Questions about homebirth in St. Louis

[GoGoGirl]

We're probably moving from NYC to St. Louis in the spring. I'm not pregnant, but we're hoping to get pregnant right after the move.

I'd like to know more about the homebirth situation in St. Louis. We had a homebirth here in 2009 and I wouldn't want to birth any other way.

1. How would I find a midwife? There's a list of NYC homebirth midwives online, with phone numbers, but I can't seem to find that for St. Louis. I keep hearing "Oh, just talk to Friends of Missouri Midwives." I've looked on their website and can't find a list of midwives. I get the impression that it's guarded information, in a sense. Would FOMM be able to give me a list of midwives to contact?

2. How far in advance do the STL midwives get booked? I started calling NYC midwives the week we found out we were pregnant and three of them were booked for my birth month already! If we do end up getting pregnant before we move to St. Louis, will any midwives still be available?

3. Do I have any hope of insurance covering a homebirth? Around how much do the area midwives charge if we pay cash?

4. If for some reason we get risked out of a homebirth, or need to transfer, how are the hospitals? Are they awful to you if you need to transfer?

5. What's the breech birth situation in STL? DD was breech until an external version at 38 weeks. My midwife refused to tell me if she would have attended my birth at home if she had stayed breech (I'm not thrilled with her about that). There is only one doctor who attends vaginal breech births in NYC, and she doesn't take insurance. Of course, who knows if my future kids will be breech, but it's my biggest worry so it's something I'd like to know a little about.

Can you tell I like planning things in advance? Thanks for any input!

[sacred-roots-doula]

Hi, I'm going to my first FOMM meeting tomorrow night, so I'll be able to respond with a little bit more experience tomorrow, but there are midwives in St. Louis, and there is a homebirth community. It does seem to be very small though. Here is the info for a homebirth midwife who I highly recommend, and she should be able ot answer your questions better than I can! http://www.rivercitybirth.com/

[MsBlack]

There are a good handful of homebirth mws in St Louis. Some are CPMs, who practice legally in MO (no licensing tho), and some are not CPMs, practicing under the radar. A couple of the CPMs are very experienced, a couple of them are not much experienced yet. The traditional (non-CPMs) mws are all pretty experienced.
There are also variations in practice philosophies/approach, from very hands on and medically oriented, to very hands off and birth-trusting/family empowered.

If having a legal mw means enough to you, then it's not so hard to find the CPMs in the yellow pages and google. You don't really need FoMM for this--although FoMM (last I knew) was referring the non-CPMs along with the CPMs....except for those non-CPMs with whom they have...um...'political differences', even if they know these mws are practicing safely and so forth. So, if you want to meet all the mws, CPM and non, then talk to FoMM but also talk to La Leche League and ICAN (both have multiple chapters in St Louis and both can be found online).

good luck!

[GoGoGirl]

Thank you both for the response!

Sacred roots, I'd love to hear more about the FOMM meeting. I think I'll go to a meeting when we move--it seems like a great way to meet like minded mamas. And I checked out that midwife's website, thank you for the recommendation! I have her site bookmarked.

Ms Black, thank you, too, for describing the lay of the land a little bit for me. I'm definitely open to a traditional midwife--I think I'm mostly looking for someone who meshes well with me personality-wise, and who has a birth philosophy similar to mine. I'm relieved to learn that homebirth is a solid option in St. Louis. I'll definitely talk to FOMM, and I'll reach out to LLL too. I actually grew up in the St. Louis LLL community (my mom was a leader, and now dear family friends and my SIL are leaders too). I'm thrilled to know that I'll be able to find a HM midwife in our future home!