I have so much to say about this! My first birth was a hospital birth and all the interventions that went along with it, in Shanghai at American/Sino OBGYN at Huashan Hospital.
For our second birth we decided to birth at home unassisted. It was lovely! Calm, loving, peaceful, serene and everything we had hoped for. I labored in the tub and eventually felt like pushing. 4 hour labor went really fast, virtually painless except for about 3 minutes during Transition where 6 drops of Rescue Remedy helped immensely.
The support of my husband and his strong firm belief in natural processes and my instinctive abilities was crucial for my success.
Forget about a hospital birth if you want truly natural (btw they call any vaginal birth here “natural” no matter whether forceps or drugs etc were used). I don’t have to tell you how a hospital atmosphere, frequent vaginal checks, constant monitoring, etc. causes all sorts of problems for the laboring woman’s hormones and actually CAUSES C-Sections, longer labors, undesirable outcomes, etc.
Mei Ka Chin (MK) is wonderful, I hear over and over, but she is a hospital employee and as such can only attend births in SH United Family Hospital (SH UFH). Even if MK were independent, I have been told that professionals lose their licenses for attending home births. They are explicitly warned against it (I suppose because of the risk of girl babies becoming infanticides? Just a guess).
There is a U.S. trained Certified Nurse Midwife here in Beijing. She is not licensed in China and is willing to attend home births in a doula capacity. I’ll post her info as soon as I find it. She may be willing to travel to SH frequently, and stay a couple of weeks, closer to when your wife is due.
I wish you luck! It sounds like you have your head on straight. I have some books I’d recommend (you can borrow if you promise promise promise to give them back!)
Spiritual Midwifery
Birthing From Within
Emergency Childbirth by Dr. Gregory White
The Birth Book by Dr. Sears
I also have a few good Natural Baby Care books (Dr. Lauren Feder, Elizabeth Pantley’s Gentle Baby Care, etc) and a few other misc. good books:
Dr. Robert Mendelsohn’s How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of your Doctor
Dr. Sherri Tenpenny’s DVD Vaccination: What the CDC documents and Science Reveal
Dr. Stephanie Cave’s book: What your Doctor May NOT Tell you about Children’s Vaccinations
Tomorrow’s Baby by Dr. Thomas Verny
Plus tons on Breastfeeding, Attachment parenting, Gentle Discipline, The Family Bed, etc! I have amassed quite a lopsided library to further my growth as a parent.
Your local LLL is also a good 1st step to network and meet other natural-minded (to varying degrees) moms. There used to be some L&D nurse who lived in Pudong but I don’t have her contact info… and another mom in SH who home birthed unassisted and even emailing her 1x gave me such hopefulness that I could, too!
Yes, LLL is a must. Someone there must know someone in SH willing to attend a home birth. Dang, If I lived closer and didn’t have two lil ones myself I would LOVE to! Okay also join Shanghai Mamas yahoo group and network there.
