VBAC in Louisiana/Arkansas

[La Rune]

A friend of mine is pregnant and has been living in Arkansas. She needs to know whether she's better off moving back here (NOLA area) or staying where she is (Bentonville area).

I know I heard about one midwife in LA losing her license over a VBAC, but I don't know the details/whether it's truly illegal, or whether she'd be able to find an underground midwife here. Ditto for Arkansas, can midwives attend a VBAC?

And what would she be looking at for a hospital VBAC, if you know? Are there VBAC-friendly OBs in NOLA or Bentonville?

[sparkysgirl]

I am currently pregnant and planning a vbac with an unlicenced/underground mw. I live in fayetteville, the vbac climate here in nwa is not so good. Most hospitals have bans. Fort smith allows them, but has its restrictions, really not ideal. Berryville allows them (its about an hour away from her) and they are also very pro natural birth and consider themselves a birth center within a hospital. There is also the informed refusal route at st. marys in rogers, which i also don't recomend, but it has been done with little resistance from the staff. We also have an Ican chapter here, we meet in springdale every third thurs of the month, she is welcome to join us and would probably get some good insight there about her choices of providers and birth settings. hope that helps, I know how stressful it can be planning a vbac around here.