Church of Scientology International

Portland, Oregon, November 10, 2015 (Newswire.com) - ​By Kathryn Reeves

I dislike hospitals. I dislike the smell, the environment, the commotion. Not much about a visit to the hospital puts me at ease.

In stark contrast to the DC Metro area, Portland is brimming with birthing centers and midwiferies. This is understandable, as Oregon has more out-of-hospital births than any other state, save Alaska and Montana. I ended up with a fantastic midwife who was with me every step of the way.

Kathryn Reeves, Scientology Parent

I wanted to have both my first two babies at home, but Maryland’s ban on home births made sure it was near-impossible to find an available midwife in the DC area. My first hospital birth was OK, though the second one was highly unpleasant, compounded by the fact that number two was planned to be born at home.

So, I was left with sense of unfinished business which, blessedly, was to be wrapped up completely with my third.

I found out I was pregnant with our third child shortly after our move to Oregon. In stark contrast to the DC Metro area, Portland is brimming with birthing centers and midwiferies. This is understandable, as Oregon has more out-of-hospital births than any other state, save Alaska and Montana. I ended up with a fantastic midwife who was with me every step of the way.

Every step – including the part where I went into labor, and where my story becomes wildly different than my first two births.  With a hospital birth, you don’t go to the hospital until your contractions are sufficiently close together – or else they won’t admit you.  But having my baby at home, once we established that I was factually in labor, we didn’t really care about timing contractions. All my midwife really cared about was getting me as comfortable as possible, and letting my body do what it was meant to do.

When my midwife arrived, she arrived with her assistant. They took vitals, helped my husband fill up the massive birthing tub that my midwife had graciously provided, set up in my own bedroom with plastic drop cloths leading to the bathroom. So, between my own bed, my shower, and the tub, I had the perfect spot to go about the business of active labor.

I cannot express how much more at-ease I was being able to do this at home.  Compared to the aggravation during my first birth, of my being forced to pace around with mind-bending back labor in front of the nurse’s desk at the hospital whilst they deliberated whether or not I was actually “ready” to be admitted to the hospital, or the loud and insensitive nurses on my 2nd-born arguing in front of me whether to give me a c-section regardless of whether I needed it — being able to labor at home was luxurious.

Now, I read & watched PLENTY of stories of home births before having mine, and a number of them talked about how “painless” and “comfortable” it all was. Frankly I don’t know how anyone could say that pushing out something as large as babies could ever be “comfortable.” It HURT.

But, that being said, this was far and away the most “comfortable” of my labors. The birthing tub was an absolute revelation, and allowed for a number of rather relaxing positions while I was laboring.

My midwife and her assistants mostly just left me alone. My husband, used to the constant probing and monitoring that goes on in the hospital, asked if they were meant to check me for station, dilation, etc. Their response was basically “If she wants, we can check her.  Otherwise – her body knows what it’s doing, and she’s in good shape.” If I were high-risk, I would have appreciated the medical attention, but having been low-risk, I was extremely grateful that they just let me alone to labor in peace.

And then, without all too much drama, it was finally, really, showtime. It was hard, and it was definitely not “silent.” All throughout the labor my midwives had been respectful of my desire to have as little talking as possible, sticking to essential communication only, and that in hushed voices. But when it came to getting that baby out, I sort of let it all out.

Five hours after going into labor, I ended up with an 11 pound, 8 ounce girl. And despite being the largest of my three kids (the others were 8 pound, 12 ounces, and 9 pound, 13 ounces) this was far and away the easiest.

Seeing as this was the sort of birth that we wanted for our first two, this whole experience really brought closure to the birth plans that didn’t go according to plan.