It Happened on the Way to the Midwife, Part 1.

In order to keep this from being too long, I'm going to assume that you know me.  But if you don't, I would be happy to tell you about my previous pregnancy and birth experience, my strong belief in natural birth, or about how I live in a town where it seems the majority of people (including doctors) don't bother to pick up books and educate themselves or in the rare case that they do, they don't bother to do any research on the credentials of the authors that they are reading.  Where to start?
I am planning a home birth.  In a perfect world, OBs would be willing to work with midwives so that home birthing mothers have a back up OB who is not a complete stranger in the event of an emergency.  But we don't live in a perfect world, we live in a country with a very broken system for maternity care.  Nevertheless, I was advised by my midwife to visit the local OB who has provided unofficial back up for her in the past.

I'll say this right now, I was not excited about having to meet his man.  I'm not excited about anything that takes me onto the property of the local hospital.  Ridgecrest  Regional Hospital scares me.  I was even more apprehensive when I went online to get  Dr. Miller's phone and saw the absolutely terrible reviews of him.  But this was a hoop I had to jump through, so I picked up the phone and dialed.  I left a message with them.  I said, "I am planning a home birth, and I would like Dr. Miller to be my back up physician.  My midwife said that I might be able to just talk to him on the phone."  They called me back a couple of days later and left me a message with their phone number and office hours.  Helpful, aren't they?  I called back and left another message.  The next time they called I was home to answer.  They told me Dr. Miller didn't do phone interviews, and that I would have to make an appointment.  I made the appointment.  The earliest appointment they had was a month from the  day I called.  I reminded them once again that I was having a home birth with a midwife and that I did not want an exam.  They said it would just be an appointment to set me up as a patient and talk to the doctor.  Okay.

I wanted to be prepared for what to expect.  I didn't even see an OB when I was pregnant with my first child.  I saw a nurse-midwife during my pregnancy and a family physician attended his birth (all within the military medical system, so there was no drive for profit - it makes a difference).  So I called my friend who had a home birth with my midwife in May.  She told me he would make you thankful for our midwife.  But he was used to this and would talk to you, offer you a prescription for prenatal vitamins, and an ultrasound.  But overall, he was friendly, and it wasn't that bad.

Since I actually have to leave in a few minutes for an appointment with my midwife, I will go ahead and post this.  I'll get the long story of the actual meeting up as soon as I can.