Telling Our Story

Brian and I went to the Bay Area Home Birth Group's birth stories session today.  There was a pretty good turn out.  It's basically just a meet and greet for those who've had home births and those who are interested in it.  All the mamas in the room went around and told their birth stories.  I hate talking in groups, so I was a bit nervous and I sweat profusely, but I told our story.  It was nice to share the story.  I'd like to tell it again.  I think with a little practice I could learn to summarize it and hit the important highlights.  What I learned from listening to other people's story was that our labor was pretty quick.  We really had no complications and the best thing about choosing to birth with a midwife and doula is that you can be so incredibly supported.  There were many stories of slow and stalled labors and several women had to transfer to the hospital due to exhaustion.  There were a couple of stories of real medical need and some situations to give you pause.  I was wondering if the new expecting moms found these stories reassuring or intimidating.  But in the end what I saw was that even those that had to transfer because of slow labor or because of medical emergency felt so grateful for the amazing support they experienced along the way.  They expressed that they didn't think they would have felt all of that support if they had started with a hospital birth and all they felt that their situations and emergencies were handled in the best way by knowledgeable midwives and in the end everyone ended up healthy and happy.