It has been quite a whirlwind these past few days trying to get my prenatal care transferred to a caregiver. The whole process has made me learn that Maryland and Washington DC are not the best places to have a baby. I thought Illinois was difficult, but Maryland is worse.
Last week, I met with some wonderful midwives who work independently providing home births for women in Maryland. After speaking with them, I discovered that Maryland has actually made it illegal for CPMs and LMs to assist in home births. The reason for this is that you must be a "licensed" midwife to assist in a home birth, and Maryland will only license CNMs (Certified Nurse Midwives). Apparently only 26 states currently license CPMs, Washington being one of them (go Washington!). Anyway, so if you have a home birth with a CPM, in order to get a birth certificate, you must sign a document certifying that you had an unassisted birth. So infuriating on so many levels. Consider the un-insured pregnant woman in Maryland. Her options are basically as follows:
1. No prenatal care an an emergency room delivery
2. No prenatal care and an unassisted birth
3. Pay out of pocket for the astronomically high fees for a hospital birth (It's worthwhile to note that if the woman could afford a hospital birth, she could probably afford insurance)
4. Pay a midwife out of pocket and lie to the government about having an unassisted birth.
How are these good options? I totally feel like it is my right to labor how, where, and with whomever I choose. How is it fair for the state government to dictate my birth experience to this extent? And as Chris points out, how is it legal to get an abortion (in many cases partial-birth abortions), and yet not legal for a woman to choose how she gives birth?
Anyway, so on goes the search. Luckily, I have insurance, so we do have limited options, albeit home birth isn't one of them. There actually is a lovely birth center with CNMs who also do the home birth option for women in the DC Metro area. However, because they are so in demand in this area, their waiting list is a mile long. For a prenatal care transfer like me, this unfortunately is not possible. There is also a birth center in DC with CNMs, but they will not take transfers past 30 weeks, even with regular prenatal care. Maddening!
Since I had exhausted all the home birth/birth center options, my next task was to look for midwives who operate in hospitals, which actually isn't very common in the DC area. I did find a midwife group close to where I live, but they can't fit me in until late July! Thwarted again!
So, now I am searching for Ob-gyns who are natural birth-friendly in the metro area. And it is very discouraging to read posts on blogs and websites where people say an Ob who supports natural childbirth is an oxy-moron in the DC area. I have even read that there are Obs in the area who refuse to take on Bradley method women.
In the meantime, I have scheduled an appointment with an ob-gyn just so I can keep up with my regular prenatal visits. I'm hoping and praying that either something will turn up, or that I will have an easy birth experience. I am really not looking forward to battling doctors over giving me pitocin or a cesarean. However, I guess I will have gotten my money's worth out of our Bradley classes, since they prepare you specifically for an un-medicated hospital birth.
Whew! Sorry for the tirade, but it is very upsetting to get your hopes up for a certain birth experience, only to realize that you can't have that experience.
To end on an unrelated and happy note, we are pretty much finished with moving in (except for the baby's room) and I will have pictures of our fun little apartment soon. :)
4 comments:
I'm so sorry that you can't have the birth experience you hoped for. I know that is frustrating.
I do have one thought for you though. You can labor at home as long as possible and then go to the hospital. (I showed up at 9cm) That should eliminate a lot of the possible interventions. Also, when Calder was born the doctor was only there for the last 15 minutes or so. I think nurses are generally more supportive of whatever the mom wants.
Cami, that is great advice and something I will definitely follow. 9 cm! Whew! How far apart were your contractions when you left for the hospital? Our Bradley instructor did that with both of her births and recommended going to the hospital when your contractions are no more than 3 minutes apart. In her words, "If you go late enough, they don't have enough time to give you medical intervention." This does give me a little hope. And I don't really want to be in the hospital for a long time anyway.
That sucks. Becca and I were discussing that we think we must have a unique situation with our OB who would readily accommodate a natural childbirth. I agree with Cami, also, remember that you can decline the IV, which is a great way to prevent pitocin from getting into your veins. I'm pretty sure patient rights and autonomy laws dictate that you can refuse any treatment, although bringing that up with an MD might be a bit cheeky. But they get paid enough to take some cheek. lol. You might ask the facility you end up selecting before you go there.
I would think that most midwife clinics/birth centers would be associated with an OB office, as was my midwife clinic. They need someone they trust with their patients in case of an emergency (or a breech birth, as in my case). The midwife clinics tend to choose OB clinics to associate with that support natural births and have a low c-section rate.
So, what I am saying is, have you asked the midwives you've talked to, to recommend an OB who might support your cause? Another route might be to find a local Bradley Method instructor and ask them who they recommend.
I read TONS of natural birth books myself, planned on having a Bradley baby, and was initially disappointed that I couldn't have what I wanted (even the midwives, with an 8% c-section rate, wouldn't birth my breech baby because their inexperience and dangers associated with it). But once your baby is in the world, all the fretting about "how" your baby was born is just going to seem so unimportant.
So, try not to stress too much about not finding the perfect midwife or doctor. Peter will come into this world one way or another, and it really won't make too much difference how he comes.
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