I can still remember, even though it was 11 years ago, standing in the bathroom, gripping a positive pregnancy test for the first time ever. Moving from disbelief to suddenly realizing, “I need to see my OB. NOW!”

At my first appointment, I soaked up the info in pages and pages of photocopied articles from my nurse. This was my pregnancy “how to” from the experts! It would be my bible for the next 40 weeks. I was expecting, and I wanted to know what to expect.

And even though I work in publications for a mother/baby nursing organization, living out the content you edit everyday is a whole new experience.

It’s one thing to know that a natural labor and birth, and initiating breastfeeding with my newborn as soon as possible post-birth, are the healthiest best things for me and my babe-to-be. It’s quite another to feel like a salmon swimming alone, upstream, when all of your other prego friends are rushing in the opposite direction, scheduling inductions and talking about exactly at what point (at the first sign of contractions seemed best to most) they would “get their epidural,” as if it were a rite of birth and they were NOT missing out.

So I shared these thoughts with my OB, a well-respected, highly educated doc and father. How could I have a natural birth in a hospital, with all of the high-tech stuff on standby if need be, but labor upright, walking around, showering, and eating or drinking at will instead of flat on my back (goodbye gravity!), with IV fluids (just in case!), continuous fetal monitoring (are you in there?), epidural anesthesia (please don’t slow my labor!) and sucking on ice chips?

In response, my OB asked if I would like to have prenatal care and birthing support from a certified nurse midwife? His practice, the largest in a big Midwestern city, had just hired its first nurse midwife to work with women like me. What, I thought, that’s like switching manager’s mid-season with the playoffs at stake!

But, considering that most inductions can begin a slippery slope to cesarean birth, and I was dreading the big cut some women affectionately refer to afterwards as their smile line, I blurted, “sign me up!” And that’s when I met “Andrea,” a nurse-midwife, who changed my whole attitude toward labor and birth forever.

First, she was so calm! When my son was still breach at 38 weeks, Andrea reassured me he would flip in time, and he did. She was no in a hurry to end my suffering either (and the 3rd trimester is definitely all about suffering!)

When 40 weeks came and went, she assured me (with appropriate monitoring) that my bag of waters was still flush, that the baby’s galloping heart reassured he was happy and snug, and she told me simply to trust my body – it would labor when it was time.

Sure enough, just as we passed the 41-week mark, I was jostled awake one night by cramps of all things! But these weren’t just any cramps, they were coming every few minutes, and they were regular, and growing stronger. Labor!

We arrived at the hospital, eager and nervous newbies, having progressed to a whole whopping 4 centimeters, and that’s when the real fun began. Using a birthing ball, Andrea helped me move from standing and walking, to sitting and rocking, when she would intermittently listen to the little boy making his way south inside.

Then I was back up again, leaning over the bed and rocking on the ball with the waves of contractions. The lights were low; my favorite tunes were helping me cope. Andrea stayed with us, giving as much or as little support as we needed or wanted.

As labor progressed and I began that hectic and most intense stage that leads to simultaneously wanting to threaten your spouse with bodily harm and push, push, push, she reminded me that I had planned to use water to ease pain. Into a warm shower I went as she rubbed my back through the contractions.

Then it really was time to push, and as I sat down on the side of the bed, our first son slipped first into my husband’s hands and then onto my belly. Pulling our boy up to nurse, I marveled at how perfect he was, how strong my body had been, how instinctively capable it was in birthing and how alert my newborn was and so ready to begin nursing, which he did.

But what came next was even more interesting. As my babe and I went skin-to-skin, snuggling for hours and nursing when he wanted to, nurses would slip in and out of our room for routine care. Each time, they checked my forearms, and then my back, expecting to find IV ports or evidence of needle sticks, but there was nothing there. Then they would exclaim, “Oh, you’re Andrea’s patient!”

It was as if we were the oddest patients they had ever seen. No interventions? No pain meds? Yet, this is how women have birthed babies for centuries.

I learned that our son was the first baby to be born with the assistance of a midwife in this very large, high-level hospital, where helping women labor via monitors and last minute coaching is more common. And that’s when I grasped the essence of midwifery. There is so much strength and power for women to find within their own bodies in labor and birth. Your midwife knows this and she trusts it, and so can you, when it comes time to do the good work that’s labor.

Two of our three sons entered this world with the help of a midwife, and to me, there’s simply no better way to birth, and no better time to remember that than right now, during National Midwifery Week.

We live in a high-tech culture wherein we can save babies at risk who would have died in previous generations, and we’re grateful to have that expertise when needed. And you may need that for your pregnancy. This week is a reminder to explore all of the options for prenatal care and birth.

Maybe your OB collaborates with a midwife, or maybe there’s an all midwife practice near you. You can find a midwife online at http://www.midwife.org/rp/find.cfm.

Or, if you’re like me, and you’ve come to treasure your midwives, join Team Midwife at http://www.midwife.org/TeamMidwife-Downloads, and help other women learn about the power and possibilities in natural labor and birth. What has been your best birthing experience? Will you share it with us?