It's because there's a lot of variation in what "home birth" means. It can mean everything from "I have a nurse-midwife with real medical credentials who will be there, we know what the signs for the most probable complications are and we are a reasonable distance from a hospital" and "The lady who sells me homeopathic cleanses also printed off a midwife certificate from the internet and insists that all prenatal care is bullshit and that hospitals aren't for REAL women."

I guess that’s fair, but I can’t say I’ve ever encountered anyone from the second category, and it seems really bizarre because... every person giving birth in the UK has a midwife, whether they’re in the hospital or at home. Idk how it works in the states, but in the UK when you’re pregnant, your midwife heads up the team of healthcare professionals that care for you during pregnancy, unless there’s complications, in which case a Dr will be heavily involved too.

The midwife will counsel you through your pregnancy, as well as visit you after the birth if you like. Of course there’s no guarantee that that midwife will be the one to deliver your baby because if you go into labour while they’re not on shift or on call, then... that’s just how it is.

Is that a fucking pun?

"There's a hole in my head"

"Yes. There was a hole in your head and I filled it with goo"

There are more people doing this but it's pretty hard to shift 3000+ years of pretty entrenched religious tradition.

Did you know it’s the anniversary of the blessed birth of @lordjeanliness???

god, please always feel free to be nosy. Like, I generally suck at conversation - especially talking about myself - but give an actual prompt/question even about the most random shit and I will talk to you all day

That being said, to understand the complicated (if rather boring) existence that is my personal life you must first understand the intricate bond b/w @lordjeanliness (L) and I.

So, very end of Freshman year of college, @the-fanciful-fangirl (Ash) and I have a Bonding Moment TM and become nigh inseparable. So come the start of sophomore year I am reintroduced to Ash’s fresh/soph roomie L. At first we’re all trying to navigate my very sudden closeness with Ash but about 5 weeks in and L and I have also had a Bonding Moment TM and figured out we share a bunch of random, obscure interests.

From there on out the 3 of us get along like a house on fire. Junior room we all shared a triple and Senior year Ash evacuated to an apartment down the road from L and I because student teaching is hell without other people in your space.

Senior year also brought the addition of L having a car which led to L and I spending various weekends with her family who live ~1 hr away. As tends to happen with me and my friends’ families, I was quickly absorbed into the family dynamic. Here we are a year later and I am under strict orders to come over whenever I want, whether they’re home or not, and to treat it like my house. 

October of senior year L and I finally do enough *wink wink nudge nudge*-ing to realize we’re both asexual which prompted several months of “Holy Shit you too? Like all these experiences I’ve never been able to explain to other people but you actually understand them and we have so much more in common than we thought and HOLY SHIT”

At this point we absolutely became fused at the hip - totally inseparable except for classes, even going home with each other on breaks and messaging each other constantly when we didn’t.

And then …. Spring Semester - hands down a full on disastrous crash-and-burn, down-in-flames, no redemption, Shit-Storm TORNADO of awfulness coming from every side with not even a moments rest. Like, a significant number of us had mental breakdowns of various severities and I had to take incompletes even though I was part time and we all ended up with depression/anxiety disorders soon after and there were emergency calls and just…. SOOOOOO MUCH. 

But the ONE marginally good thing that came out of it was enough breakdown in barriers and enough of a necessarily adopted “fuck it” attitude that finally told L in no uncertain terms that:

“Even if we’re not technically dating it doesn’t change the fact that you are the most important person in my life and that my relationship with you is my number one priority and that I am just as devoted to you as I have been to everyone else I’ve ever been in a committed relationship with.” 

We’re still not going to be calling each other partners or girlfriends any time soon because we’re both still closeted to most people (with the exception of like our therapists, a small circle of trusted friends (many of whom are also queer), and tumblr) but I’m still definitely committed to that relationship above all else

After graduation I moved like ~ 40 min from L and her fam and I regularly spend weekends with them. I’m definitely an honorary family member and while L’s siblings kinda few it as “here comes our other sister” I kinda jokingly view it as “going to visit the in-laws” which makes everything 10x funnier. 

And wow this is SO Much longer than I intended it to be but …..

Tl:dr - my personal life revolves almost entirely around L which may not be the healthiest thing in the world but we’re both recovering from a lot of things and we depend on each other. And even though both our families can be frustrating its been good to be so accepted by each other’s families. 

Her and I are slowly forming new circles of supportive people who actually live near us and hopefully we’ll be able to live together soon on our own but still in the area to stay close with the fam.