The Natural Birth of Baby G

The story of G's birth really starts in the months before he was born. I had been thrilled to find that our move to Pittsburgh put us within range of The Midwife Center here, where I could get care from women who would support my desires for a natural birth and educate me about how such a birth could be achieved. My first son's birth had left me feeling unsatisfied and looking back it could easily have become a very traumatic experience, being so highly "managed" by obstetricians who rolled their eyes at my desires for natural birthing, and who made me labor in bed, partially reclined (no wonder I couldn't breathe and needed oxygen!), attached to monitors and an IV, and scared and loopy from a dose of Stadol.

Unfortunately, my midwives are required to answer to a board of directors and obstetricians, and because of my large weight gain and the possibility of a big baby, one of the back-up doctors suggested an ultrasound "just to make sure everything was OK". That was the beginning of several weeks of stress and anxiety leading up to the birth of my baby. The ultrasound revealed a "macrosomic" (too big) baby, and the OB who saw the ultrasound strongly urged induction. When I refused, he rolled his eyes and said "Well, I guess I'll see you in the operating room, then". I drove home weeping and angry. Having done my research with this pregnancy, I was determined that I would not permit induction. So I put up with weekly non-stress tests and another ultrasound and relied on my husband to help me bear up under the pressure that was put on me, eventually even by the midwives.

When my pregnancy approached 42 weeks, they seemed to feel it necessary to let me know of all the horrible things that could happen to the baby if it wasn't born "in time". When my pregnancy passed the 42 week mark, my punishment for not submitting to the rules of obstetrics was that I could not legally give birth at the midwives birthing center, although they assured me they would attend the birth in the hospital. I was devastated about that. Given the attitude of the doctor who had suggested induction, my husband was incredibly worried, too.