Midwifery and a Birth Center

*Disclaimer- I may spell some things incorrectly. I don't know how to use punctuation correctly all the time. I may include many run on and on sentences. And I may write in circles and loose you a bit. BUT you'll learn something new either about someone or someplace. :) 

 Hopefully you have read the previous post. If not than go there now. :) CLICK HERE

 In my previous post I mentioned that I had a midwife..... 

....and I will be giving birth NOT in a hospital but at Trillium Water Birth Center.

I first heard about Trillium Water Birth Center when they opened in January of 2011. And "liked" their page on facebook. I wasn't even thinking about my future births because I was in the moment of just trying to get knocked up! It wasn't until I read more and spoke with a friend who delivered with Trillium and their team of midwives that I decided I would consider midwifery with my next pregnancy. This same friend is Melissa Cate, the main birth photographer at Trillium Water Birth Center. I am her backup photographer. 

I went to Trillium and had a tour of the facility and was able to meet Augustine. She has such a warm and gentle spirit about her and most of all relaxed but bubbly. She's a person who you can't help but just feel like her friend. We chatted for a bit and then left. I was on call in March for births while Melissa was out of town. One of the mama's went into labor. It was a long labor and I was at the birth center for quite awhile. Being at the birth center gave me hours upon hours of firsthand observation on how Augustine and the midwives at Trillium work through Labor & Delivery. WOW! Talk about incredible. The support these 3 women gave to this mama was great! All of them were so calm and collected and knowledgeable. The atmosphere at the birth center is calming and the way these women interact with the mama makes it even more peaceful and respectful for the mom in labor. They talked with her about what her body was doing, made sure she was comfortable, had a warm bath drawn for her, candles lit, and her music playing. The baby was monitored with a hand held Doppler and the charts were kept. When not in the room the midwives were very communicative as to how the mom was doing, the labor itself, and how each one of them was doing. The laid low and let the mom and dad have their space and let her labor get further along  on it's own. :) Once labor progressed to the point of "the baby is coming soon". The midwives were in the room present but not "up in the moms face". They spoke softly, they monitored gently, they were present. Once it was time for pushing Augustine stepped up to the plate and helped the mom and dad deliver their healthy and beautiful baby girl. It was beautiful on SO many levels. And I knew then that this would be a huge consideration for me when I become pregnant.

(Let's pause for a moment. I want to throw a few bullet points out there) ☺

*If you love hospitals... I still love you.

*If you love being drugged up and laughing your way through your labor... :) We're still friends for always. 

*If you think this birth center approach is too "crunchy" sounding for you. I still love you but I think you should read into it a lot more. :)

*I had a great pregnancy with my son and his birth was an all natural hospital birth and I loved everything about it. I wanted an all natural birth with him and I want an all natural birth with this baby too. And I feel the best place for me is OUT OF THE HOSPITAL.

*I have researched both the hospital/OB-GYN route and the Midwifery/Birth Center route. I feel for me this is the best route.

Okay back to the "story"

Low and behold I became pregnant at the end of March. I was so early so there was no need to make my decision of where I was going to seek care. So I prayed about it for several weeks. I continued my appointments at the OB/GYN office I had been attending for the last 7 years. But something just didn't feel right. I didn't feel comfortable there. Don't get me wrong there is an amazing staff there and I owe a lot of thanks to them. (I'm going to have a Grammy award thank you moment for a sec) A HUGE thank you to my infertility doctor Julie, she is amazing and I love her dearly for helping me in the fertility department, for delivering my son in 2008 and respecting my birth plan to have it all natural. (She no longer delivers babies, enter sad face here) Dr. Kim Larsen and her nurse Toni for helping me get knocked up! (They administered my IUI) :) And for Carrie for doing such a great job in drawing my blood SO MANY FREAKING TIMES. :) (and end speech) :) Knowing that none of these people would be my OB/GYN and delivering my baby left me feeling a bit lost. I knew out of all the doctors there that were delivering babies I wasn't to keen on being their patient. (For my own personal reasons, nothing bad, just my choice) My mind kept going back to Augustine and the birth center. Knowing that this is possibly my last pregnancy I was interested in trying out the other end of the spectrum (spectrum not speculum) ha! I wanted to know what it felt like to not wait for 30 minutes in a waiting room, to have an hour long appointment with women who really want to get to know YOU and YOUR desires for your pregnancy. I gave into my curiosity and scheduled an "interview" with my husband and I and the midwives at Trillium. Ron, Dillon and I (Yes I said my 3 year old son Dillon. They have in their meeting room a whole play area for the kiddos. He was in heaven and we had a great meeting with no screaming) We met on comfy couches and were served hot tea and crumpets. (joking about the crumpets, but I did get a great cup of pregnancy tea) We met with Augustine and Amy and a small handful of other midwife students. We met for a little over an hour and chatted like old friends, talked about the birth, talked about other births, my previous pregnancies and so much more. Ron was able to ask questions that were of concern to him and we both left feeling like this was the place. I canceled my appointments at my OB/GYN office and had my records faxed to Trillium Waterbirth Center. :) :) I continued some research, continued to pray that I was making the right decision, and watched the movie The Business of Being Born (I suggest everyone watch this who is interested or curious even the tiniest bit about midwifery) And I can honestly say that I am so at peace with my decision. Yes I miss a few of the ladies at the OB/GYN office but thankfully we are friends on facebook so I can still stay in touch with them! :)

It's 11:30 at night and I am so tired so I feel like this post is rambling on and not making much sense. So forgive me because I am not going to proofread it before I hit publish! ha!

Before I sign off for the night I want to go through my first two prenatal appointments with Trillium.

I know that I have forgotten some things I wanted to put into here. But please go to this link and there is a huge amount of Question and Answers and I found it very helpful when considering Trillium! 

Please know that if you would like to ask my ANY questions regarding my journey with infertility, birth, this choice I am an open book. You can email me at lacied07@hotmail.com or comment here. 

Thank you for reading!!

♥Lacie