Homebirth Midwifery is Agorism at its Finest

I'm not a midwife, but I have used their services on two separate occasions and plan to for a third. I can find no better industry to support as an anarchist/voluntaryist than these incredibly skilled individuals. As long as there has been women birthing babies, there have been people helping them out.

There are several ways to locate and hire a homebirth midwife. First you need to decide why you are doing it and make a commitment.

EDUCATION:
Just one of many options:

WHY HOMEBIRTH WITH A MIDWIFE IS RIGHT FOR ME?
+Hospitals are where sick people go; emergency situations. Hospitals have some of the nastiest bacteria, resistant to treatment. I see no point to needlessly expose myself or my newborn to these.
+A low risk Pregnancy/Labor is not a medical condition. I do not have high risk pregnancies, neither did my mother.
+I want to protect my newborn from over zealous, busy body, statist medical staff, it's how I keep unwanted chemicals out of my body and the body of my newborn; its how I keep myself and/or my newborn from becoming a statistic.
+I understand hospital protocol, anywhere from drug testing that can garner false positives, to "routine circumcision", to vaccinations hours after birth. None of those things are for my newborn. Period.

A woman and her baby traumatized by officials when mothers drug test came back with a false positive for methamphetamine during labor Just one of the way too many.

+Golden Hour is respected more so with midwifery:
What is Golden Hour

+Personal, compassionate, professional care
+Less people at the birth, less potential for exposure and reverse labor.
+My newborn is never taken more than a foot away from me.
+Limited, when necessary consensual non invasive interventions

Make the choices that are best for you. In order to do that, you have to do research. Listen to birth stories, educate yourself on the process of birthing, inside and out (everything I have learned has been on my own, through books, and the internet) and understand how hospitals operate and determine whether that will serve you.

HIRING A WORTHY MIDWIFE
I looked up my first midwife on the Association of Midwives website.

After looking through qualifications and experience that made me comfortable with contacting them, I called to schedule a consultation. My first pregnancy, I scheduled two interviews, but only ended up interviewing one. She was it, we clicked, she understood where I was coming from, what I needed and what I didn't want. She recommended the midwives that would help me through my second delivery. It's important to note that these are not your 17th century midwives, these are trained Certified Practicing Midwives, Registered Nurses and the like. Some of them with 400 + successful homebirths. Not only is it important that your midwife is qualified, but that you can build a relationship of trust with her/him. You will spend an hour each visit talking more than anything, then you will get to listen to your babies heart beat, she will palpitate your uterus and you will pee on a strip to test for protein, white cells, nitrites and sugar in your urine. It is such a nice experience in a very home-like environment.

COST & VALUE
The compassionate, personal care coupled with the respectful, professional expertise, honestly, is a steal! We ordered a premade birth kit: $50, the midwives bring their supplies: doppler, test strips, oxygen tank ect., and they clean up everything relating to the birth and sometimes do dishes and fold laundry during laboring downtime. They give basic lactation advice and we have follow up appointments postpartum. We paid out of pocket each time a $3,500 flat fee, and the cost of any extra testing or services, to be paid in full before the birth. I had my placenta encapsulated both times the fee varied, but was around $200. It was well worth it, by the way, as I experienced absolutely no postpartum depression. Overall, I would do it again, in fact, I am going to do it again.

EMPOWERMENT
Having a baby, no matter your tribulations is an empowering when your baby and you are healthy. However, both labor and birthing experiences I feel have prepared me to be the mother I need to be to my girls. Both experiences vastly different than the other, both uniquely preparing me for each childs individual personalities and emotional and physical needs. I am a stronger woman today because of those experiences. Each woman, if given the opportunity can find her place in her labor and should be free to do so.

HOMEBIRTH IS NOT FOR EVERYONE
There are midwife options you can use your insurance on in Birthing Centers, so you don't have to do it at home. For those that have complications; high risk pregnancies the hospital is the recommended, understandably so.

For those that can't even! and feel they need medication for pain or to be induced, the hospital is your best bet. Keep in mind that you will get their full interventionist policy that more often that not goes like this: Pitocin induction, too strong a labor, patient need an epidural, contractions not strong enough: more pitocin, contractions too strong, more pain drugs via epidural, this back and forth is called failure to progress. If your uterus holds up to this the baby tends to get exhausted (baby's heart rate too high or too low), this is called fetal distress, either way an emergency c-section is then required. Preventable in most cases.

A cesarean is major surgery, that requires a hospital stay, minimum 6 weeks recovery and a loss of Golden Hour and sometimes the loss of the ability to nurse at all. Thankfully there are hospitals that work with mothers to support their breastfeeding effort. That may not always be how it goes down. Just be aware of your options.

I'm not saying there are not some complications with homebirth, but I can tell you, it's not because anything the midwife gave me or did that causes those complications.

COMPLICATIONS DURING MY FIRST LABOR
My first labor and delivery was 56 hours long from start to finish. The first 8 hours of it I spent raiding in World of Warcraft. After the contractions started to get stronger, it was hours and hours of them. The first complication came when the time came for Theona to start past my cervix, she got her fingers pinched between her head and my cervix and started to freak out, since the midwives are monitoring the baby throughout, they caught this. We agreed that she would break my water and I would reposition the baby by me getting into a down dog yoga position. It worked and Theona's heart rate went back to normal and my labor was well on its way.

The second complication arose during the pushing stage, because I had been in labor so long, when it came time to push and her head was crowning which I saw in a mirror and touched her head for just a moment, I saw a change of expression on my midwives face, she told me there was fresh blood and that the placenta was likely coming loose ( I knew what that meant) and we needed to get the baby out, now. The seriousness what not lost on me. She told me to get into a squatting position and I did not hesitate. My husband, sitting on the bed, my back to him, his arms under my arms holding me up in a squat position, I pushed my baby out and picked her up immediately. She is 6 years old now.

I had no complications with my second homebirth at all.

New Studies Confirm Safety of Home Birth With Midwives in the U.S.

It was beautiful.

OVERALL
I labored in the comfort of my own home in my own bed, around only people I wanted there. My husband was highly involved and present with me the whole time, never left my side! I felt safe and cared for. I was free to move around and was not hooked up to anything. No one told me what to do, or used their authority to do something I didn't want to, or was ignorant of. Not for a second during the delivery did the cost of my care increase, regardless of what my midwives gave me to help me. Birthing Freedom at it's finest. Both my daughters scored high in their tests and my midwives checked up on me and the baby for 6 weeks postpartum.

I'm an Anarchist/Voluntaryist, homebirth is how I have my babies best; it's how I defy those who would control me at my most vulnerable. It gives us our best chance.

If necessary, medical assistance was and is just moments away. All of my midwives displayed a keen understanding of how things are supposed to go and when or if that shift takes place, they also displayed their skills to identify and instruct me accordingly; handle the minor complications in the most professional, yet compassionate manner.

When you pay for this kind of service out of pocket, it cuts out special interest that often override a doctors better judgement, there is accountability and as such there is careful care and consideration taken on the part of the midwife as well as an understanding of the birthing mother that she is just as responsible and has an obligation to be present in her own labor and communicate effectively with her caregiver. Its this voluntary cooperation that made this such a wonderful experience, that made me come out of both deliveries a stronger woman.