To Be or Not To Be a Midwife
Posted by doularama | Filed under Uncategorized
Often, after attending a homebirth, I want to become a midwife. I am fortunate to be able to attend them as often as I do. Recently, I made my final decision, for now. I will do some self study work in case, when my children are older, I really want to delve in. Still, I can’t imagine that I would want to do it more than part-time and I would only attend homebirths.
It has struck me lately how I can easily predict how progressed a woman’s labor is and have always been right, but only when she is laboring at home. In the hospital, I am always wrong, every single time. In the hospital, my clients are always struggling, despite the fabulous support I provide, a little more a little earlier on. They’ve left their comfortable homes, taken off their familiar clothes, limited their mobility and often agreed to even more invasive procedures than those. I really should give myself a break. It’s no wonder they seem to be in hot and heavy labor when things are just beginning.
I realized that I do not want to be a midwife because, even at a homebirth, some time I may have to actually deliver a baby. I don’t want to deliver babies. I just want to catch them. I just want to be there with the woman throughout her prenatal journey and watch her as she labors in her uninhibited, instinctual mammalian glory. I don’t want to have to use sutures or syringes afterward either.
Oh, here’s a big one: I don’t drive. Have you seen how much stuff homebirth midwives lug around? It looks like they’re moving to Europe. Most of it doesn’t get used, but if you need it, you want it to be there. I think that many people picture homebirths happening with a long-haired woman who walks in wearing Birkenstocks and carrying a satchel of herbs. I would probably be wearing more fashionable footwear and would need my driver to bring the luggage in for me. Sounds good, actually.
Still, I want to soak in lots of information. I am a midwife at heart and would like to be a midwife in head. Being a midwife in practice isn’t really necessary. That’s my decision right now and I look forward to going back and forth on that one.
Tags: home birth, Homebirth, midwife, midwifery
In the Caul
Posted by doularama | Filed under Birth Stories, News
Caul is the term used for the amniotic sac when it is still intact around the baby at birth. Fewer than one in one thousand babies are reported to be born in the caul, and there are some old beliefs surrounding these births. Among them is the idea that a baby who is born in the caul will have good luck
I am not really superstitious- I happily believe some of the positive (things) and leave the rest behind. I’ll even go as far as saying that Friday the 13th brings me good luck because, if everyone has bad luck on that day, the good luck has to go somewhere. So, I’ll often see the positive portents in my life, and recognize nary an ominous omen.
I feel like I came into birth work in the caul. I have been very lucky. I’ve had great mentors and many opportunities for continuing education. I’m usually called to births after breakfast and get home before dinner. I get women to the hospital just before they need to push, leaving no time for interventions, and homebirths speed right along too.
The last two homebirths I assisted were attended by the same midwife. For the first one, she arrived just three minutes before the baby was born. Things were just going so smoothly and everyone was coping well, it was hard to tell that it would end so soon. For the second one, she arrived a little less than an hour before the little caul-enveloped girl emerged. The midwife told me that I am very calming and that’s why labors go so quickly for me. Well, “calm” is the one word everyone uses to describe this midwife. What a compliment it was to have her say that about me.
Now I’m on call for another client with the same midwife. Some might suspect that my luck should run out by now, I choose not to worry myself with those thoughts and just take the challenges as they come (if they come).
I don’t think there are any long- standing beliefs about the people who are present when a baby is born in the caul. Well, there is now and you better believe it’s a good one.
The midwife mentioned above had an aunt who was also a caulbearer. She died the day the little girl speedily came out in her own caul. That’s not superstition, it’s just fact, but I like to believe that those coincidences are significant too.
Check out some amazing photos and some more info HERE.
Tags: caul, childbirth, in the caul, midwife, Navelgazing Midwife
