Apparently, as soon as people know you are pregnant, you get offered all sorts of advice. Which I am sure would get annoying in the long term, but right now I am floundering, and need all the help I can get.
I have to choose where this baby will be born, and I have to choose very soon. Most of the checkups and tests are done through the obstetrician or the hospital where you will give birth. And since I am not really convinced of the value of an obstetrician in a low risk pregnancy, I think I am looking for either a midwife or a doula.
I don’t have a midwife, or a doula. Or an obstetrician, or a hospital, or even a GP that will do shared care. All I have is a due date, and a picture of a fuzzy grey blob.
I found a great midwife, but she is fully booked for my due date. She is posting me a list of other midwives that I will call as soon as I get it (hopefully tomorrow).
Unfortunately, I am still very much in the dark as to what would be best for me. I have always been a big believer in taking a pill if I had a headache, but this is a much bigger decision. I am very attracted to having the baby at home, with my husband and a midwife. But I also think that being near medical help is a good idea “just in case”. This rules out my local hospital (Ryde doesn’t have the advanced equipment necessary for all emergencies), so I’ll have to look at a larger hospital.
I think I’m having a low risk pregnancy, but apparently Ryde might reject me anyway, due to my BMI. I have private health care, but still haven’t checked what is covered and what is not.
So if I choose a birthing centre, can I take my own midwife? Or doula? Which is more appropriate/better?
I have seen a friend give birth in a birthing centre, and I’m not afraid, but I am concerned that the discontinuity of care is jarring. We went through three shift changes during her labour, and two of the three midwives had the bedside manner of a barracuda.
My other concerns are that if I don’t have a qualified advocate with me in the hospital, I’ll get pushed into having an episiotomy. I also hate the idea of being forced to lie down to deliver (squatting just seems to make so much more sense).
Sorry to ramble on, just feeling like I am negotiating a minefield.
And here is a picture of Custard. He is the Destroyer of Worlds. And Playstation controllers.
Disco Knitter 
Can’t help with advice. Know nothing about the NSW system except that midwives had problems getting insurance. Sorry. *Love* the pic of custard.
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you ARE negotiating a minefield – follow your instincts. I would start with a good GP who can refer you to the places that you would like to investigate.
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I went totally public at the RHW Randwick – the birthing centre was great for check-ups because they had comfy sofas. I had private HC as well but was happy with the Public.
The one thing that is given in this situation is be prepared for all your plans and careful preparation to be high jacked – by the Bub. Be flexible.
The control freak that I am I had everything organised – birthing centre, no drugs, no cuts – all sorted.
The little darling was over a week overdue, I had one night in the Birthing centre with my music and candles, listening to other women pop babies out in record time while I felt like a constipated whale.
When he finally decided to come out in the birthing ward he was helped by a good dose of oxyacetylene (oxytocin), an epidural (thank god for drugs!) and in the final panic moments when the meconan showed, a big snip. By that time I didn’t care.
You, being a young healthy women probably won’t have to go through any of this but be prepared (mentally) for anything. The only thing I was adamant about was no Pethidine – I wanted to retain a little bit of conscious control – if only to scream and swear a lot.
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That picture of Custard reminds me of Disapproving Rabbits: http://www.birdchick.com/adventures/rabbit/
Unfortunately I can’t offer much maternity advice, as I am underqualified. However, most people I know who have given birth were at RPA (although most people I know who have given birth *live* near there) and that seemed to work well for them, although I’m not really aware of the gory details of their particular choices.
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We went the birth centre route with both girls, but as that was all nearly two decades ago now I’m fairly certain most of the advice I might give would be ridiculously out of date.
I do agree with what ‘the organiser’ said though. We started out by explaining to our GP what we had in mind for the birth so that she could refer us to a sympathetic obstetrician, and things mostly fell into place after that. Having Michael there for the initial meetings and appointments was also good, as he was really good at keeping things on track.
From my own experience though, if they’ll let you use a birth centre with your own midwife, I can see how that would be pretty much ideal — I really didn’t get along with one of the midwifes at the birth centre, so naturally she was on shift during both labours and I swear she affected the timing of both my daughters’ births — one was born just after she left and the other was born just as she was arriving. There was also the interesting experience of realizing that the midwife who would be looking after us had been my science lab partner at school — but then again, at least I got along with and trusted her, unlike that other @#$%#.
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It all feels very overwhelming at first – at least for me it did. don’t worry too much. It will all fall into place. It sounds like you know what you want already, which is a good start.
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