Safe birth~ What is the MOST important thing I can do??

I had never even thought about this kind of thing until I found out I was pregnant the first tiem, and SO suggested a midwife. I started researching it and lo and behold.......it became ABUNDANTLY clear that staying out of a hospital WAS in fact one of the best ways to have a safer birth.......who would have ever thought LOL!

No one wanted to believe me either......but the handful of folks who took the initiative to do their OWN research on it wound up being my biggest supporters! Go figure! The biggest opposers (like my dad) refuse to even give it any thought because it's "too dangerous" in his mind. Too bad what happens in his mind isn't what happens in the real world LOL. But fortunately it wasn't his choice anyway   :)      I think he's accepted it now. He hasn't even brought it up this pregnancy!

i was going to say 'avoid interventions'

but you pretty much said that by saying get a midwife and avoid a hospital :)

Quoting Pandana:

I had never even thought about this kind of thing until I found out I was pregnant the first tiem, and SO suggested a midwife. I started researching it and lo and behold.......it became ABUNDANTLY clear that staying out of a hospital WAS in fact one of the best ways to have a safer birth.......who would have ever thought LOL!

No one wanted to believe me either......but the handful of folks who took the initiative to do their OWN research on it wound up being my biggest supporters! Go figure! The biggest opposers (like my dad) refuse to even give it any thought because it's "too dangerous" in his mind. Too bad what happens in his mind isn't what happens in the real world LOL. But fortunately it wasn't his choice anyway   :)      I think he's accepted it now. He hasn't even brought it up this pregnancy!

This was new for me, as well!     I was not raised around natural birth/natural lifestyle.
I find that *most* of the folks who encourage hospital births (for healthy pregnancies) just don't know why that isn't the safest route.   
It is so great when someone works independantly to discover truths-- and then they come back and are so excited, wanting to share!    :-D

Quoting doulala:

Quoting Pandana:

I had never even thought about this kind of thing until I found out I was pregnant the first tiem, and SO suggested a midwife. I started researching it and lo and behold.......it became ABUNDANTLY clear that staying out of a hospital WAS in fact one of the best ways to have a safer birth.......who would have ever thought LOL!

No one wanted to believe me either......but the handful of folks who took the initiative to do their OWN research on it wound up being my biggest supporters! Go figure! The biggest opposers (like my dad) refuse to even give it any thought because it's "too dangerous" in his mind. Too bad what happens in his mind isn't what happens in the real world LOL. But fortunately it wasn't his choice anyway   :)      I think he's accepted it now. He hasn't even brought it up this pregnancy!

This was new for me, as well!     I was not raised around natural birth/natural lifestyle.
I find that *most* of the folks who encourage hospital births (for healthy pregnancies) just don't know why that isn't the safest route.   
It is so great when someone works independantly to discover truths-- and then they come back and are so excited, wanting to share!    :-D

I know! I was so proud of my step-father for that.

I complained to my mom about how my dad was being so pessimistic about the whole thing, but admittedly knew little to nothing about childbirth besides what's considered "common knowledge", in other words, common assumption LOL. He couldn't back up ANY of it! But even when I tried to share information with him, he just turned his nose up at it and continued to insist that the hospital was "safer".

So my mom shared my complaint with my step-father and his response was "If he is so concerned about her safety, he could take the time to learn about it himself. He DOES have the Internet. When she told ME she wanted a homebirth I looked into it myself, and after reading the facts about it I don't blame her wanting to do it that way! I think it's a great idea! If her father cares so much, he could do the same thing and he might feel better about it." I was SO impressed! He knew nothing about it either, but he looked into it because he cared about me, and now he supports me 100%. It actually means so much more that he came to that realization ON HIS OWN, ya know? I just got to sit back and smile when he came to my defense   :)

Quoting ready_for2:

i was going to say 'avoid interventions'

but you pretty much said that by saying get a midwife and avoid a hospital :)

You are right on!

No matter who you hire, where you birth, you are in charge.     
It is just SOOO much easier if you choose certain routes!

;-)