I enjoyed this podcast very much. I have an idea for a future podcast:
I am 22 weeks with twins. Having had a very successful home birth through a licensed midwife a few years ago, I immediately contacted her upon learning that I was pregnant for the third time. It was only later through ultrasound that we discovered dichorionic twins. At that point, because of local legislation, she had no choice but to refer me to an obstetrician, but said that we could continue to do shared care. Once in the obstetrician’s office, I was told that, “Sorry, shared care is against our policy. Your midwife can be there in a support capacity, but we will be making all the medical decisions.” Not to mention, I was told how it’s going to be; vaginal exams at every two week visit, and vaginal ultrasounds every two weeks alternating between the two weeks, induced labor between 37-38 weeks, epidural is highly recommended because they “always seem to have to reach up into mom and pull out Baby B” (???), fetal monitoring screwed into baby’s head and so much more that makes me cringe. My question is, once I’m in this system, how do I get out? At this point, an unassisted home birth with my doula close by and the hospital a 15 minute drive away if needed sounds way safer than any of this. I feel like I’m submitting to be voluntarily tortured. I don’t want any of it, including these invasive vaginal exams that have started at 20 weeks that I fear could actually cause preterm labor. I’m employing the Brewer Diet with the hope that I will be able to hold onto my twins to term and really don’t agree with inducing labor unless there is a medical reason to do so, such as high blood pressure, heart issues, etc… My potential future podcast topic is: Do you have any tips for opting out with rocking the boat too much? I have other children I have to consider too and would not want authorities questioning my parenting ability because of my somewhat unorthodox view that a woman’s body is meant to give birth in it’s own time, in it’s own natural way, twins included.