How do you find a midwife? I'm in San Jose Area

[lea_lpz]

I am pregnant with our 3rd child. I had a c-section with my first after pushing for 3 hours. Big baby. 10 lbs. Had my membranes stripped to get labor going after being a day or so late, got an epidural, halted labor, needed to be induced to get labor started again, tried to push outa big baby but had limited success since I had little mobility. Birthing classes I took at the hospital were a joke.

 

2nd baby scheduled c-section. I thought of doing a vbac but was petrified of going through another 27 hour labor only to end in a c-section. My little guy was scheduled 2 weeks early and weighed 9 lbs 1 oz.

 

I would like to try a vbac but don't know where to start. It is almost certain my baby will be big. I feel like natural birth is the best way to go for me to birth a large baby. I also feel like I need support and much more training in how to work through labor. I also don't want to be pressured by doctors and family the way I was with my first two births to basically get as much medical intervention as possible.

 

Help!

[Flowing Brook]

I often recommend chromium to women who are prone to big babies.

[NicAnn]

Congratulations!

I would start by contacting a doula group, or le leche league and see if there are any they recommend. You can also do a google search and find a few who share your philosophy and get opinions on specific ones.

 

I'd recommend getting a doula, and consider an birthing class. Something NOT run through the hospital or Lamaze style. You could read a few books to find what you like first- Birthing From Within, Hypnobirthing, Hypno-babies, just for starters.

 

As far as feeling pressured goes, I'll tell you what I tell my doula clients. YOU are the boss, they work for you. You are free at anytime to tell the docs you need more time or need more information of a certain procedure. There really isn't any procedure you can't deny. You can even get up and walk right out of the hospital.

I always stress that last sentence just to illustrate a point. Point being that the mother has all the control!

[NicAnn]

And generally I big babies can be born just fine naturally. You might want to consider some prenatal chiropractic care or check out the site SpinningBabies for info on optimal fetal positioning. I didn't learn that until my second!

[Dahliarw]

I would look for an ICAN group in your area:  http://www.ican-online.org/

[Carrie12345]

I found mine through word of mouth, but that was before the internet was as big as it is now. I'd get to googling, where you can read reviews that aren't hand-picked by the people/practices being discussed.

[happypamama]

I found my MW for babies three and four by asking on mothering.com. Since you want a VBAC, you may need a CPM instead of a CNM, and sometimes they practice somewhat underground, depending on your state. Word of mouth via mothering.com will probably get you some. There's also MANA.org, I think it is -- Midwife Alliance of North America, and that might help. I found my MW for baby number five by googling and then googling specific names once I had a list. Aso, I belong to two local Facebook groups, one for babywearing support and the other for LLL/breastfeeding support, and we often have people asking for MW recommendations, so you might try those types of groups too. Good luck; I've used a MW for each of my pregnancies and have been nothing but pleased!