A few people have asked about Beckett's name. In a round about way he was named after Beck, the musical artist. About two weeks before Beckett was born, Luke and I were saying how we hadn't really thought of a name we really liked yet. With our son Owen we had a list of names we liked and knew that he was an Owen once we met him on his birthday. So while we weren't trying to name our baby before he was born, our list was slim at best and neither of us loved any of the names we had come up with. So Luke and I were jokingly tossing names back and forth. At one point I said I liked Tate, Luke replied that he didn't as it seemed to abrupt then went on to suggest Nate. I was confused since that is just as abrupt and joked that what are we just rhyming now. Luke then suggested Toby, but we recently met a Toby (and while I doubt he would mind at all if we used his name, it felt a little weird to us). So then I said what so maybe Moby, since it rhymed. Again this was all in joking. I said that we would have to name the baby Beck though because Beck is way cooler than Moby. And then Luke said well actually...I do kind of like that. So it went on our list and when he was born, he was most definitely a Beckett.
Our midwives are Certified Professional Midwives, there are also Certified Nurse Midwives. Because of the rules in Virginia, CNM's do not attend homebirths in this state. In other states CNM's can attend homebirths and they are permitted to carry some medicine, including oxygen. When we had our first consultation our midwives talked about the fact that they are CPM's and not permitted to carry any actual medicine. They do take your blood pressure and your pulse, and listen to the baby with a special stethoscope rather than a Doppler (the sounds is much clearer!) These are women who have attended many births and become certified professional midwives through apprenticeship (aka attending many births) and they must take several written exams. Through this experience they can do much of what an OB does without the medical equipment. They can tell the position of the baby by feeling your belly, often times they would be able to identify limbs and hands just by feel. Childbirth is a natural process for a woman's body (not a condition or disease that needs to be treated in a hospital). That being said there are risk factors that they identify as reasons to transfer out of a midwives care to an OB. During the birth if they feel that there is any reason for you to be transferred to a hospital to finish the birth process they will recommend so. If you are transferred they will go with you and act as a doula (basically be your advocate and try to keep things as close to your original birth plan as possible). If you do not listen to their recommendation to transfer, then you assume all rights and responsibilities if something is wrong with you or with baby (this is made very clear in some of that terrifying paperwork we had to sign). Basically when you meet your midwives, you start building a relationship of trust. Your appointmens last longer than normal OB appointments last. All of our appointments ended with hugs all around. You can email, or text, or call at any time of the day about any concern. These women are fantastic and they are very very good at delivering babies. If you are interested and want to know more you can look into the film "The Business of Being Born," it's on Netflix watch it now.
A "crunchy" mom is someone who does things in a natural way. Often ideally an unmedicated and unaltered birth, breast feeding, cloth diapers, making their own baby food, baby wearing, those type of things.
CPM's can order blood tests and ultrasounds through outside laboratories.
Most insurance does not cover Homebirth. Homebirth is significantly cheaper than a hospital birth, ours was $1,500 total. This includes all the appointments leading up to the birth, the birth, and follow up postpartum appointments. Our insurance was supposed to cover our Homebirth, but it did not.
We had to take Beckett to get his PKU heelprick test in he days following his birth. The Virginia medical system is not fond of Homebirth and has made this clear. We still feel that it was a great experience, but there have been plenty of eye rolls and medical professionals glaring at us. If you are considering Homebirth (or have had a Homebirth), own it, be proud. It's really really nice.
With all that said, to all you beautiful and awesome momma's, I think that no matter what your birth story is, wether it as your dream birth or your plan changed, you should be proud. You grew a baby and that baby was born! You are so strong! That's amazing!
Here are a few images from Beck's first moments as an outside baby.
A few images of proud big brother Owen as well.
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