Yesterday I picked up "Birthing" magazine. It's published by a non-profit group called Birth Unlimited that operates in both Edmonton and Calgary. It claims to support choice in childbirth, but what it really means is that it supports women who choose to have homebirths, with or without tubs, and medical intervention only if absolutely necessary. Put another way, every month it publishes three or four birth stories and I have yet to find one that didn't start out as a planned homebirth and I'm pretty sure the story about the planned C-section was left on the editor's floor.

Gavin was an emergency c-section, but at no time did I entertain any ideas about giving birth to him at home. After all, the hospital is where they keep the drugs. I don't know when or if I will ever have the opportunity to give birth again, but I plan on going to the hospital then too. With Gavin, had we not been at the hospital we probably wouldn't have known that his heartbeat was slowing down to dangerous levels each time I had a contraction and God knows what the result would have been, other than "not good."

There are those that believe that hospital births unnecessarily medicalize a natural process, one that women have been doing very well outside of a hospital for thousands of years. I don't think those women are entirely wrong, but it would be hard to argue with the fact that women no longer die in childbirth as often as they used to, and that more babies survive their births. As my sister, a labour and delivery nurse, often says, "These people don't realize that pregnancy is a big deal. It is natural, sure, but it is really hard on your body."

I think that there's a happy medium between the two. Now that the Alberta government is funding midwives, and because my first pregnancy was uneventful, I've decided that I will use a midwife next time around, unless my circumstances dictate otherwise (i.e. I've heard that they refer you to a dr. if you're pregnant with multiples and that's a definite possibility for us). Murray is totally okay with this. He actually said yesterday, "I don't know why you wouldn't."

I just hope that I am able to find a midwife who is okay with the fact that I want a hospital birth. I don't want to spend my pregnancy constantly justifying my decision or having to deal with subtle pressure to birth at home (and/or naturally. Epidural all the way. I don't need to be a hero for anyone.)

I wonder if Birth Unlimited would accept that birthing story?