yourself to have risk factors, your best bet is to look for a midwife who has been in practice for a long time, especially if her scope of practice has included births in very rural areas. With these credentials, she's probably seen everything you could possibly throw her way ten times before, and isn't put off by a bit of it because she knows how to handle it in a home setting, and how to help you to help yourself.

Did you know that a full 85% of the world's women are homebirth candidates? 85%. That means that there's no possible way that out of 18 women in attendance on Saturday, I was the only homebirth candidate. No way. If international statistics hold true to our post's population (and why wouldn't they?), then I was in the company of at least 14 other good candidates, not including myself. Three of them plan to call Casa (the birth center my midwife practices at) today, and try to find out if they can birth there.

Never trust the salesman to make your decisions for you. Educate yourself on your own situation, ask the people who actually provide the services you are interested in whether or not you are a candidate for those services, and proceed accordingly.