So the midwife phoned to see if she could ‘drop a few things in’ for the forthcoming (we hope) homebirth. I’m picturing a few disposable mats and a set of scales. Half an hour and 4 trips out to her car later our living room is starting to look like a makeshift ICU and I’m starting to feel a tad freaked out. There’s oxygen tanks, an ‘instrument’ box, a suitcase full of wires and tubes and kidney dishes, a resuscitation kit, some mysterious bag that must be kept plugged in at all times, 2 tanks of gas and air (happy to make room for those), meds and most cheerfully a bright yellow box for the placenta. Nice. I had an interesting conversation with Caleb about that one.
The on-call starts today for the midwives so we are good to go. It’s all a bit surreal. I never would have thought of myself as ever volunteering for a homebirth and yet here I am, plastic sheets ready and waiting. Mostly prompted by a horrendous experience in the local hospital with Caleb I went in to this pregnancy demanding a c-section and slowly, slowly began to believe there may be another way, one that has the potential to redeem the birthing process for me rather than just write it off.
Who knows how it will go. Viability for homebirth is a precarious thing – you develop any risk factors or go too overdue and you are hospital bound. But for now I am thankful for the oppurtunity of facing the birth of this little one without terror and with confidence.
Now, just need to find somewhere to store all this stuff…..
