But, is that SAFE?

Almost from the minute you announce a pregnancy, well-meaning friends and family will start to ask questions and give you their input.  Strangers feel free to comment on the size of your bump, will tell you stories and share their opinions with you freely.  When you have chosen an out-of-hospital setting, it can be difficult to decide whether to expose this decision to world for comment!  Sabrina Jo Stevens shares a great discussion of this topic in a recent Romper piece:

Most of the time, people who ask this question expect you to answer with the name of a local hospital, so if you say “Such-And-Such Birth Center” or “Home,” it can start a conversation one or both of you weren’t necessarily planning on having at that particular moment. “Do I really feel like having a conversation that will almost certainly end with me ranting about America’s maternity care system on the subway right now?”

Can you relate?!  How many times have you been asked, “but is that safe?! Is it frustrating to you that families who plan  to have their babies in the hospital aren’t asked the same questions?

All of us at Babymoon Inn can certainly relate to her conclusion:

If you want to actually choose your own birth adventure, you sometimes have to pay for it with extra time or money, even though covering these options fully for any family that wants it would save our entire healthcare system tons of money.

And that’s how I end up ranting about our maternity care system on the subway.