Where do you live? - Page 2

[hypatia]

I am new to Indianapolis, and just discovering the birth scene. There is a handful of homebirth midwives (DEMs and CPMs) who people just love. Then, there's a birthing center, which (for reasons that are still not clear to me) inspires a lot of ill feelings in the AP community. I don't know that much about the hospitals, but one of them has free doulas for all.

[Awaken]

Hi- I'm in the Washington DC area. It's pretty mixed here, too. Of course you have your mainstream hospitals who do everything the medical way. We also have a few freestanding birth centers (where I had ds and plan to have the next one), midwife practices who deliver only in hospitals, and one midwife practice that does homebirths. There are also some lay midwives who do HB but it's pretty underground. In my particular community, it is quite crunchy, so most of my mommy friends use the birth center or lay midwives.

It is frightening though, many of the birth centers have shut down, and many hospitals have fired thier midwives. The climate is pretty tough for midwives here which scares me b/c I don't know what I'd do without them!

mamtoady- we lived near Traverse City for a while, I stayed in Interlochen while my husband took some classes. I'm glad to hear it's so mama-friendly there!

Zack419- I'm an 'inner city kid' too I'm from Philadelphia.

[FillingMyQuiver]

Originally Posted by Mary6912

It is frightening though, many of the birth centers have shut down, and many hospitals have fired thier midwives. The climate is pretty tough for midwives here which scares me b/c I don't know what I'd do without them!


Zack419- I'm an 'inner city kid' too I'm from Philadelphia.

Hmm... that is pretty scray that the MWs are being fired : My mom lives in VA and it's my understanding that midwifery is illegal Some one correct me if I'm wrong though. We have family friends that did HB and legally, the dad "caught" the babies according to the birth certificates

[Awaken]

Originally Posted by bluebottle

you are assigned a midwife who you see (quite often) throughout your pregnancy. you only get an MD if something goes wrong or if you request one, though you do have i think 1 or 2 MD visits throughout the pregnancy. at the same place that you see the midwife you can see therapists or psychiatrists, go to parenting classes, etc etc.
everything related to mother and child care here is free until the child is 18, covered by the state's health care system.

Oh my gosh, that is INCREDIBLE Alison! Sounds like the way things SHOULD be! I can't even imagine anything like that here in the US. Pathetic, isn't it.

[SoggyGranolaMomma]

I'm in CT. It's kind of a challenge to get the birth experience you want. You have the option of going with a midwife homebirth, which usually isn't well recieved if something goes wrong, a midwife attended hospital birth, where the practice is dictated by hospital policies and not by the midwives and moms, or an OB attended birth in a hospital. There is one really great free-standing birth center in Danbury CT but it's more than an hour away from me. :

I feel that the OB practice that I am in is as crunchy as an OB group can be. They are very hands off and the hospital is a WHO baby and family friendly hospital.

[emomama]

we live in rockford, il and as far as my experience has gone.. it's pretty much a typical fairly high c-section rate, lots of medical intervention type of city. it's hard for me to judge though because my last two were twins and i had a c-section due to them being breech/transverse and my doc wasn't willing to even really let me try although she was great in every other aspect of my pregnancy...

this time around should be interesting since we've had a rough couple of years and have no health insurance and so are on public aid... i really have no idea yet where i can go and what services it will pay for other than a regular ob/gyn and a hospital birth. i tried to talk to my caseworker about it and she looked at me like i was insane and told me to find a good doctor and not do anything crazy. oooookay. : i've also found out that doctors can refuse to treat me because i'm on public aid so i have to find someone who will deal with poor folk like me... it's really unfortunate how this whole system is set up although in some ways i'm glad i'm in it because i now see first hand how the other half lives and i can't believe how much i took a good job and good health insurance for granted! anyway, i think the solution here is to pick up and move to sweden. what an idea! a health care system that actually takes care of people! why doesn't the US catch on to this?? soooo jealous of you, bluebottle!

[Awaken]

Originally Posted by emomama

this time around should be interesting since we've had a rough couple of years and have no health insurance and so are on public aid... i really have no idea yet where i can go and what services it will pay for other than a regular ob/gyn and a hospital birth.

emomama, you would think that they would WANT you to use a midwife since they have less intervention and lower c-section rates, therefore costing THEM less! I hope you find someone good

[Jacqulyn]

Nebraska

We are in Lincoln, NE. NO homebirths allowed. There are 5 midwives in the city and I will be using the same one as last time. I really, really like her. No birthing centers, but the hospital here has a GREAT L&D floor. Brand new facility with two person jacuzzi tubs in each room, beautiful hardwood floors and an incredible view. I love being in the hospital last time. It was such a relaxing atmosphere. The nurses are really good about not pushing meds and such. Not bad at all.

[PicnicBear]

I'm in the Chicago suburbs and will be using Homefirst -- a group of MDs that does homebirth. I have seen them metioned at Mothering before so some of you may be familiar with them. My HMO that I have through work covers it totally so I feel very fortunate. It's my first birth and it seems this options makes everyone happy -- me because of the homebirth part and family because of the MDs. I know it's most important what I want but it is nice to not have to constantly defend my decision to give birth at home.

[flapjack]

Another Brit, and we have similar care to Brooklynmama- except that in Colchester, ante-natal care is provided by a team of midwives who try to rotate ante-natal visits within the team so you meet all 8 midwives, and so you've at least met the midwife delivering your kid- though you have one name to contact in between visits, should you be concerned about anything. The hospital has strange rules and regulations- for instance, for a water birth, they won't allow you to enter the birthing pool until you're already fully dilated- and the neighbouring one lost a newborn to MRSA infection a few days ago, so this one will be born at home.

[Queen of Cups]

I live in a Kansas-side suburb of Kansas City. I would say that natural childbirth is pretty uncommon here (I've heard epidural rates are at about 95%), but I think the hospitals in the area are great. The hospital I delivered at last time and will be at again was wonderful: rooming in was expected, every nurse who entered the room ask how breastfeeding was going and offered to help me, the LC stopped by twice in the 30 hours I was there after birth and called my house several times over the next two weeks to see how it was going for me, I didn't have to have an IV or shave or enema, no one at the delivery had to wear scrubs (DH and my sister were barefoot!), I was allowed to walk around and labor however and whereever I wanted, because of some breathing problems DS was taken to NICU for observation - but I was able to hold him first and DH was with him the whole time, no one offered me meds during labor, and fetal monitoring was done intermittently (until they found meconium when my water broke - then the monitoring was constant but of course external), and every nurse who entered my room during my whole stay made a point of telling me that she read my birth plan. The L&D room was also lovely, with wood floors, panels that the equipment hid behind, dim lights, and a big window with lovely curtains.