I attended the Home Birth Consensus Summit, along with our Director of Programs, Carol Sakala, late last week. The meeting was the result of several years of planning by a multi-stakeholder group of maternity care leaders. It was led by facilitators from Future Search, a theory and planning strategy designed around having the “whole system in the room” to find common ground on complex or divisive issues. (The Common Ground statement will be posted on the Home Birth Summit web site by November 1.)

Since the time I started my career as a labor doula in 1992, alternative birthing models of care have remained the minority of choice in mainstream women.

There are four attempts at writing out my babies birth story on my computer. None of them even get to the birthing part because each time I start trying to write it out I get bogged down in the telling. Each time I end up first going on for pages and pages about my relationship and work with birth, the way I had wanted to deliver my children, and apologizing for the choices I ultimately ended up having to make. Yet my heart knows that until I figure out how to tell my story, I can’t finish healing it and I can’t trust in birth. So here it is, in the only way I can tell it.

Choosing a care provider is one of the most important first steps after confirming your pregnancy.  I’ve interacted with hundreds of pregnant women and one of the first questions I’ve asked during our conversation is; “How did you chose your care provider?”  This was met with a puzzled look upon their face.