Midwife on call for an unassisted

[Greenlea]

I am planning a homebirth, which at the moment will be unassisted. I've been trying to find a midwife to have on call, just in case. All the CNM's by me (near Chicago) are either booked or won't come out by me. Anyone have any ideas of how to find maybe an entry-level or non licensed midwife to assist? Mainly as a lifeguard.

[Stayathomemommy]

We were in the same boat with no homebirth midwife. we PLANNED a UC which i thinks makes a big difference. I was confident (hypnobirth helped) and it was great!! i totally depended on my body, if a midwife had been there i would have asked her questions or maybe deferred to her, instead since i didnt have that option i just relaxed and let it all happen. wow. for a 5th baby i never knew it could be like that!

anyway, i may have a midwife this time since we are in a different place but not sure if we will have her in the room or even in the house. we will see. just wanted to encourage you that if you cant get a midwife you can still do it!!! my plan B was 911 and i was comfortable with that.

[SublimeBirthGirl]

I would think about what you think a midwife can do from a distance. If she's not with you, she's not going to pick up on any FHT irregularities. If it's an after-birth emergency you'll be better off calling 911 probably, from a time-perspective. Or do you want a midwife and just can't find one?

[aspeneyes]

have you researched hiring a traveling midwife? you would pay for her to come to you and stay from 2 weeks before your due date to 1 week postpartum.

[family birther]

I too live near Chicago and am planning a UC. Where are you located? I know of midwives in the area you could ask and a home birth meeting you could attend and ask ladies there.

[Jaimee]

While this may not be the case for you and mw's in your area, I discovered that all of the mw's I contacted were totally unwilling to be "on call" for a UC. It puts them at huge risk b/c they not only don't know your medical history (unless you're not doing UP as well) but they are also not present for the progression of your labor. So if something goes wrong enough that you feel the need to call her, she is thrown into an emergency situation that she is liable for with her mere presence. Take into consideration what you would be calling a mw for after planning a UC- probably something serious. If the emergency necessitates a transfer, questions will inevitably be asked and she risks a great deal, especially if mw's cannot legally attend hb's in your state.

The only way to make this happen without the legal ramifications is to hire the mw for your prenatal care and the birth (paying for these services) and then do not call her when you are in labor unless you want to. If you go this route, do not inform your mw of your plan. I made the mistake of just talking to my mw about this scenario and the trust was broken between us and could not be rebuilt. We went our separate ways for this and some other reasons, but the mere mention of a uc was enough to freak her out. Unless they are overseen by an MD, CNM's are illegal (CPM's are totally illegal) in Maryland, so liability is a big deal for mw's around here. This may not be the case in your area.

To best achieve what I was looking for, I hired a CPM that was very well established in the birth community. She works with a lot of Amish so she is used to very hands-off births. She was willing (in fact, happy) to simply sleep in the other room while dh and I did the birth by ourselves. She did two prenatal appointments prior to the birth to get my history and a feel for what I wanted. We still paid her full price, but she literally did nothing during the birth and afterward she just took a quick check for tearing and examined the baby briefly. In the postpartum period, I took advantage of having her come visit a few times just to chat and check in. This scenario also eased my family's fears which were completely out of control after I discontinued services with my original mw. I called this my "in between UC."

Good luck with your search and your decision!

[SublimeBirthGirl]

Where I live there are midwives who support UC. Not many, but a couple. Two that I know of for sure. I definitely would not want to lie to one. HOwever, I'd have no problem lying to an OB to get backup care since it's their own fault homebirthers can't get back up care honestly. I can't really explain the discrepancy in how I feel about honesty.