Big Decisions

Well, looks like my thyroid is OK. I had to get some more testing done, and all of that looks good. I have yet to hear this from my doctor, but I looked at the results at work the other day, and everything is normal. Just a fluke of pregnancy. What a relief! I really was not interested in taking another medication, or having to go to another doctor. I am so done with the doctors. I have seen way too many of them in the last year and a half. I am so grateful for them, but I am done being poked and prodded.
I think that may be one of the major reasons why giving birth in a hospital is totally turning me off. I am a person who likes to be in control, and you really don't have any control when you walk into a hospital to give birth. Yes, I know the birthing process is very much something that happens on its own, but I would like to think that I can have a say in how I would like things to happen. Whether it happens or not, is up to God, of course. When you go into a hospital, you are now in their world. What they say goes, and if you don't do it that way, you are labeled the problem patient (I know this because I am a nurse!)
Several things about typical hospital births bother me: 1) You are not allowed to eat. This is the most ridiculous one. I understand their thinking behind this, but the chances of aspiration during a C-section is quite low. But if it happens, there is a chance of a lawsuit, so here come the rules. This is like asking someone to run a marathon without eating in the last 12-16 hours. 2) There is the expectation that you will be laboring in bed attached to a fetal monitor, since this is the norm for most. I can't imagine not being able to move around when I like. Do I think the baby should be checked on? Absolutely. Does it have to be the majority of the time? No. 3) I have read the benefits of not clamping the cord right away, and this is also standard practice in a hospital. Can I request it to be delayed, most likely yes. But humans are creatures of habit, and I don't trust this will really happen.
There are many other things I am concerned about like wanting to keep the baby in my arms and nurse right away after delivery, etc. that keep weighing on my mind. But I go back and forth. JJ wants a hospital birth, "in case". And I am always considering the "in case" situations. I have seen them with my own eyes in school. But those complications also happened after interventions were done to the mother such as an epidural and pitocin. Looking at the research, births done with midwives are notoriously safe and have better outcomes than with MD's. BUT, MD's also take on high risk patients (more potential for things going wrong). Midwives do not.
The ideal for me would be a birthing center in a hospital, but the state if Illinois has none of those yet. It seems that those are still a dream after recent legislation allowed for some experimental centers to be built. But to my knowledge, none have been built yet. The options for moms in IL are very limited. There's something wrong with that.
Lucky I have awhile to consider and weigh the options.