34w 6d - Midwife Appointment & Birth Center Consideration

I saw the nurse-midwife, Donna, today, and met the new fifth CNM in the practice, Melody. Turns out, I already know her! She was shadowing Donna today and is a friend of a friend whom I have met a couple of times. It was so nice seeing her familiar face. God is so great!

On to the update. I did the Group Beta Strep swab today (results next week). Pason is head down. Heart rate around 139. My bump measured about 35.5 cm (just a tad ahead of schedule). My BP is 114/72--yeah!! Donna gave me premature labor signs to watch out for and other reasons to call them, which I already was educated about, but it was good to hear the review.

At the end I told her that we are considering transferring care to another provider, and that I am not at all unhappy with treatment with the current practice. Donna gave me some good major points to consider. We're considering a natural birth center that recently opened in Buena Vista, operated by Rockbridge Midwifery Care. (Their site may or may not be "live" yet.) It is only the third stand alone open birth center in Virginia!

I had always told close friends that a birthing center would be my ideal choice for my birth experience. So, there I sat a couple of weeks ago, at 33 weeks pregnant, with the prospect of all of a sudden changing care providers and birth locations from the hustle and bustle of a hospital with certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) to a small, quiet, private home environment with certified professional midwives (CPMs).

We have toured the birth center (it is so homey and comfy), visited with one of the CPMs, and I have spoken with her several times since to ask many questions. I hope to post more about this topic later, but, in short, I have done a lot of research lately and have found that a hospital birth is not the safest place for mom or baby in a low-risk, "normal" pregnancy. With that said, I understand RMH to be one of the more progressive hospitals of our time in this area, and, therefore, safer than others could be in many respects. Thus, this makes for quite a difficult decision. We appreciate your prayers and positive birthing vibes as we work through the various details and decision making as Pason gets closer to arrival at Chez Kite!