My Second Pregnancy

Last week I talked about my first birth experience and how I didn’t want my second to turn out the same way. With my second pregnancy I wanted to make sure that I had the best birthing experience that I could. In the beginning of my pregnancy I was being seen by a midwife at UCSD. My husband, daughter, and I would drive an hour to wait in a waiting room, be seen by a nurse for the majority of the visit, and then we’d see my midwife for only a few minutes. Nothing had really changed from my first pregnancy. I knew I needed to change where I was going when I started reading Ina May’s book Guide to Childbirth. Birth story after birth story, it spoke of women’s strength during childbirth and the support of birthing mothers- it’s definitely a must read! It made me realize that’s what I wanted! I wanted to birth my way, surrounded by people who also wanted the same thing and I knew I could get that with a home birth.

After I found Michelle Freund at Birth Matters, everything changed about how I prepared for my second birth. Every appointment was an hour with Michelle and her team, all who would be at my birth. The appointments gave us time to get to know each other and feel comfortable with each other. They taught me how to eat properly while pregnant, how to tell where my baby was positioned, how to prepare for a home birth, and they also made sure to talk to our daughter so she felt comfortable with them when it was time for them to come to our house. At our first meeting she gave us a binder FULL of information and each week Michelle and her team would go though each section making sure that if we had any questions they would answer them. They also had a library full of books, movies, and binders for anything pregnancy related. It was such a huge difference as how we were being treated compared to the hospital! I knew I was fully prepared for a home birth and that they were fully qualified to help me through it.
PINIMAGEI was so honored to be able to visit Birth Matters a few weeks ago to capture what a normal visit looks like with Michelle. PINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGEPINIMAGE

Thank you to everyone at Birth Matters and to Elizabeth for letting me sit in on your meeting!