|
Written by Beth Overton, CPM
|
Lately, I’ve had to take some of my own medicine.
By “medicine” I mean “advice,” not “pharmaceuticals.” I have been thrust into a situation where I’ve had to both consult medical professionals and at the same time take responsibility for my own health and make my own decisions, even when—make that, especially when—those decisions go “AMA” (against medical advice) and buck the status quo. And in doing so, I’m feeling very much like a fish swimming upstream.
It’s been a long time since I have personally been in such a situation. I’ve been here before, but not lately. And so when I have counseled clients facing opposition from others for choosing a natural homebirth rather than the status quo (i.e., a drug induced hospital delivery), I have counseled them as one having some personal experience in bucking the medical system, but it was experience long past. Well, as of a week ago, that changed; I just had an unwanted refresher course in going AMA. Here’s what happened.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Beth Overton, CPM
|
The last baby due this month finally arrived and we had a lovely birth. I’ve asked my client to write her own birth story, so I won’t try to tell the whole story here. I’d much rather have her tell the details from her perspective. We had another little boy. We started the year with bunch of boys in a row, and then we had a bunch of girls in a row. So maybe now we’re back to catching boys for a while.
My client has given me permission to tell about one funny thing that happened at her birth. She was laboring in a birth pool in her living room. She had been doing an amazing job of working with her labor. Except for checking heart tones and watching closely, our jobs were pretty easy because everything was going so well. Her mother was there and so was her husband. We all were waiting for that urge to push because we expected it any minute.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Beth Overton, CPM
|
Finding time for a real out-of-town vacation can be tricky when you are a midwife. It is for me, anyway. There is only one other midwife in my area that I can call on to fill in for me when I’m gone. That midwife is also my daughter, Jessica Gregory, and she works with me in my practice. It is wonderful having Jessica work with me, but one of the main reasons she is able to go to births is because my husband Larry baby-sits her four children for her when her husband Chris is at work. This means that I can’t go on an out-of-town trip with my husband unless we have no babies due. And, it’s a rare thing to not have babies due.
Well as it turns out, I have a brief break coming any day now. I’m waiting on my last baby this month. Once this baby is born, I will have the remainder of the month to use for vacation time. So, Larry and I are planning a long overdue trip to see his family in Dallas and Thorp Spring, Texas. His older brother lives in Dallas, and his mother and younger brother live on their family farm in Thorp Spring, a small farming community situated a little north and west of Granbury (a town about 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth). I’m really looking forward to the trip and the opportunity to visit with family. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Beth Overton, CPM
|
Sometimes I just need to attend a good birth. It’s hard to explain; there’s just something so therapeutic about attending an easy, normal, natural birth…the kind of birth where my skills for dealing with complications are not required…where in large part my role is one of “silent observer.”
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Beth Overton, CPM
|
I decided last night that I should start blogging more often. I got inspired while hanging out with my husband at our favorite weekend spot, Café Calypso (a little coffee shop inside Half-Price Books). Larry and I were there drinking coffee and listing to the Wayne Campbell Band (one of the local groups that plays there on weekends). As I often do, I was looking at a book while I was listening. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 Next > End >>
|
| Results 10 - 18 of 19 |
