Lisa Ross Birth & Women's Center - Birth Stories - A FATHER'S perspective by Malcolm D. McRae Jr.

The journey that led us to Lisa Ross Birth and Women's Center (LRBWC) started with a book entitled "The Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife," by Peggy Vincent. I bought this book for, my then girlfriend, Keona as a gift after reading a review of it in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The book was so interesting that Keona and I read it together, and boy did it change our life. In short, the book gave us a clear understanding that doctors/hospitals view of child birth was drastically different than that of midwives/birthing centers. Yet, what spoke to me the loudest was that research has shown that women who give birth with a midwife at a birthing center or home statistically have dramatically lower C-section, induction, episiotomy, and epidural rates than the national average of hospitals.

After finding out that Keona, now my wife, was pregnant on Father's Day 2003, we started to look for a health care provider in the Metro Atlanta area. We both wanted a birthing center for the birth of our first child, but there was only one in the state of Georgia in the city of Savannah. So we decided to go with the second best choice at, a woman's pavilion at, a near by hospital. Then we tried to schedule a prenatal appointment with an OB that had privileges at the woman's pavilion. After making a few phone calls to local OB offices we found out that our insurance provider (the largest in the state) was having problems negotiating their new contract with the largest health care provider in Atlanta which owned the hospital where we wanted to deliver.

Feeling somewhat frustrated, I began searching the internet and found the website for the National Association of Childbearing Centers, and it was there that I found the LRBWC website. After reading most of the information available on the website I was ecstatic. I then went to an online mileage calculator, and found it was a 230+ mile drive one way to LRBWC. I checked our insurance to see if we were covered, and we were! I then called Keona to see what she thought. At first she thought I was crazy. Then she checked out the website and wanted to get more information.

Keona and I visited the center for an orientation and fell in love with the facility. Not long after our orientation we had our first midwife appointment. The funny thing is 90% of our appointments were at 8am in the morning, so that required waking up around 3am and leaving by 4am. Keona would sleep most of the way there, and on the way home we would talk about any and everything. I will even tell you a little secret. We had a 1995 Ford Escort, and we knew it was on its way to the junk yard. So, shortly after deciding that we were going to have the baby at Lisa Ross, and knowing we were going to be driving close to 500 miles (round trip) for every appointment we decided to buy a 2003 Toyota Camry.

With every appointment we attended the staff of Lisa Ross became more like family. Our birth story by Keona will give you more of the exciting details of labor.

I tell you all this to give you the reasons we drove 230+ miles, 3+ hours, from Atlanta to Knoxville TN to birth our first child:

We share the same belief that "childbearing is a normal, healthy event rarely requiring medical intervention." (LRBWC Mission statement)

Keona felt comfortable with the facility, and the services available at LRBWC.

The people at LRBWC truly cared about our needs and concerns. This allowed us to feel comfortable with the midwives, and the care they were providing.

The spring 2003 Footprints article "2002 Outcomes Healthy, Safe & Natural" By Linda Cole outlined the statistics that LRBWC was a safe and reliable place give birth.

The cost of having our baby at LRBWC was very affordable.

Last but not least, every trip was like going to visit friends and family, and not going to another prenatal appointment.

I hope those of you who have LRBWC in your backyard don't take it for granted. For those of you who have never checked LRBWC out, do you and your baby a favor and at least take a tour of the facility and meet the people. We did!!!