We Have a Midwife!

We found the most wonderful midwife to work with!
Her name is Barbara, and she is the answer to my prayer for a warm fuzzy midwife.
I am beginning to understand that, one way or another, things always work out.
And they seem to work out just as they should.

After we went to the moshav to meet Ilana, the midwife we thought we would be working with, a few weeks ago, it became clear that it wasn't the best option.
Her birthing cabin is cozy and amazing, but it is tiny - a single room that cannot accommodate both a laboring mama and a very energetic Dahlia.
It is important to us that Dahlia have the opportunity to be there when her Baby is born.
It was Ilana who recommended to us that we seriously consider having our baby in a bigger space with multiple rooms, and not the birthing cabin.

I don't want to birth here in our apartment, with the sounds of construction serenading me as I labor.
So in mid-May when Dave wraps up his year of school, we are going to move for 6-8 weeks to a sublet in a more cozy and fun and calm neighborhood nearby.
Somewhere near shops and a walking street, a park for Dahlia, but still close enough for Dave to take Dahlia to school through the month of June after baby comes.
A cozy place where I can labor and have my baby.

Once we unattached ourselves to the birthing cabin idea, we realized that Ilana is just too far away.
If I'm going to have monthly appointments with a midwife, and twice monthly during the final months, I need to work with someone who is in Jerusalem, rather than 45 minutes away.
I was also craving a midwife who was a little more emotive and forthcoming with her warmth and enthusiasm - and Barbara is that person.
Dave said we look like we could be sisters, and we talked like we'd known each other forever.

She's from Massachusetts originally, but has lived here for 30 years, since she was 18.
She's married to an Israeli artist and has three kids.
She has been a midwife at Hadassah Ein Kerem - the hospital where I was born - for 20 years, and just after High Holy Days this year, she stopped working there to become a homebirth midwife.
She just couldn't do the medicalized hospital birth thing anymore, and believes deeply in homebirth and a woman's ability to birth naturally.

She's studying homeopathy, and my homeopath told me that they would work together to make sure that, during my labor, I had just the right remedies for my body (see, even here I've found a team of support).
Barbara is comfortable with hospitals and knows everyone at Ein Kerem.
It is unusual for a homebirth midwife here to come with you to the hospital if you need to transport, primarily because they get treated like crap there.
Barbara doesn't have this problem, and she will be with me till the end, no matter where I deliver.

I'm not planning on transporting, but it's good to know that.
When I close my eyes, I can see her there, supporting me, as I labor and birth my baby.
She is energetic and present and a good listener and has lots to say and share.
I know she will be fine with my millions of questions and my need for contact.

I am thrilled, and so relieved.
I am deeply thankful to my friend Heather, who has lived here for 3 years and birthed both of her children at home.
She asked her midwife for recommendations for me, and that is how I found Barbara.
Reaching out just a little bit here seems to have brought a pretty wonderful piece of community my way, and I feel blessed.