Happy Birth day To a New Mom and her daughter

I attended a most amazing birth in the wee hours this morning. BC transferred prenatal care to our center 4 weeks before her due date, driving over an hour each way, so that she could have the birth she desired. She had been receiving care from a female OB and planning a hospital birth but was getting uneasy about being able to have a natural birth with that arrangement. So she came to visit the birth center, liked what she saw, and changed her plan to deliver her baby at the birth center. Her husband was nervous about the change but supportive of her desires.
While BC received a prenatal massage last week, he was set up to watch some videos of midwife attended births so he could get a feel for the "normalcy" and lack of fear surrounding the midwifery model of care at a birth. I hope that helped him. But whether or not he was completely on board with the plan, and despite being due any day, and the long drive she had to come, BC made the decision that her instincts told her to make.

She arrived at the center in active labor at 12:30 AM and was totally coping and going with the flow, tuned into her body's cues and laboring silently and peacefully. I was blown away that she was 6 cms already. Into the birth tub she went. She was laboring like a pro, 100% focused on the task before her. She was beautiful and in the "zone" as she slipped into the water. I instantly felt like an intruder in a very intimate and private situation. She didn't need me. I told NC to come get me if they needed anything and left to go to the midwife's office. Less than 2 hours later, she silently, peacefuly and gently delivered her baby into my waiting hands. She was standing, leaning on the bed for support, with NC at her side. Never did this woman utter a word to indicate despair, pain or fear. She exuded such an air of confidence in her ability to birth her baby. As a wise counselor once told me "you ARE what you BELIEVE". It was never so apparant than in this situation. She believed she was up to the task and she did it with such excellence. She birthed her baby her way - with no induction, no IV, no drugs, no episiotomy, no tears or stitches, no one in the room except she and her man and the midwife and nurse.

Now for the most amazing part-the woman who made the decision to switch health care providers at 36 weeks to deliver at a center over an hour away is only 19 years old. One rarely sees that kind of courage or confidence in much older, "wiser", more experienced women.

I have no idea what foundation BC has that has enabled her to believe the way she did, but as a Christian, it makes me think of I Timothy 10-12: "and for this we labor and strive, that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe....Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."