Birth Plans

Have to start thinking about WHERE I am going to have this baby. Now I don't mean what hospital or birthing centre. Because I have always known since I was very young that my first choice would always be a home birth. My mum did her births at home. She believes strongly in it. And ever since I picked up Naomi Wolf's 'Misconceptions' when I was twenty it helped to confirm everything I already knew I wanted (and everything I didn't). While doing my MA I began writing essays on harmful hospital practices that had become routine during labour and birth, I wrote research papers on birthing cultures around the world and the history of the medicalization of birth in the UK. It was so empowering and I found myself completely immersed in the research and this drove forward the passion and determination in me to have a natural home birth with as little intervention as possible.

Since I am lucky enough to be healthy and strong and have (so far) a straightforward pregnancy, I now finally get to plan my own home birth. And so the WHERE of my dilemma relates to which country I will do it in. Here is where it gets complicated.

Morocco is a country where if you can afford it, you go to hospital to have a baby. And those hospitals practice the very worse of the medical/technical birthing procedures - women routinely placed in lithotomy, routine epidurals, routine drips, routine episotomies, routine pubic shaving and the rest. Very high rates of C-section. People look at you like you are totally mad if you tell them you want a home birth. Having a baby at home is something only poor women do as they can't afford to go to hospital. So I don't tell people. However there is a group of independent-thinking, educated women who have forged ahead and organized home births here. They have paid for midwives from the US and UK to come out and stay with them in their homes a month prior to their due date and help with the birth. One of these ladies even has her own birthing pool and has offered to lend it to me. This is one of my options. Paying for the midwife to come out and be with me for a month or more won't be cheap but I know it will be money well spent.

The only downsides to this plan are the following - a) it will be August when I have this baby and the heat can be unbearable, yes we have air conditioners and swimming pools - but some days it is like being in a hair dryer with temperatures hitting over 50C; b) Ramadan will start at the beginning of August, which means doctors and nurses will also be fasting and not drinking, if I do have to go to hospital do I really want help from medical staff who have not had anything to eat or drink all day?; c) I really wanted to go back to the UK so I could stock up on baby stuff I wanted and complete some courses in baby yoga and massage. I also want Mr. T to complete his infant first aid course (I always have a valid infant/child first aid certificate as I need it for my job).

My other option is to return to the UK and do a home birth there. There's just one teeny weeny complication. We have no home to have the home birth in. We would have to rent somewhere where we could have the baby at the place we rented. See how many short term rentals you can find over the Summer which would be suitable to give birth in. Yeah slim pickings. I researched it for weeks and we would have to spend a minimum of 3000 GBP for 2 months for anything suitable, as it's high season for vacation rentals. I started thinking how much baby stuff 3000 GBP could buy. A LOT. So the UK option doesn't really seem like an option anymore unless a fairy godmother materializes and finds me the perfect place for freeeeeeeeeee or really cheap anyway.

But there is another option. A friend of mine out here is pg also. She is due just 3 weeks after me. We are discussing the options of renting a place together on the coast somewhere in Morocco where it will be cooler and then splitting the cost of a midwife to come out and care for us. But this is not straightforward either as she has some issues that could give her complications so she needs to have access to a good hospital and OBGYN. And then there's the Ramadan thing - the idea of having a C-section done by a doc who hasn't even had a glass of water all day is not a comforting thought. So she's not sure what she wants to do either.

Anyway so that's where we're at for the moment. Lots to figure out but I know it will all work out as it's intended to. Would be nice to figure it out soon though!