Wow, I loved reading this! So glad there are still women like you! Cord clamping and cutting when the body is still in the birth canal...YIKES! When I was researching for my first unassisted birth (after one 'reasonable' birth in a birth hotel with a midwife and one traumatic one with a midwife at home...yup...they exist) I was going towards the end of my pregnancy. I realized that I had 'forgotten' to learn about one major thing: cord clamping and cutting. So I was reading this forum for midwives and nurses in the UK. On the thread about cord cutting, i asked about the possibility of the cord being wrapped around the neck. There was a midwife who told her story of something horrible that had happened. The cord was wrapped around the neck of a baby, and the OB/Gyn who was present deciced to cut the cord. One contraction later...baby didn't move out but back in. I am not even going to tell you the rest of that. Either way, this midwife told me that this was the last time that she ever even checked for the cord, to see if it was around the neck and she never had any issues.
I love the way you speak of your hospital experience and refer to the women as 'patients' while you refer to them as clients in the home birth setting. This is also something we see all the time. Pregnant and labouring women being referred to as patients, which immediately implies that they are sick and need help to get better.
I did an interview with a midwife of 30 years, of which the last 22 were home-births. She told me that in all of her career, she had only done one episiotomy. Because she felt she had to, and she later regretted it and knew it wasn't necessary at all. This alone told me that I was on the right path with my research for a better birthing outcome for myself and my two youngest children.
Thank you for sharing your story, I am looking forward to read more of your journey!
Ugh, that story about the baby's cord that was cut and went back in.............. That is heartbreaking.
Nice for noticing the transition from patient to client!!!!!
There's so much more we are still going to talk about!