Redheaded Jill

I go to do the COOLEST thing a couple weeks ago. My friend (we’ll refer to her as M) was about to give birth and her sister (C) was going to take birth photos. Well C’s husband was working and keeping the toddler at home, but C needed help with her 3 month old baby. C texted me in the afternoon and asked if I could accompany them to the birthing center and keep an eye on her baby while she supported her sister.

Obviously I said YES and drove to the center. I spent the most glorious couple of hours. I held a sleeping dream of a baby, and got to watch the start of the birth center new parent orientation.

They talked about how they do delayed cord clamping, they help you create a birth plan so that the day of your birth you aren’t filling out forms that you don’t understand or agreeing to medical treatments for your baby that you deem unnecessary. They talked about the safety measures and the care of the midwives and nurses. It was fascinating.

M gave birth within two hours of arriving at the center. 30 minutes after her beautiful son was born C invited me back to the room to see the baby. I have never seen a baby this new to the world! He was so perfect and SO hairy. I got to watch the midwife do all the things. Check the babies measurements and reflexes, putting the name on the birth certificate and doing the footprints.

It was one of the best days I have ever had. It started with me watching my niece in the morning, my nephew in the afternoon, holding a sweet sleeping baby in the evening and meeting a new baby that night. I held a baby so another baby could be born with family around him. What a heavenly experience.

I typically hate anything medical, I find the human body to be pretty gross. BUT the longer I live the more I’m fascinated by it. Learning how the body functions and the miracle of birth. I find birth fascinating. Not to the point I want to go to school to become a nurse or anything. But I do wish I’d taken an interest in this earlier in life. I would love to help women safely and naturally deliver their babies. To trust their bodies that God made capable to doing the hard things. To rescue women from the corrupt medical system who schedules unnecessary birth interventions for their own convenience rather than the health and safety of the mother and baby.

10/10 would recommend a birthing center if you are interested in a relaxed and natural approach to childbirth. Lord willing I’ll have babies in such a place someday.