Topic Archive: midwife

December 21, 2011

Pregnancy Care and Birthing Options – US versus UK

We are an international family – I’m German, my husband is American and we currently live in England! I gave birth to my first two children in a suburban Chicago hospital and now we are expecting again! As my pregnancy progresses, I am amazed by the difference in care and options between the US and the UK!

Since PregTASTIC is gaining more and more international followers, I thought it would be interesting to share some of my observations!

Babies are born all over the world and while it is obvious that pregnancy and birth in Somalia will differ very much from the US or India, we expect the Western world to have comparable standards of care. While the US and the UK share a language (well, sort of…) and Western health care standards, the one big difference between the two is that the UK has a National Health System (NHS)!

This means that expecting mothers will not pay anything out of pocket for their pregnancy care – including blood tests, ultrasounds, amniocentesis etc – or their birth (including all anesthesia, the hospital stay etc). In addition they get free prescriptions for the duration of their pregnancy as well as free dental work until the baby is 1 year old. In the US most people are insured through a plan at work or privately. Regular co-pays are the norm and while most doctors do not charge every time you come for a pregnancy check-up, you certainly get a bill for an amino or the hospital stay. Depending on you insurance plan, the birth of your baby can cost you as much as a month of groceries to a semester of college! (more…)

October 31, 2011

Why I chose a midwife – and then delivered with a doctor

When I got pregnant with my first child, I’d been with my OB/GYN for a couple of years and it was only natural I would stay with him for my pregnancy. He seemed like a friendly enough guy, very professional and associated with a big hospital in the Western Suburbs of Chicago. As the pregnancy progressed, I realized that I wanted to have a birthing experience like my mother-in-law (three natural child births albeit in three very different locations: a military hospital, a community hospital and a home birth) and NOT like my own mother (first birth knocked out by gas so she couldn’t remember anything, second birth panic stricken almost in the hospital elevator). In addition I wanted my husband to play an active role in the birth experience – much like my father-in-law (who delivered his third child while the doctor watched) and very unlike my own father who never set a foot in the hospital, but just dropped my mother off.

So we signed up for the Bradley Method, a husband-coached natural childbirth class. During this class our birth plan emerged – waiting until 42 weeks if necessary, no artificial breaking of water, no interventions (IV, pitocin, epidural, episiotomy), no constant monitoring = ability to move around during contractions, no early cord clamping etc. (more…)

September 17, 2011

Birth Fear

This is pregnancy #3 for me. I should be an old pro by now, right? Perhaps that is true in certain regards, but in other ways, I’m not sure any woman will ever feel like a pro when it comes to birth. Even after labor and delivery twice before, and having two pretty ideal experiences, I still have a few fears. What’s the biggest one? That my luck has run out.

I know they say the third time is the charm, but with kids, anything goes. Before even becoming pregnant with this one, I wondered if I would be pressing my luck with another delivery. I’ve experienced two natural births that have been quite low on interventions. And I’m very pleased with that fact. Still I can’t help but wonder how this one will go. Will I be able to once again avoid the interventions I fear? Will I make it through this delivery without a c-section? (more…)

July 27, 2011

Baby’s Heartbeat… Hearing That Whoosh, Whoosh Once Again

My stomach has given up. When I was pregnant with my first two and nursing them for their first years, I remember saying, “I can’t wait to have my body back.” It took some time (and patience on my part), but finally I was getting back to where it was beginning to feel like mine. It wasn’t looking the exact same, but I had gotten onto a decent workout track and I was starting to feel better about my body again. And then we decided to have another baby.

I swear the moment I became pregnant, my belly just gave up and popped out. With my first, I began showing somewhere in the fourth month. It happened a bit earlier with number two. But number three has made it difficult for us to keep our pregnancy a secret through the first trimester. (more…)

Episode 188 | October 5, 2010

Oona’s Homebirth Story

Oona and her husband Dave planned on a water birth with a midwife because they wanted to bring their baby into the world without medication and within the walls of their own home. How long did Oona labor, and (more…)