can't get a birth certificate!

[greenleesjewel]

*

[lilyka]

Did you see a doctor at all while you were pregnant? Or any other sort of health care provider? Do you know a Dr. who would do you a favor? Do you have a ped who would be willing to write a note for you? If all else fails you can get a paternaty test. You shouldn't have to but it is better than going to court.

I had to get a letter from my ped. saying it was a live birth LOL. I had a live baby with me. It wasn't like the ped was there when I had her. Not like we had even met before she wrote the note. All she did was look at the baby and say "yep, she is alive and yes she is a girl" Duh, the lady at the registation counter could see that but all hail the infallable word of the sacred Dr. :

good luck too you. I know some people never get birth cirtificates and are none the worse for it.

[lilyka]

Oh, and CONGRATULATIONS on your new baby!!!

[indigolilybear]

bummer!

hi. congrats on your birth. Would *love* to hear the story sometime!!
we too had a freebirth in May and had no trouble getting the cert. but we had a dr. note saying that I had come in "saying" I was pregnant (I came in for a back pain referral for a phys. therapist). and that I showed up w/ a 10 day old newborn (when he was having trouble breathing a little bit). It was very CYA on the dr.'s part but that's all we had. I thought they wouldn't accept it since it pretty much said that she had no way of knowing if I was really pregnant. Next time I going to get a preg test somewhere just to avoid this trouble!!!:
I don't know what you can do.....I am very surprised they're giving you taht much trouble. usually once you show up w/a babe, even if you don't have all the stuff they let you do itThey've given you absolutely no recourse?? I think i'd just put up a fuss till someone up there helped us out. But I don't know what you guys have tried thus far...I assume you already have put up a fuss....gee. I am stumped.
good luck. :

[lilyka]

I know this is a long shot, nut did you save the preg test?

[greenleesjewel]

*

[IamHeather]

Who assisted in your other births? Maybe he/she would help you obtain a birth certificate. Have you written or spoken to your congressman or senator? You can find out who they are by looking in your phone book. I'm sure that they would help you out. Call their offices and find out when they might be in the local office and show up with your stash of documentation and your baby.

Good luck, and congrats on your baby.

[Teresa]

Did you call the Health Department? We had to call the Health Department (NOT Public Records, Social Security etc.) and we also had to request a specific person who subsequently came to our home and interviewed us, filled out some forms and eventually sent a certificate. Try to find a midwife in your area who does homebirths and ask. We would have had an incredible runaround if we hadn't known the name of the one person in our entire county who registers homebirths!

[greenleesjewel]

*

[hawleyclan]

Hi! Sorry to hear about your situation... In our town, we had to file for a birth certificate with our Justice of the Peace. We live in Texas. The catch is that we only have 5 days to get the document filled out and submitted... I thank God that we found out in time, we filed the day it was due...

If you are unable to find another branch of the city government who will work with you, your suggestion of writing the Governor is probably your next logical course of action. The confusion caused by unfiled citizens to tax records, SSI, etc. would be a true inconvenience to the Government, so he should have a vested interest in getting the laws causing this problem adjusted to allow for contingencies such as this... what would happen if a mother from another state were traveling through NJ on a vacation, pregnant, and delivered in transit? Where would she file?! (I realize that the example is far-fetched, but it is not impossible...)

Sorry I don't know more to offer. I pray someone will come to their senses and help you get what you need.

The Lord bless you,
Zoie

[kama'aina mama]

Warning: Totally unhelpful post to follow.

Am I the only one here with a naughty streak that says, "Okay, fine... don't register his birth. Can't be pressured to vax a kid the state won't acknowledge exists. Ditto schooling, registration fir selective service, etc, etc..." The naughty streak says this, mind you. I know that in practice it would create far more problems than it would solve, but geeze, this buearocracy is clearly insane. and hard to spell.

[greenleesjewel]

so true!

*

[greenleesjewel]

thanks everyone!

*

[EvilGeniusMama]

DNA?

You said all this stuff was to protect against kidnapping, so would a simple DNA test be enough combined with all of your other proofs of pregnancy?
Brianne

[greenleesjewel]

DNA test

*

[Greaseball]

cool website to check out

You may already know about this site - have you been to www.unassistedchildbirth.com?

Generally, people do not like to hear about unassisted home births. They will assume you're crazy or don't care about your baby. You might try saying that you were trying to get to the hospital but the birth just happened so fast, and see if people are more willing to help you.

You may very well have to write the governor. I guess if you're considering future unassisted births, you could get your pregnancy confirmed at a doctor's office and save the documentation, or take a film of the birth.

I was born at home unassisted, as well as my younger brother, and we both had no trouble getting birth certificates. That was in Oregon, though, and I guess my mother was seeing a doctor. (My parents lied and said they would call him when they were in labor!)

After I saw that site, I wanted to have an unassisted birth but I knew my husband would never agree, and I ended up having to go to the hospital anyway. Congratulations to you!

[candiland]

Yes, yes, join the club!! LOL
I homebirthed my baby girl in 1999 and still do not have a birth certificate. I did not have an unassisted birth; I had a CPM attend, and they are "illegal" birth attendants in the state of Maryland, so no matter what she wrote, it wouldn't do a squat bit of difference, because they wouldn't even consider her a midwife, anyway!!!
So what you do is, you call your local Dept. of Vital Records and tell them that you had your baby at home and that she needs a birth certificate. Make it quite clear that you do not want a DUPLICATE certificate - that she was never registered as being born and that you need an ORIGINAL birth certif. that registers her with the state. They will probably send you a packet in the mail, and one of the papers is for your pediatrician/homepathic doc/whoever sees your baby to fill out, stating that they saw the baby, that it was a live birth, that they checked it out, whatever. Then you fill in your portion of the packet and mail it back. My ped. lost my packet and it took me over one year to receive it..... so here I am, starting all over again. Aaargghhh!! Oh, you will have to register the child as a "delayed birth" or something to that effect if they're over one year of age.

[greenleesjewel]

no docs

*

[greenleesjewel]

good website

*

[SagMom]

All 3 of mine were born in NJ, 2 at home, 1 unassisted. We called our local health department after dd's birth and explained that we needed a birth certificate. Health dept. took the info, names, address, dob. The only other thing that was needed was a signature of someone who witnessed the birth--doesn't have to be medical personell. Your prenatal care is, frankly, none of their business and is not needed for a birth certificate. Have you tried calling your LOCAL health dept. or are you dealing only with the state? I'd try local if you haven't already done that.