Swedish Covenant Hospital: Midwives are cool!

A few months ago, one of my best friends, Sol Neely, and his wife, Kerry, gave birth to their daughter, Mila Rain Neely. Sol, a fellow graduate student in the Philosophy & Literature Ph.D. Program at Purdue University, was extremely impressed and existentially transformed by the care, love, and compassion of the midwife group with whom they worked. After Mila was born, Sol informed me that one of his current activist issues is to raise awareness and appreciation of midwifery. Today I join him (and many others) in this effort.

(P.S. Sol, Kerry, and Mila have since been infected with the zombie virus, and they are in the market for some tasty brains. Oh well, you can't win 'em all.)

Krista and I have been visiting the midwife group at Swedish Covenant Hospital since June or July, once we moved from Pennsylvania to Illinois. Krista had done her homework and research, seeking to locate a group whose values and philosophies complemented her own. Anyhow, since our first midwife appointment, we have been able to meet each of the seven midwives whose job it is to care for the woman/mother first and foremost. While we composed a Birth Preference Plan, we do not anticipate any awkward scenes or medical tugs-of-war in the birthing center.

One of the midwives in particular, Gina, quickly emerged as our favorite. This past Wednesday, we had another appointment, and after the meeting was over, we ran into Gina in the hallway and struck up a conversation, which ended up with me snapping a picture of Krista and her. It was a great morning-turned-into-afternoon.

I will have more to say about the awesomeness of the Swedish Covenant midwives, but that story remains to be completed...in a matter of days or weeks.

In a future blog post, I will also praise the virtues of doulas, including The Barefoot Doula and the Chicago Volunteer Doula network.