…that I have the best OB in town. He is one of, like, 2 doctors who will actually do VBAC’s in Monroe. I must have sounded really dumb this past Monday at my appointment when I said, “VBAC’s are legal in Louisiana?” Um, yep! The reason that most OB’s here still do not do them is actually not a liability issue as much as it is one of convenience. One rule here for VBAC’s is that the overseeing OB needs to be present for the duration of the labor and delivery, and they’d really rather not spend their time that way.

He’s also been very easy-going about everything. I declined practically every routine labor intervention and infant procedure on my birth plan and he signed it willingly and cheerfully, adding, “This looks great.”

I may not be getting the homebirth that I dreamed of (I’m hoping I will for our third child, though), but at least I’ve got an OB who supports my birth philosophy and is willing to do what he can to make sure I have the closest thing to a homebirth in the hospital.

I really sometimes wonder if I would have ended up with a c-section if he had not been my doctor with Kyrie. He allowed me to push in the hospital for over 2 hours — and he knew that I’d pushed for 2 hours at home beforehand — but he never, ever even implied the possible need for a c-section. He made me believe I could do it when nurses had told me before I even went into labor that I wouldn’t be able to. (The day before I went into labor, a nurse told me I wouldn’t go into labor on my own, so I’d need to be induced, but I’d definitely end up with a c-section. And from the looks of it on the ultrasound, the baby’s head was huge.)

Coming from the crunchy state of Washington, I have a hard time with the medical mindset here. But it’s nice that even here, I can find an OB that I’m really quite happy with.