On Doctors

We are fairly anti doctor/hospital/medication in my house.  We know emergencies happen and it's a great thing to have a medical facility to help out(like the flu/reflux attack I had the other week), but 99% of the time we prefer to wait out an illness or treat it at home.  Skip has been treated by military doctors his whole life.  Any of us that have had the pleasure of dealing with that know good and well it's not exactly an awesome experience.  I have spent a good part of my adult life without health insurance and seen the difference in treatment when you don't have any means to pay for care.

The health system can very difficult to navigate and more often then not I personally have been treated like an object and not a human.  That was really the first reason we opted to not deal with doctors or hospitals with this pregnancy. I don't want to be part of an assembly line baby making production here.  I've never had a doctor introduce themselves and then tell me about who they are, where they grew up. their beliefs or what made them choose medicine.  NEVER.  They essentially remain a stranger that has permission to touch you all over once or twice a year.  They are the only people that get to do that without knowing much more than your birthday from your medical chart.

My midwife on the other hand has told us her story of how she got into her field.  What drives her. Her personal beliefs and values.  We know about her family, her marriage and a lot of times about the things she is doing currently or scheduled in the future.  She respects my body as my personal temple and doesn't see me as an object to treat.  She speaks to my husband and includes Aiden in all our visits.  She will ask about testing and explain the pros and cons.  She lets us make the decision with making us feel guilty or worried that we made the wrong choice.  She trusts that I am telling her the truth and never speaks down to me or tells me that I am wrong.  All of her solutions to things are natural.  Things that can be found in nature that won't harm my body or that of my baby.  I feel safe and in control while in her care.  She does NOTHING without asking first and making sure I am ready.  She has not given me a single vaginal exam and chances are I will give birth without ever having one.  It's my personal space and no one needs to be violating that.

I am so very thankful I will not have a doctor attending me and treating my body like it is dysfunctional.  I will not have a bunch of nurses telling me I am wrong and I can't possibly know what I am feeling and only they can make the calls on what happens next.  I will not be paying someone this time to imprison me and take away my choices and rights because they think they know more than me.