Chapter 2: First Visit with the Obstetrician

After the usual questions from family and friends, we settled down to getting used to the surprise. I made an appointment with my obstetrician. The one thing that scared me the most was going through another delivery, especially in a hospital. Hospital deliveries frightened me. They were so unnatural with all their interventions.

After having delivered 3 children this way already I was desperate to find another way. I was not surprised to find my doctor brushing off my concerns. “I don’t see any way around this,” she said. “I follow all of ACOG’s standards. I can’t do otherwise.” She was a good doctor and I understood her position. But for once I needed somebody to understand mine. She made an attempt at addressing my concerns but gave up quickly saying that there were no other alternatives. St. Louis doesn’t have any alternatives. There are no birthing centers here. Midwives cannot deliver in hospitals. My prenatal care went on as usual.

By the 6th month I had located a very short list of local midwives and one doctor who did home delivers in St. Louis. I interviewed one with more than 26 years experience delivering babies. She went over my prenatal history and determined that I was indeed a candidate for home birth. But there were legal issues. Missouri was about to make it illegal for free standing midwives to deliver babies without direct support from an obstetrician. I had had enough problems just explaining to my family what I wanted to do. Now this?! The midwife and I decided to wait to see what the Missouri Legislature would do and I continued seeing my obstetrician.