My Sister-The Midwife

My sister is a midwife. She delivers babies. Personally, everybody has their 'birthing plan' and ideas when they get pregnant which I completely respect. I have yet to head down that road. When I do, however, I will be having a midwife (with my sister there to catch the baby!) If you want to know more benefits here is a couple links:

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2007/06/21/midwifery-care-a-good-choice-in-childbirth


http://www.washingtonmidwives.org/midwife_reasons.shtml

Over the years I've heard a lot about being pregnant and birth! When I graduated from college in 2005, I stayed at my sister's place for a few months before getting a place of my own. At the time she was on call a lot and I would wake to the sound of her whispering on the phone with patients about symptoms, pains, etc! She always reassured me however, that the patients who are doing fine aren't going to get up and call in the middle of the night to let her know! It's the ones with the pains and the worries who she gets phone calls from. AT the tender age of 22 this did little to reassure me! I'd hear the sad stories. I'd hear the hilarious ones where the mothers would go ballistic until that baby came out already! My sister would make sure she'd let me know just how BIG those babies can be! Recently she delivered a 13 1/2 one and it barely could fit in the baby bed.

Then my sister left for Congo, Africa for a year. She worked as a director trying to improve health care and make it more efficient. She trained women nurses how to deliver babies for the families of their village. One of the men's wife (who worked on her team) was going to have a baby. They knew my sister very well and she gave the mother lots of patient care. They decided they would name the baby after her. She insisted that it was not necessary! But they wanted to, because they had developed a strong relationship with her. Months later she got a picture of this little girl named after her with a big mop of black hair sticking straight up on the top of her head! I couldn't believe it!

Over the years I've become unfazed hearing about the DETAIL upon DETAIL of pregnancy and birth. I know when the time comes, maybe having a midwife sister, and all the stories, will help me in the end. But when I saw that picture of a baby with her name, a Continent away, I thought wow-this makes up for all those other gory details. :)