My Unexpected Reaction to the Prenatal Care Program

Student Midwife Matison and Midwife Wendy First Day Selfie

Currently in my practice, I have two moms who could not get care with OBs but desire hospital births. One started care out of state but when she moved here, the OB offices were full. The other was late in starting care and couldn’t be seen in OB offices at that point.

Yesterday was the first day in my Bowie, TX office at True Health and Fitness. I have a little fine-tuning to do to complete my set up but it’s 90% there. I love how fresh this office feels with its light-hearted, happy color scheme.

I saw my two clients, faxed some records, completed charts and headed home right around lunch. Even though I’ve been seeing moms for two years, I went home on cloud nine (where did that phrase come from, anyway? What’s wrong with clouds 8 and 10?).

I was a little surprised by my reaction. Why so happy to see two moms that I’ll send to the hospital in labor? I wouldn’t have guessed it until it happened to me, but I think I was more able to be fully present with these women.

What I didn’t realize is that every prenatal visit with women who plan to birth with me becomes a discovery mission. Because community based birth is so much different than a hospital birth, candidates must be very carefully screened. We wonder if the failure to take our advice in prenatal visits will mean the client won’t take our advice in birth if we suggest a change to avoid transport, or even more serious, if we suggest a transport. We wonder if our client is actually planning an unassisted birth and using us for prenatal care. We wonder if the client plans a “party birth” and we’ll have to help pick up the pieces of a labor gone sideways because there were too many spectators.

Of course there are women who navigate their care on their own, not taking our advice on supplements or body work and there are women who are surrounded by a large support system and go on to have beautiful births. But we’ve seen enough to know that when things don’t work out in birth, yellow flags were present in prenatal care.

We’re always watching for those yellow flags. Yellow flags from partners, mothers-in-law, lab work, etc.

With moms who are only seeking prenatal care, there is no pressure to predict how her home birth will go since she’s not birthing at home. Of course I care about how they cope and how they’re treated in the hospital but I’m not worried that their refusal to try any supplements I suggest prenatally means they’ll refuse to go to the hospital if needed.

So I get to just be present. To sit with her in her nervousness in seeing a maternity practitioner for the first time in her life. To patiently explain agreements and consents to someone who has always had her mom sign her paperwork. To teach her how to move into motherhood. To cheer her on about her upcoming birth.

What a sweet shift this is from the visits that, unknowingly, always felt the pressure of prediction; of looking hard for yellow flags. Preparing women for birth and walking beside them makes my heart so very full and I am even more thrilled to be offering this program to my community.