I ended up learning hypnobirthing and then when the time came we did have an emergency – placental abruption – I wasnt going to let anyone get between me and the hospital (amazon reaction) so I drove myself and my husband – good thing it was the middle of the night.

ANYWAYS – in the end- the baby came out – NICU docs took good care of her (had to revive her and put in two IV lines etc) and we ended up facing the worst and came out ok – puts a lot into perspective!

I am deeply thankful I never delivered in a car.. its hard enough to labor in the car on the way to the hospital.

And I am listening to the Larry King coverage, where the Aviation Safety Expert, who said that the pilots generally remain calm because of the “training, experience and education.” Everyone’s training, experience and education comes in a different form.

I certainly think that applies to what you promote.

Having never given birth, but having read a great deal about the subject (WHO has lots of good info), I’ve come to the conclusion that most births just take place, and women don’t need a lot of intervention, but a skilled midwife can coax out babies that might otherwise be stuck. (An unskilled one an kill the mother and child.) The outcome is a lot better if a woman has an unpaniced and supportive compaion, even if untrained. And it’s really really really a bad idea to give birth totally alone (even if you feel it is very impowering). If you bleed out or have a stroke there is no one there to care for in infant — and if it’s hours before you are found the baby (not to mention you) might be dead.

Just as funny story, when I was born — at my parents home in England, my grandmother who thought she was calling the midwife got in to an arguement with the man who answered the phone — turned out she’d called the waterboard. Nurse Brown didn’t have time to take off her hat or coat — but did stay long enough to wash me and make sure my mother was given a cup of tea. When my brother was born 2 years later, things went so fast that he was born before anyone (inc. my mother) realized what has happening — along the lines of “I felt a contraction and thought I should being timing them because things went so fast last time and then there was another, and there was the baby.”

Thanks for such a wonderful and inspiring essay — I will make sure Chris reads it as well.

And thank you all for all of your well wishes and congratulations. Noah is doing beautifully and we are all resting peacefully at home and getting to know this newest little member of our family.

-Bess (and Chris, Ira, Inanna, and Noah)

What a beautiful story. It happens alot more than we all know. And, instead of a great organic toy, I hope you are starting the baby with his or her own storage of food. BAbyfood, rice (which can be ground), wheat which can be ground, and maybe a good book on breastfeeding (Sears) to the mom, for continuous milk making.

Have fun visiting!

Very inspirational!
Have a great weekend and keep warm! I know what it’s like….the kids will get stir crazy. Mine are so happy to be able to play outside again yesterday and today.
Shells

When you standardize for higher risk births taking place mainly with physicians now, both the Puritan midwives and modern midwives have a much, much lower rate of complications and infections than the doctors do. I firmly believe it is because midwives’ philosophy is to let the mothers do what they do, and to intervene only when absolutely necessary, and only with the level of intervention necessary to allow things to proceed.

With my middle son, I had a midwife and a hospital birth. I am fairly certain that if I had had an OB he would have been a cesaerian birth; thanks to Kathy, we had patience and ingenuity, and a vaginal birth.

With my youngest son, I lived in a very small town and had one of those doctors who presumed to tell me exactly what he would and would not allow me to do during MY labor. Well, it truly was not planned, but my son was born at home (4 blocks from the hospital no less). My family has a history of precipitous labors, and I held true to the family history — 2 1/2 hours of labor total. I delivered him in the bathroom standing up, and caught him myself. Not the way I would have preferred him to be born at home, but infinitely better than the alternative!

And congratulations to Noah’s family!