Amphibious midwifery

I was inspired by the Guardian's free wallchart today to look up midwife toads (actually a type of frog). It turns out they are so called because the male carries the fertilised eggs on his back and subsequently wraps them around his legs to protect them from predators until they hatch into tadpoles. Er, maybe it's just me but that doesn't sound THAT similar to the duties of your average human midwife...

Speaking of which, having just read Misconceptions, Naomi Wolf's book about the medicalised, interventionist and downright inhumane model of antenatal care and birth in the USA, I am even more grateful for our cheery, practical midwives and their non-judgemental care so far. And especially for our specialist nurse from the regional cleft lip/palate team, who visited us at home and provided all the information and reassurance we could possibly want, including encouraging me to go ahead with the planned home birth if I want to. So now we just need to convince the obstetrician (although to be honest he is a lovely man too and I'm sure he won't be aggressive with his 'hospital care is best' agenda if we are really keen on home birth.)

Weeks: 25+1