Yesterday was my husband’s birthday. We had planned only a simple celebration. We were going to attend church with our daughter Jessica and her family and then all meet at our house for a Sunday dinner. Larry is also a huge Dallas Cowboys fan, so he planned to watch Dallas play the New York Giants later in the afternoon.

I woke up early Sunday morning, and I had just put a roast in the oven when my apprentice Mercy called me with the news that her client Susan was in labor. We had made a trip to the valley just the day before for a false alarm with this same client. Usually when we get called out for false labor, we don’t get called back for at least a couple of days. So, I had figured that this meant Larry’s birthday celebration would not be interrupted this year. Larry had told me that he thought it would. I told him he was just being pessimistic, but he said he was just being realistic. As it turned out, Larry was right after all. I’m thankful that my husband takes these kinds of interruptions in stride. He is always flexible about when we celebrate family events. And that’s a good thing, since a midwife’s life is subject to such interruptions almost all the time. So when Larry heard what was going on, he just smiled and said, “I told you so.”

I just finished reading the birth story of an online friend I’ll call “Carrie.” She does not live in Texas; we “met” through an email group. Carrie had planned an unassisted home birth but ended up needing a c-section at 34 weeks due to HELLP syndrome. Carrie was well educated and made a very careful and informed decision to do an unassisted birth. Although I would not normally be quick to agree with a completely unassisted birth if a good midwife is available, I do believe there are circumstances in which an unassisted birth might be the best decision for some women. And I do believe that the choice belongs to the mother. And when she makes her choice as carefully as Carrie did, she has my respect.