Outnumbered?

Saturday night, Meg stayed with a friend, so that left Ekrem and me free to socialize.  I had edited a paper for a nurse friend, so we went over to her apt to discuss the paper and visit.  Although I had wanted to eat lunch before we went over there, I'm glad that we didn't.  She shoved so much food down my gullet that I think I gained 5 kilo just in that evening.  But I digress . . . .

This friend and her doctor-husband have never had any children.  The only thing she knows of pregnancy and birth is what she has been exposed to in the hospital, so she really has no concept of natural birth.  (Interestingly, her anesthesiologist-husband is also an acupuncturist, but his views of Alternative Medicine don't extend to things such as pregnancy, labor, and delivery.)  She spent the afternoon feeding me and gushing about how radiant I look and how pregnancy really suits me, etc.  She's normally pretty gushy anyway, but this was beyond even her usual gushiness.  ;-)  We tried everything to get the baby to kick so she could feel him, but he was just not willing to be put on display.  I ate chocolate, drank water, laid down on my back, shimmied--not a peep outta the little feller.

Just about the time that we were thinking that we should get going, she tells us that her husband will be home soon and that they are expecting another couple to stop in to visit as well and that we should stay.  So of course, we did.  It turns out that this couple consists of wife--a psychologist, and hubby--a surgeon.  And not just any surgeon, but the chief of surgery at the hospital where my friend's hubby works.  This couple had lived in Texas for a few years, so they had quite a good grasp of English, although the conversation stayed pretty much in Turkish until someone had a comment to make directly to me.  Pregnant women are considered public property in Istanbul, so I got the usual questions of who is my doctor and where I am going to deliver.  (Thank God no one asked when my surgery is scheduled!)  I told them honestly that I am my own doctor (midwife, really) at this point as I couldn't find anyone who was natural-birth oriented and that I was planning to have this baby at home.  I was expecting the usual gasps of horror, but none were forthcoming.  I went further and said that women have been having babies, naturally, at home for thousands of years before doctors came on the scene and mucked it up and that I won't be having any part of that.  Much to my shock and dismay, the doctor sitting across from me said, "You're absolutely right."  You could've knocked me over with a feather.  I was expecting to get to drag out my statistics and wave them around, talk about positioning during labor and delivery, and all that.  None such!  And this isn't just any doctor--he's a surgeon.  And not just any surgeon, but the chief of surgery!  And he's telling me how smart I am for not letting doctors interfere!  My new best friend!  He went on to tell me about how a friend of his had a son who was brain damaged at birth due to forceps and that his own son was born naturally (although I didn't ask what he meant by naturally--at this point, I didn't want to be disappointed).  The comparison between the two boys was enough for him to understand why natural birth is so much better.

Shortly after this conversation with the doctor, baby woke up and started kicking, so my nurse friend got to feel him kicking and see how strong he is.  Now she is so excited at the idea of me having this baby at home, naturally, without drugs or interference, that she wants to be there.  I told her that she was more than welcome to come and that we'd call her when labor started.  The recruitment into the natural birth camp is going swimmingly!