When I was thirty weeks pregnant we set out to find a new provider to deliver our baby. We were with a midwifery group that works with physicians, but after I was scolded me for reading too much, I needed to find someone else. So, I ventured out looking for another group of midwives with hospital privileges. Lucky for us, we found Loudoun Community Midwives. Yes, in Loudoun County. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the lay of the land up here, that’s about an hour drive from where we live. But, after meeting with their staff we were SURE they were the right fit for us. And after going through delivery with them, I am convinced we made the right decision.
We immediately fell in love with the midwives. They let us ask all the questions we wanted during our office visits. We were a team before we ever went to the delivery room to play ball. The goal? To have a beautiful, healthy baby, with the hope of doing it the old fashioned way. But, our game plan went into overtime. Haven was born an entire day after my water broke. I didn’t start contractions on my own…so we started pitocin at noon….then around midnight…when I wanted to push…but shouldn’t because I was only 6 cm…so I had an epidural (which wasn’t part of the plan, but if we had any hopes of a vaginal birth it was necessary). Throughout that whole time, our midwife Wendy was a phenomenal coach who stayed with us even after her shift ended. She napped on a cot in the Birthing Inn, patiently waiting for little Haven to come out. We are both convinced that had we not had Wendy Haven would not have been born vaginally.
As if Wendy wasn’t Wonder Woman enough in our eyes, she is also involved with Midwives for Haiti. You can read more about Wendy’s work on her blog, Haiti Babies.