Confession: I’m kind of a closet hippie. Or maybe not so much of a “closet” hippie. I appreciate natural things. The way God originally made things to be. I like making my own beauty products and soaps and candles.  I am in love with essential oils. So when I became pregnant I jumped at the opportunity to have an all natural, drug free, water birth at a local brith center. I hated hospitals (still do) and couldn’t imagine giving birth in a place full of sick people. It’s just in recent years that women started giving birth in hospitals. For centuries before that, birthing was done in the comfort of the home. I liked that idea and would’ve wanted to give birth at home but our insurance did’t allow that. So we settled for the next best thing which was a local birth center. The birth center was about 45 minutes away and it was exactly what I wanted. It was a house that was converted into a birthing home, complete with a fireplace and living room, kitchen, and bedrooms with big, jacuzzi tubs. They even had a bread machine so that every time someone came in to have their baby there would be fresh, homemade bread to eat after the exhausting labor and birth! How cool is that!? I wanted a private birthing experience with as few people and modern interventions as possible. The birth center was exactly what I wanted and where I imagined giving birth to our daughter.

I had all of my appointments at an affiliated building right next to the birth house. There were five midwives who worked at the birth center. I got to meet all of them at different appointments throughout my pregnancy and they were all amazing.  They rotated being on call so I wasn’t sure which midwife would be with me at the birth, but I liked them all and knew that it would work out so the right one would be there. Things looked great at every appointment. Baby girl was growing and healthy. I loved hearing her heart beat on the monitor and feeling her roll around. The only thing that ever came up was that baby and I were a bit small, but it was wasn’t enough to really be concerned because we were both growing.

Since I wanted to have an all natural, drug-free birth, I knew I need to prepare my mind and my body. I knew it was going to be hard and painful, but it was something that meant a lot to me so I wanted to be as prepared as possible. I exercised on a regular basis for most of my pregnancy because I wanted my body to be strong and healthy. Then I read. A lot. I read birth story after birth story of women who had natural births or water births. Reading their stories built confidence in me that I could do it, too. I read several books about natural pregnancy and natural births. I wrote out cards with verses and mantras so I could read them before and during labor. I envisioned myself giving birth naturally. I made up my mind that I could and would do it. There was no going back for me. I know that the mind is the most powerful tool we have been given and if the mind is in the right place, then everything else will come into alignment with it.

Toward the end of pregnancy I had to have appointments every week. Everything was still looking great and the anticipation of meeting our daughter was growing with every day and we just couldn’t wait!