In My Mother's House

By Leslie Clift

If you are a pregnant woman and living on an island In the Florida Keys, you still have choices for the birth of your dreams. You are not stranded.

Driving ninety minutes south, we explored the Key West hospital and a midwife we immediately liked. Driving ninety minutes north, we visited a birth center in Miami and. team of midwives to choose from. Though my husband really wanted our son to have a Conch birth certificate (Key West stamped), we ultimately chose to drive north. I knew I would not be comfortable in any tiny hospital bed. Comfort was of utmost importance to me, in order to allow the labor and birthing process to progress smoothly and quickly. I also knew that if drugs were readily available, such as they are in a hospital, I might quickly succumb to the temptation and thus, increase my chances of additional interventions. On a full moon that fall, we, and our team of midwives at the birth center, welcomed our son into this world.

Fast forward three years later and I am pregnant with our second child. We began to entertain the idea of a home birth. Ever the careful one, my husband was hesitant about a further distancing from what is considered the norm in childbirth in the United States. During a marathon 12·hour stint, we toured two birth centers in Hollywood and Hallandale. On the other hand, driving nearly two hours to a birth center was unappealing, especially since pre-natal appointments would increase to weekly visits near full-term pregnancy. Not to mention that I would be towing my toddler with me on several I appointments. On that same day, we also met with Sheila Simms Watson, a licensed midwife in South Miami who performs home birth in the Upper Keys. She patiently and expertly assuaged our fears of having a home birth. One of our concerns was the distance between our house and the nearest non-Keys hospital, one that has a neonatal intensive care unit. Another concern was how to plan for an emergency and transfer, should I or the baby need medical care. We left her office feeling more confident about a home birth option, but definitely unresolved.

Finally, at 18 weeks pregnant, we made the choice to plan for a home birth and I made a pre-natal appointment with the licensed midwife for the following week. During one of my first appointments, my blood was drawn and sent to a lab for an initial blood work analysis. All other tests offered normally in a doctor's office were also offered.

Over the next few months, I read and re-read books on gentle birth and active labor. We attended Birthing From Within childbirth classes in the Redlands. At 34 weeks pregnant, I assembled our home birth kit in a plastic crate: sterile gloves and gauze, extra sheets and towels, baby hats and clothes, diapers, receiving blankets. Our midwife would bring all supplies that a birth center would have, such as a portable birthing tub, oxygen, and antibiotics with the means to administer them intravenously. Living in the Florida Keys seems to limit options for pregnant women who want a natural childbirth in a natural setting. However, with a bit of drive either north or south, these options increase with licensed midwives. Most women in labor have ample time to make the drive. Or you can have a home birth, never having to set foot outside your door. Though the birth center where we had our first child had offered the relative comforts of "home", it wasn't our home. I look forward to cloistering myself inside our Key Largo house, knowing that I have the freedom to labor and deliver how I choose. My husband looks forward to having a Conch birth certificate for his baby girl.