For both of my children, I had a Midwife-attended Home Birth. In Ontario, it is government funded and you have your choice of place of birth. Home or Hospital. The only thing I will say, and this does not apply to all, some hospitals do not allow midwives to be primary caregiver after a woman has an epidural, but they will stay for support.
I had wonderful midwives, my first Team being Edie & Kara and for my first homebirth a midwifery student names Janis, who is now a registered midwife in London Ontario-also amazing. My second team was Amanda and Ann, but Ann was scheduled to be on vacation, so it was always going to be Amanda. Kara from my first Team ended up being there as second midwife anyways so it was neat to have it come full circle, since it was Edie who attended my first.
My experience with Midwives, was what I always felt birth should be, MY experience and MY choices. I wasn’t just interested in the End-Result, I wanted the whole experience. I mean I will be a parent for the rest of my life, but the birth experience only lasts a short time. I really discovered what I was made of, and did not feel like I was Martyring myself by not having pain medication. I felt like I was giving my child the BEST beginning I could, no drugs, no induction, just natural Oxytocin and physiology. Anyways that’s my rant on the subject, but needless to say, I feel passionately about the whole process, so much so, that I am determined to become a Midwife myself.
Here is the website for the Midwifery Practice I used for my 2 children.
