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Show Notes:
Megan lives in Texas with her husband and 5 children. She homeschools, and is so grateful to have her in-laws in the same neighborhood, and her parents just 30 minutes away.
For her first birth, Megan decided to have a birth center birth. This came about in quite an interesting way: during college, she was required to volunteer a certain amount of time.  She decided to work at a crisis pregnancy center.  The volunteer coordinator there happened to be a midwife.
She had a good friend at the time who was having children with that midwife, and she saw how amazing her friend’s experiences were.
Several years later, Megan was married, and she and her husband became pregnant on their honeymoon (isn’t that the cutest?!). Megan and her husband decided they should consider all of their options. They first toured a local hospital.  Later, they went to the birth center of the midwife Megan knew at Family Birth Services.  The birth center is a renovated historic home.
“I just felt heard. I felt encouraged.  I felt supported.”  This is how Megan felt immediately at the birth center.  She and her husband came prepared with lots of questions, all of which were comfortably answered by her midwife and the staff.
“I did not feel like a number. I felt like a person with valid questions, and they did not rush me.” 
Megan read several books to prepare for birth: Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, and Supernatural Birth
With her first child, she had been praying throughout the pregnancy for a short delivery. At 38 weeks, she called her midwife and told her she was experiencing contractions.  Her midwife talked her through everything, and the contractions dissipated. 
At 39 weeks, Megan began feeling contractions again. She laid on the couch, and they still would not subside.  Her husband began saying, “Hm, I think we should get in the car and head to the birth center,” knowing that the center was a 45-minute drive away.
On the drive to the birth center, Megan’s husband had his mother pull the car over so that he could drive and get them there faster (don’t worry, he’s a police officer!). The 45-minute drive turned into closer to a 30-minute drive.  By the time they arrived, Megan was quite uncomfortable.
Once she got into the center, she had her midwives check her. At this point, she was dilated 3cm.  This was at 7pm.
At 9pm, her midwife, who was in the area, stopped by the birth center to check on her. Knowing that Megan is a first time mom, the midwife said, “Oh, I’ll probably have time to go home and take a shower and gather my things, but let me just check you.”  At 9pm, Megan was already dilated to 9cm!
“I just followed my body. I felt like I was being pulled through birth.”  Megan mentions that when she wasn’t fighting the contractions, all went well.  She did experience moments of pain, however, and she later realized they were the times that she began fighting the feelings and tensing up.  She recalls how it was very related to the pitch of her voice getting higher and higher. 
After her first birth, Megan stated that she never wanted to have to go through laboring in a car again. That was the major reason that she switched to giving birth at home. 
“I just thought, ‘if I don’t have to go anywhere, why go anywhere? Why not just be in my own place?’”
With Megan’s second child, beyond the fact that she really didn’t want to labor in the car, she loved