midwifery rally, jeff city (aug 2, 2007)

Let's get it started...

My name is Raegan. Nearly three years ago to the day, I found out I was pregnant with my first child. After researching exhaustively, I knew the traditional "American Way" of birthing was out of the question for my own experience. I was attracted to the idea of homebirth, but since this was our first child, and we didn't know what to expect (after all the nightmare "emergency c-section" stories we'd heard), we decided that a freestanding birth center was the way for us. Unfortunately, at the time, that meant a 2-hour drive from our home in Kansas City to the Columbia Community Birth Center in Columbia, Missouri. Despite experiencing transition on Interstate-70 somewhere around Boonville, we made it to the birth center just in time to push. Fifteen minutes later, 5 hours after my first contraction, my husband caught our son Khary. Later that day, the doctor told us we need to seriously consider homebirth for our next baby. "Already there!" was my response.

Fast forward to today. We are pregnant again, due five days after our edd with our son...meaning we're due April 1. Technically, it's not illegal to have a baby at home in Missouri. It's only a felony for the professional midwife attending the birth. I'm not personally comfortable having an unassisted birth, so into the underground world of the homebirth culture we delve. We are lucky--in Kansas, midwifery is a-legal, meaning it's specifically not illegal, but not regulated (imo, this is the ideal legal approach), and there is a good pool of experienced midwives already in our area. Of course, the one we've chosen lives over half an hour away, in Lawrence. (We just can't do anything the easy way!!)

A bit of background: Missouri is currently undergoing a legal challenge to a law that made Certified Professional Midwives legal in the state. As of 3 weeks ago, that law was thrown out, but there will in all likelihood be an appeal in the Missouri Supreme Court in the weeks to come. I actually attended the rally for midwives on August 2nd in Jefferson City, new to the knowledge that I was pregnant...so one of my first announcements was on a poster that read, "I'm Pregnant & I Want a Safe Homebirth." Just in case it was picked up by the media, I had to tell my parents earlier than I would have normally. (There will be pictures of that trip posted shortly.)

So this isn't the most exciting blog intro ever...but now you know a bit about me & now I feel a bit freer to spout random pregnancy drivel as i see fit! ~~oh, and i rarely capitalize anything, so don't be expecting that from here on out. ;)~~