To jumpstart on this, let me introduce you all to someone really cool. I have known Kat since my Catholic school days in Assumption College. When she posted this really awesome photo of her and her baby bump, I almost begged her to publish it here.
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| Taken somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Death Valley CA |
Name: Kat Gopez
Age: 30
Due Month: April 2015
I find that the most important thing to do when you learn that you are pregnant is that you just need to keep educating yourself. Read, read, and read. Empower yourself through what you gain by reading. At this day and age society is becoming so used to solely relying on doctors and medical professionals in every little thing that happens to their bodies that they tend to lose confidence in themselves and what their bodies are naturally capable to do. Pregnancy is not a sickness, women have been birthing naturally longer than these medical hospitals and doctors have existed. While it's great to know that they exist as an option for complications, still give your body the chance to do what it is meant to do, which is what I have been preparing for now from the moment I found out I was pregnant.
My pregnancy started with me seeing an "In-Network" medical obstetrician (what most insurances here in CA provide) and interviewing midwives, hoping to experience both OBGYN and midwife practice: It was stark as night and day. The OBGYN hardly looked me in the eye and would talk to my husband instead of me, while I sit naked in a lab gown in a stark bright white light medical room. Blood was always drawn out from me. Screening tests were not explained to me well. In my very first ultrasound I did not even get to see the baby. With the midwives we chose though, I would sit in their home setting office, furnished with persian rugs and a really comfortable couch I can just sink into. They remained professional but smiled and treated you like a person. They answered all your questions, and took time to talk to you about maintaining a healthy pregnancy and all that. They'd provide snacks and have a wonderful library where I can just take a book and borrow anytime. There is also a Mother to Mother Breastfeeding Support group that I have yet to attend, and a great network of doulas, prenatal yoga classes, pregnancy massage therapists, and etc. Through them also I found my childbirth preparation class, taught by a highly recommended childbirth educator Julie Freitas, which I am looking forward to attending soon. Legally though here in CA I still have to see a back-up OBGYN at least once, and thanks to the midwives referral, I found one who was also an advocate of natural birth and who would listen to me and speak to me with grace and confidence. It's not as much as a hospital setting as it was with the previous one, and I wasn't made to change into lab gowns or have blood drawn out when unnecessary and such. I am very happy with where I currently am in this pregnancy journey. I feel that it matters a lot when you surround yourself with people who believe in the same values and beliefs as you do. My plan is to naturally birth as gentle and peacefully as I can in an environment I choose, with just my husband, midwives, doula and dog. I am excited to surrender myself to the world and birth this little one- I can do this! :)
Oh you definitely can, Kat! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings with us. I will carry you in my prayers for your dream birth to unfold! <3
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| Thanks for taking the time to tour me in L.A last year, Kat! |
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| I was about 4 months pregnant in this photo. In a year, a lot has happened. Kat is now halfway through her pregnancy expecting her own soon! |
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