Homebirth in Ohio?

[scottishtwins]

I just found out I am pregnant with my third. I had hospital births with my first two, with a CNM attending. My midwife retired and I have decided that I would like to have a homebirth this time around.

My doula is trying to find me a midwife in the area (I am in NW Ohio), but it looks like the closest one is at least 45 minutes to an hour away.

I was wondering if anyone could share me their experiences with having a homebirth in Ohio. I have read that Ohio isn't very homebirth friendly and I would like to hear about some of the challenges people may have faced before we make a decision on what we would like to do.

Thanks in advance!

[PrettyHippie]

We're Ohio homebirthers! You're right, Ohio isn't known for being the most homebirth friendly. It's not legal but it's not illegal either. There is a bigger and bigger push to get CPM legalized in this state. We use a midwife out of Heath. This is JUST south of Newark. We actually drive 1 hour to see her but to us it's SO WORTH IT. She is such a wonderful midwife and we love her. Not to mention the fact that her rates are hard to beat for such good service. She was actually a LD nurse for years before she got fed up with mainstream maternity care and switched to homebirth midwifery. She actually told me the stories of the doctors at the hospital telling her and the other nurses to "Pit. to distress." Unforgivable. So yeah, she has tons of experience and I would and do trust her with mine and my child's life. There are midwifes around but in this state it can be hard to track them down sometimes. You may want to try the Ohio tribe page in "Finding Your Tribe" to see if there is anyone in your area who has a recommendation. Good luck to you!!

[MommaKitten21]

We are Ohio home birther's as well

I agree that Ohio is definitely not a home birth friendly state. I had my first home birth in June of 08, and am currently 35 weeks along with #2... obviously planning another home birth.

I really haven't found any challenges besides finding a midwife. I wouldn't really call it a challenge, it's just not something you can look up in the phone book. Usually, if you start making calls, they will give you other people's names and numbers, which then turns into that person giving you other contacts and so on, until finally, you get a midwife that is in your area

It can be a little frustrating, but for us, it's always worked out just fine! I have had no luck with getting insurance to cover home birth here due to the lack of legalities. (For the record I have Tricare...military insurance) However, my son's birth, and this upcoming birth cost me less than $2,000.00 each. I think that's pretty fair and reasonable considering what I have heard about home birth prices in other states.

The only major "challenge" I face is the weird comments from people when they know our birth plans. I think that annoys me more than anything! I would give anything to be in a more non-mainstream state sometimes! lol.

[scottishtwins]

Thanks for the info ladies.

My doula is now working as a midwife asst., but she is now an hour away from me. She could put me in touch with some midwives that she trusts, but I don't know if I feel comfortable with them being an hour or more away. I guess I can't really be picky though, we don't even have CNM in my area anymore. It's so sad.

It is helpful to hear how much money I am looking at. I can guarantee that it won't be covered by my insurance, but with my last hospital birth it ended up costing me nearly $3000 out of pocket anyways. Granted, that went toward my deductable, but we still had to pay it. $1500-2000 out of pocket sounds like a dream

I guess I worry about all of the details I am so ignorant about. I have heard that it is difficult to get a birth certificate in Ohio with a homebirth. I'm worried about how our family doctor will react to it and if she will still treat our newborn if he or she isn't born in the hospital. I am worried about finding a back-up doctor around here, because I don't think any will take me knowing what I am planning to do.

I feel slightly overwhelmed about the whole process. I guess it's a good thing I have 9 months to figure it out!

[marrymeflyfree]

We planned to homebirth in Ohio with our last baby, but ended up transferring after a very long and unproductive pushing phase.

The only issues we encountered were relatively minor. I chose not to have backup care, but those few problems would have been easier to manage had I done it. I was postdates, and wanted a biophysical profile and all that. Homebirth midwives here can't write orders for these things, so we went through our (very supportive) family doc. Well...not being her area of expertise, the order was written incorrectly twice. I was sent home from the u/s dept once for it, and the second time didn't even get all the info that we wanted due to the mix up. And the time it took to get all that done, calling the office, getting the order written and then re-written, getting an appt with the hospital, and getting the results back (they refused to give the results to me despite the request in the doc's orders and she'd forgotten to write it as a stat order, so it took several days to get the radiologist's report)..etc, etc. It took forEVER! When one is pushing 3 weeks 'over', every hour feels like an eternity, and it took days to get this done. The point is that in certain situations, continuity of care can be lacking, and it can be difficult to get anything done expeditiously.

Having had co-care would certainly have made my transfer go a bit more smoothly. As it was, I just showed up at the admissions desk after having been pushing for ~8hours asking to go to maternity with no OB or hospital midwife on record. The staff was generally respectful, more or less, and it certainly could have been a lot worse...but it would have been easier if I'd had conventional care and a name to give them. My midwife accompanied us to the hospital, though many OH midwives will not do that in a transfer situation because it can put them in a precarious position.

Anyway, my issues were somewhat unique, but I wanted to share them just to give you a heads up on some sticky situations that could crop up. I hope your family doctor is supportive...it takes a huge load off! As far as finding a hospital practitioner that will agree to co-care, I think most midwives know which people in the area are on board and also who to avoid. Perhaps you will get some advice on that once you find a midwife. We also had an hour's drive to our midwife (and also to the birth center we used with our first baby). It stinks, but worth it imo to see someone you truly feel comfortable with. Good luck!

[OurLittleNest]

I am planning a homebirth in central Ohio. We are going through CHOICE, who are wonderful. Maybe if you call them, they would be able to find someone who is near you.

[Little Shepherds]

I am planning a homebirth in central Ohio. We are going through CHOICE, who are wonderful. Our baby should be here anyday now so excited!

[MommaKitten21]

Originally Posted by scottishtwins

I have heard that it is difficult to get a birth certificate in Ohio with a homebirth. I'm worried about how our family doctor will react to it and if she will still treat our newborn if he or she isn't born in the hospital.

We didn't have a problem at all with the birth certificate. We just had the midwife fill out the paperwork, then had two people fill out the witness forms (had my best friend and DH do one) then we just went and got it. They kinda rolled their eyes at us... you could tell they didn't "like" dealing with it, but it wasn't a hassle at all.

As far as your family doctor goes... I would ask beforehand. Honestly, you will most likely have a better response from your family doctor than a pediatrician in regards to home birth... so don't stress!!

[Defenestrator]

Are you near Toledo? If so, you could consider Linda Johnson, who practices just north of the Ohio border. Her website is mothersownbirth.com. If you could tolerate the drive for the prenatals, she would probably consider you to be in-area and would come to you for the birth.

If you are further south, you're out of the area where I know about midwives. Further west, and I might be able to recommend someone who works in Michigan who would be closer for you.

Good luck!

[PrettyHippie]

I just wanted to jump in as I saw you were worried about getting birth certificates. In OUR case our midwife handled filling out ALL the paperwork for us. She does it for all her clients. We just had to sign them, take them to our county health department, give them the $22 dollars or so, and that was that! The health department didn't say anything bad at all. We just had to have the paperwork submitted within 10 days (I think...) of the birth or else there was extra paperwork that would have had to be filled out. When you find someone you'd like to work with see if they fill out the papers for you. Some may not. Also, I just thought of something else. See if your midwife does the PKU testing or if you'll have to have a pediatrician/doctor do it. Our midwife also took care of this. She came when Willow 6 days old and did the heel stick, submitted it, got the results back and gave us a copy. Willow's doctor just needed a copy and that was that! No issues. I know not all midwives do this but I guess legally this test has to be done. I would have had it done (one of the few things) even if it wasn't actually required. Just some food for thought!!

[scottishtwins]

Thanks so much ladies! All of this information is really helpful!

I am over an hour south of Toledo - closer to Dayton, so I think I'll have more luck finding someone there. I know there are a few midwives in Dayton, but I'm not sure if they're willing to drive to get to me. My doula is checking for me.

I feel much better about the birth certificate now. Looks like I'll be having a conversation with my family doctor at my son's appointment at the end of the month. Hopefully she will be open to the idea!

[Youngfrankenstein]

We just had our first homebirth in Ohio! My midwife was an hour away but it was what I had! She was great! No problems with any "paperwork" aspect of the birth at all. If you would like some contacts toward your area, I could e-mail her and ask her for some recommendations.

Let me know! (I'm in the Akron area)

[GracesMama]

We had a homebirth in Ohio 2 1/2 years ago. The tricky part was finding a midwife. At the time, a midwife was being charged with practicing medicine without a license in Butler County (where we lived). My Bradley instructor put me in touch with her doula friend who then put me in touch with a midwife.

The birth certificate wasn't a problem. It was just a lot of paperwork and we had to fill it out ourselves, and I'm pretty sure we had to have it back within 10 days. The only thing was that my midwife wouldn't sign it. She had my husband sign it. According to her, whoever cut the cord could be considered the person who delivered the baby. She was nervous with that other midwife being prosecuted.

As for the pediatrician, we never even mentioned it to him. One day, we just called him and said we had a baby at home and we wanted to bring her in for a check up He was our other daughter's ped. What could he say?

[mammamo]

Hi! Sound like we may be close. I had a homebirth about a year ago in Marion county. I had no problem getting a birth certificate, and my midwife was wonderful. I had to drive about 35 min to her house for visits. But from what I hear, that's relatively close for a homebirth midwife. I paid $1200, but that's less than what we paid for our hospital birth. In my area, there isn't anyone to do co-care with, they all refuse, but my midwife has a "back-up" that she uses, but the only reason he's been so supportive is because she usually brings in amish moms, his tune totally changed when brought an English mom in. PM me if you need more info

[mammamo]

Oh yeah, and since I work full time I needed someone to sign my FMLA junk and my family practice doc was happy to do it, but my chiro said he would've too. Also, my family prac doc saw all of us at the time, and was fully aware of my plans to homebirth, he saw the new baby at a week...the only difference from the first baby is that he wanted to do all the jaundice stuff that they usually do in the hossy, and actually we didn't see him, we saw his PA