midwife!

We've decided on a midwife. I'm so glad to have this decision made. We interviewed three really wonderful midwives. I would have been happy to have any one of them. But, ultimately, we've decided to go with Debbie. i think she's going to be wonderful to have on this pregnancy and birth journey for Baby 3. We're currently two months along, but, since we've chosen not to use doppler, we'll have to wait until probably mid-December to get those signs of life, of hearing the heartbeat and feeling the baby move. i really looked forward to the 10-week appointment with evalana and lazarus since i loved hearing those tiny hearts beating, but, whether we would hear a heartbeat with this baby now or not, it wouldn't change anything we could do for the baby, so my knowledge of how Baby is doing will wait a couple more months this time.
Many people have asked me what exactly a midwife does or what kind of training they have. i think midwives have a large variety of ways they actually practice, but, basically, a midwife is trained in healthy pregnancy, so they know when something isn't going right, and they would then refer to a doctor. An OB is trained in surgery and complicated births. So far i've had two easy, healthy births, and i expect #3 to be more of the same, but the midwife is prepared to handle most anything that comes up. During the pregnancy, she's watching for any signs of things that aren't quite right. During labor, she would also know if something might be a concern, and we would transfer to the hospital if necessary. After the birth, she's prepared with supplies and medicines to handle emergency situations with the mom and/or baby. We feel that God will lead us through this whole process. We're really looking forward to a homebirth where we can all be excited about a joyous birth, rather than the fight we had to go through last time. We're looking forward to celebrating this little life as he or she is born.