homebirth and no home

posted by damidwif 
 
Many years ago, I never thought about homebirth even though I wanted to be a midwife. I, like many, or most, Americans, thought homebirthing was back in the day. My grandmother proudly told me that she birthed all of her kids at home, in her bed. I thought it was cool...for her. Several Black persons that I have talked to, both men and women, tell of their grandmothers, great-grands and even mothers birthing at home. But everyone speaks as if this time existed during the slave trade or something.

Flashback to Ms. Celie giving birth at home. The Color purple was set in the early 1900s, I think.

which way to midwifery, please?

Posted by da midwif

i could have been a nurse. i was on my way. it was never my intention to be a nurse though. i thought of nursing as i thought of garbage collecting: a job that someone has to do, but it ain't gonna be me.

nursing only came up because it was the main route to becoming a midwife. at the time i had abandonned med school and the pursuit of obstetrics (meaning, ob only, the thought of gyn was originally disgusting to me). i knew there were 3 routes: nursing, direct entry (they were still trying to get rid of the term "lay"), and some new method that was non-nursing but still affiliated with the nurse-midwives' organization. of the three, nursing seemed the most permanent? attractive? durable? i'm not sure what i thought at that time.

my mother said,

why be a nurse when you can be a doctor?