Julie's Story

On behalf of myself - Julie, my husband Paul and our son Jeremy, I would like to share the birth story of Alicia Emily Kathleen. She was born December 4th, 1996, weighing 8lbs.

During my second month of pregnancy, I decided that the traditional route of prenatal care and birthing techniques did not suit my needs at this time. My son had been born in hospital with an OBGYN 3 years earlier, but this time I wanted more. Jeremy's birth was uncomplicated and short by most standards, and I had never experienced such emotion and reward previously. Despite the great outcome, I was not satisfied to do it the same way again. In the years since Jeremy's birth, hospial policies had changed in negative ways for birthing families. This environment was not welcoming to me. Further to the medical shortcomings, was the fact that having done this birth thing once before, I now knew that the doctor is secondary, the woman does all the work!

So, armed with this attitude, I set to work to find a midwife. The yellow pages were my guide! Midwifery seemed to fit our family needs better than doctor-centred care, I am from Cambridge, Ontario, and became a client of Carol Honey, a registered midwife. She was wonderful! The midwifery concept is family oriented, woman centred and naturally focused. I was never sent for a test. Any decision made concerning the pregnancy and birth was made by me. I could bring any question, concern, complaint to Carol and be fully reassured by her. The care took into consideration nutrition, the family and emotional satisfaction. It was not drugs and tests, but hope and anticipaion.

My midwife, Carol, is able to do home or hospital births, whatever the client chooses. I went into this whole thing feeling that I would deliver in hospital, but by my second visit to Carol, I was leaning toward a home birth. In the end, I was definate that I wanted home birth and had the full support of my husband and son!

I do not regret for a moment the decision to birth at home. It was calm, relaxing and totally natural. More important, it was mine alone. I had the undivided attention of two midwives and my husband.

The choice of including our son or not, was left entirely to us. The whole pregnancy had been a family event, with Jeremy involved, and informed. When the day came, he was the one who called Dad at work to come home for the baby! My parents took Jeremy out for a few hours during the labour, but he was home when I delivered and met his sister less than 10 minutes after her birth. I was hugged by both my midwives, and knew that they genuinely cared for our whole family.

My day of labour was wonderful - if that word can be applied here! I called all the shots. I could go where I wanted. I could eat or drink if I wanted. I told them when I was ready to go to my room and then to my bed. Half an hour after my daughter was born, she and I were in the bath together sharing our moment alone.

I reccomend midwifery to anyone wishing to be more than a passive participant in their birth experience. For those who see birthing as the natural miracle, midwifery should be explored.

The adrenaline rush of December the 4th did not leave me for many hours. When I finally fell asleep that night, there were four of us in the bed, ending our family day together.