Any birth providers out there?

[Elizabethmidwife]

I'm a midwife (practicing for 8 years), but a novice pregnant woman. Just found out--very excited! I want to be a regular soon-to-be mamma, but would like to connect with others who have some of the "other-side" perspective. Anyone out there?

[paisley]

Hi and :greet! I know we have a doula or two among us so far, but I can't recall if we have a mw here other than yourself. Have you read through the Roll Call thread at the top of this forum? Lots of people gave little intros there. (I've read it but I still can't remember. :bag:) There's also a forum specifically for Midwives, Doulas and CBE's over here (http://www.mothering.com/discussions/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=228)

Congratulations on your pregnancy! :balloons We're happy to have you sharing in this journey with us!

[YogaMama04]

Congratulations!

I'm not a provider yet, but I'm working on my DONA cert. to become a birth doula right now. Not exactly the same perspective you have!

[Full Heart]

Welcome to MDC! and congrats on your pg!

I was a student midwife but had to stop cause I kept having babies. I think there are some momma midwives over in the midwives forum.

[Arwyn]

I'm trained as a labor doula, but not active, and a student/aspiring midwife (having a March due date pushes my plans for school, which starts in March, back a year!). So, not too much experience here, but I'm happy to see you. I love having a midwife in my DDC! :) Congrats on your pregnancy!

I got this question all the time, so I know it's kinda annoying, but what brought you to midwifery/birth work before motherhood?

[Elizabethmidwife]

I, too, get that question all the time, and even after 8 years, I don't have an easy answer. I can honestly say that I have always been drawn to women and birth. As a kindergardener, I drew pictures of pregnant ladies and explained to the class where babies came from. My favorite book as an older child was A Child is Born by L. Nillson. This truly seems to be my calling--as cheesy as that might sound. (I took several detours--my undergraduate degrees are in American History and Women's studies!)

Whoa--way too long of an answer :) But, I have to say that I am loving being pregnant and have found that these 2 roles seem quite complementary!

Thanks for asking and welcoming me here.

What about you?

[Arwyn]

A bad birth experience, actually. Not mine, though, my ward-sisters. She gave birth in an army hospital (I was her official "birth coach" :eyesroll and the doctor want her to choose between having me and having her husband there for the actual birth! ??? We said "Uh, no" so they rolled her in to the delivery room instead, because there wasn't enough room in the LDR for all of us :irked:), and although she avoided a c/sec, it was absolutely horrible - like perfection perverted. I felt like I was watching her get raped, although she now says things like "Oh, just think how much worse it would have been without the episiotomy!" You know, the one that tore into a third degree...

That started me researching, and I found that midwifery perfectly combined my interests in holistic medicine (my mom's a family practice MD, and I loved the caring for people part of her job growing up), feminism, activism, linguistics, sex (I grew up in a household where vulva and penis were regular words, knew the basics about most forms of birth control by the time I was seven, and never understood the concept of sex and genitals as "dirty" and "not to be discussed in polite company"), and, well... I fell in love with pregnancy and birth. Long before I even resolved the issue of whether I wanted any children of my own.

I suppose really it started before that, though, because I grew up hearing the story of my own wonderful birth (my mom had me in an Alternative Birth Center, and told me all about pushing me out with no meds, putting me right to the breast so she didn't need pitocin, and taking a nap with the three of us - mom, me, and dad - on the double bed afterward), so I grew up with the fundamental knowledge that birth could equal pleasure, or at least pleasant memories.