Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Why Choose a Midwife in Massachusetts?

Here is a fantastic video that wraps up so succinctly all the reasons why Massachusetts MUST pass a midwifery bill. This isn't about women craving an indulgent birth experience, but it is about giving pregnant women choices about their bodies, their babies, and their health.


3 comments:

Kiki said...

Thank you so much for posting this. I am new to your blog and love it. I am about 7 weeks pregnant and my husband and I have always wanted to have a natural birth.

A home birth would be our first option, but seeing as our insurance won't cover this, we are thinking about Cambridge Birth Center - but I have heard so many mixed reviews, it makes me really nervous!

I DO NOT want to have my baby in a hospital. The encouragement of unnecessary C-sections, shooting up the babies with shots and tests 20 seconds after being born, rushed, unnatural births... it’s terrible. (And the claims that CBC has a high transfer rate really worries me.) I just wish I knew of more options aside from having to pay several thousand $ out of pocket to have a home birth. If I had the money on hand, I would have no problem going this route, but unfortunately, as of this moment, we just don't have it.

It would be SOOO wonderful to be able to hire a CNM/CPM and have a homebirth, and still have our insurance cover it. It’s so unfortunate that women/families who want to go the natural route w/ a midwife are penalized - esp. when it is actually saving so much money! Adding to another reason why I want to move from MA, even though I have been here my entire life. *Sigh*

Anonymous said...

I actually just stumbled on this post. You can have a wonderful hospital birth if your insurance won't cover home/birth center birth. This is where Maria comes in- doula attended hospital births can be wonderful births as well- natural, respectful, informed births! A doula at birth is the best of all worlds. Go for it and happy landing.

Anonymous said...

I agree - you can have a wonderful and natural hospital birth. I used a midwife and a doula and had a wonderful, and completely natural birth at a large hospital. No one even touched my baby for the longest time after he was born. They were in no rush to weigh and measure him. I was really pleasantly surprised. Some things are required, like the eye drops, but you can say no to all the vaccines and tests. You can keep him in your room, or go hoem shortly after the birth.