homebirth is legal in florida, but we were still persecuted!
i was saddened to hear of the laws in your state, but even here in florida,where homebirth is legal, the system punished us.
My hubby and i have been married over 10years, we met in massage school, we both still practise it and i am also an acupuncturist. we have our own small clinic. our son was born april 22 2004 unassisted at home. he was early and small, just 4pnds4ounces, but had perfect newborn tests, apgar,muscle tests,ect..i had thought he'd be small, its common with smaller asian women like myself.we had gone to consult with a midwife but choose a birth by ourselves.we checked to make sure this would be legal. my hubby had paramedic training, i am a doctor, and in case of emergency, we live close to the hospital. the birth was, well, easy. less than an hour, i stood the whole time, never screamed, the whole experience was calm, loving, and best of all, private. i couln't have asked for a better birth.
7 weeks later, on a sunday night,11:00 at night, a knock at the door. child services and the police are demanding to see our baby. someone called and said we were abusing our son. the social worker demanded entry, searched our home and seperately interogated us. we were told that we had no rights, could not record or call a lawyer.the police and an ambulance were called. when the social worker confirmed that we had a home birth and had seen alternative medical providers i could see her disgust.then she learned that i was breastfeeding,or "the baby gets no real food?!" i was given the choice to have my baby taken away or to go to the hospital by ambulance to have a full range of tests done by "real doctors". i went. my husband followed. my son cried his first tears in the ambulance, they detained us long enough for the baby to miss two feedings,he got his first and only diaper rash in the hospital from stress, and was colicy for weeks after. they also kept him away from his dad for hours, the longest my husband had ever been away from his son.we were not allowed to leave. i had to have a nurse observe all breast feedings and diaper changes.
we were released on the third day, after being examined by three pediatricins and monitered 24/7, pronounced perfectly healthy, with the condition that we see a pediatrician every week until the case officially closed. it took months, and all of the costs, the ambulance, doctors,tests,nurses,ect, were billed to us. we hired a lawyer and a private investigator. this is what we have learned- anyone can call in a report, they can say anything they want, you can never know who called it in and they are never held responsible. the person who made our call, we believe it was someone who never knew us directly, had heard of us thru gossip at a hair salon! the report claimed our baby's skull was fractured and his brain protruded out of its skull. unfortunately, once the social worker heard we were homebirth and breastfeeding, she nolonger cared that this obviously untrue. she had lied to us, we did have the right to an attorney, to refuse her entrance. but she did have the power to "remove" my child from me. so i recomend that homebirthers retain a lawyer, someone they can call in the middle of the night. if anyone calls, they have the right to take your child on the authority of one social worker's opinion of homebirth, if you refuse, you can be arrested and the child will still be taken from you. and it is legal. so, even in a state where homebirth is legal, it doesnt mean it will be any easier.
i would welcome any coments or other similar stories, and thank you for the chance to speak about it.
Today my son is 7+ months, healthy and more than three+ times his birth weight, he sees a pediatrcian regularly, just in case someone was concerned....
T, but is Lincoln, NE a hub of white supremecist activity?
: Even the paperwork was a breeze. We went in armed with new born photos, signed statements, etc. Turns out we didn't need any of it. Just went in and asked for a birth certificate and they typed it up right there. 
