Hynobabies (warning! long soap box entry)

I know that not everyone is into the natural scene, but we've decided to do a natural home birth with this one. I've always had a little hippie inside me, but I'm still a little shocked that this is what I really want and that I am so excited about it. It all started because we didn't have insurance (I know!), and I didn't want to fork out $1200 for an epidural. I knew that I couldn't birth cold and wanted some training for pain management. I researched and found a Hynobabies instructor in Provo. Jared wasn't super excited about being so involved as a birth partner. He rather liked chilling and chatting during my labor with Zina. After the first class, however, he was totally excited and couldn't wait to learn more. We finished the classes a few weeks ago and I can honestly say that I'm thrilled to birth naturally; I believe I won't have any pain (for those who aren't convinced and want to see a Hypnobabies demo, click here) and that it's going to be a beautiful, sacred experience. The more I learned the less I wanted to birth in a hospital and with a normal doctor. We decided to switch from my PCP to a midwife and are thrilled to have her help and knowledge.

I know not everybody is into the natural scene, and some people are downright scared and think hospitals are the safest place. I, on the other hand, think hospitals intervene too much and actually cause too many unnecessary C-sections. Let me interject and say that I am extremely grateful to live in this day and age when the intervention that is necessary saves the lives of mommy and baby. Several friends would probably have died in childbirth and/or lost their babies were it not for trained medical professionals.

I feel much more educated about birthing than I was with Zina. With her, I had never had a child and had the normal American mentality that you give your body to your care providers and they take care of everything because they're the ones who went to school for years and know what's going on better than you do. I don't feel that way anymore. Now I'm the one who's in charge. It's my body; it's my baby and I'm the one that has to do all the work! Hospitals take care of sick people; birthing isn't a disease. I especially changed my mind about birthing at a hospital when I found out their discount for a 24-hour stay, vaginal birth without an epidural is $2900. The two cars we bought when we got married cost barely more than that. I wasn't in the mood to pay someone thousands of dollars to push out my own baby. If there's a complication and I end up needed a C-section or some other kind of intervention, I would be more than happy to pay them thousands of dollars to save a life.

I'll let you know how everything goes, but I get really excited when I think about birthing at home (we're actually doing it at my mom's house because she has air conditioning). I'm really grateful now that our lack of insurance brought this about; what started as a financial decision ended up an emotional one. I once heard that the act of bringing a child into the world should be as intimate and sacred as the act that conceived the child. I hope the veil becomes really thin during our next baby's birth.