i never really thought about the possiblity of there being a problem with both baby and mom when i had my home birth. wow. what an ignorant mama i was.
thankfully i had a great outcome - as most mamas do. but what if i hadn't? what would my midwife have done? she had no birth assistant with her, no apprentice, no partner, no doula, no nurse, no midwife's assistant.
who would she have saved?
i live at least 50 minutes away from a hospital with an OB dept or an OR.
in my opinion, this is what the criminalization of midwifery is forcing us into.
illegal = less midwives = overworked = territorial and competitive = unsafe.
the midwives around here really need to start
- taking care of themselves
- working together
- preparing for the worst
on the other hand, i think of wanting to have an unassisted birth and where that would leave my partner if something terrible happened.
i think i just won't have any more babies. it's too complicated.
