Even though it's gonna be a while before I try to get pregnant, I've done a lot of research about home-birth and birthing centers. A LOT. I feel pretty well informed about midwifery, doulas, and all that comes along with a non-traditional (read: hospital) birth. That being said, in recent conversations regarding family members giving birth I've mentioned that I am highly, if not exclusively, interested in having an alternative birth plan. I feel very strongly against the medicalization of pregnancy and fear-based birthing that tends to take place in hospital settings.
Well holy crap!
Both my Mom and Pru's literally freaked out. They immediately and vehemently protested this idea and launched into the always clever "but what if something goes wrong and you're not near a neo-natal unit?!" argument. I tried to explain that a good midwife would never attempt to deliver a "high-risk" pregnancy at home and in the event something went wrong, they'd be more than happy to transfer delivery to a hospital setting LONG before it became an issue. I also mentioned that statistically, midwives have excellent track records and low death-rates among both infants and mothers and significantly less c-sections, particularly when compared against For-Profit hospitals.
They heard about, oh... 0% of what I said.
I don't think I'll be mentioning this again for a long time...
Anyone else have people freak out when they brought up a birth plan in a setting other than a hospital??
