Anyone attended by The Farm midwives?

[That Is Nice]

I would love to hear of experiences giving birth attended by The Farm midwives (Ina May Gaskin, et al) in Tennesee, if anyone would care to share.

Specifically, I'm wondering if anyone had a VBAC with them.

Thanks!

[hapersmion]

I had a great breech birth at the Farm, first baby. The story is in my sig. There was also a thread about this a few weeks ago that you might be able to dig up.

No VBAC with a first birth, obviously. I have heard that they won't take you if you had a single-layer suture, though, it has to be double-layer.

[That Is Nice]

Originally Posted by hapersmion

I had a great breech birth at the Farm, first baby. The story is in my sig. There was also a thread about this a few weeks ago that you might be able to dig up.

No VBAC with a first birth, obviously. I have heard that they won't take you if you had a single-layer suture, though, it has to be double-layer.

Thank you. I'll look for that thread.

It's interesting to me that even the farm midwives won't take certain types of vbacs. I've been learning that most midwives don't.

I'm feeling a bit like damaged goods...not that I really want to have another baby or anything, but if I did ever decide I wouldn't want to repeat the nightmare that was my first birthing experience but I don't have much access to midwives now.

[nashvillemidwife]

Actually, I think the Farm has kind of led the way in restricting VBACs to double-layer sutures. They made that call after a person experience even though the jury is out as far as evidence-based practice, but when the Farm says "boo" the midwifery profession tends to jump.

[kristen1978]

Could you explain the details? Curious, too . . . . .

I'm having a hard time healing from my first birth, and know that next time I need to be elsewhere, and am considering The Farm. Unfortunately their website it completely devoid of information, and only supplies a phone number. I'll call eventually, but would love some basic info now.

How does the process work if you are in another state? Can you do self-care and just phone in pertinent info, or do you have to have a MW submit records? How far in advance did you go there? What was the dorm experience like? Etc, etc.

TIA!

[paphia]

I believe they have houses you can rent as you approach your due date. I don't know what they want to see in the way of prenatal records, though.

[CalliesMomma]

I contacted them in hopes that they would take me on. Sadly, I was turned away because of my classical incision. They have fairly restrictive VBAC policies, IMO. You have to have at least a double layer suture and you also had to have dilated past a certain point in order for them to take you. I think they're so cautious because they really are out in the middle of nowhere. The closest hospital to them is a solid 30 minute drive, so they try to minimize risk as much as possible. I'm not sure how their prenatal care would work if you are out of state. I actually live about 40 miles from The Farm, so it would have been easy for me. It's worth your effort to give them a call, though. I called and left a message on Saturday afternoon and received a phone call back first thing Monday morning. I was expecting to have to wait until they had a clinic day on Wednesday.

[Mamato3wild ponnie]

I'm interested in hearing more personal stories on here about the farm. I thought about going there myself. Have had all normal births. I ended up finding a midwife in my area so I am going for a homebirth here in NC instead.

[nashvillemidwife]

Don't forget that midwives in Tennessee practice with a backup plan (which is simply responsible practice), including physician collaboration if needed, for every client. It's not fair to pass judgment on a midwife just because there are no doctors around who consider a woman to be an appropriate candidate for home birth.

[sparkysgirl]

Have you considerd a traveling mw? I know of one who has done many many vbacs, I have considered using her myself since vbacs are against mw regulations here where I live.

[mrsfru]

"How does the process work if you are in another state? Can you do self-care and just phone in pertinent info, or do you have to have a MW submit records? How far in advance did you go there? What was the dorm experience like? Etc, etc."

I'm not sure about another state, but w/in Tennessee, most pregnant ladies try to travel to see their midwife at The Farm, but they were willing to work w/my friend. One of my dearest friends had a VBAC 4 years ago at The Farm. I went w/her to one of her prenatal visits there and met Ina May and Carol (my friend's midwife). It was fascinating and empowering.

They worked w/my friend so that she didn't have to drive that far (we're in Chattanooga) w/her toddler for every prenatal visit. She saw her ob here for every other visit and he did most of her labs and one/two ultrasounds for her.

You can get there whenever you want as far as labor/delivery is concerned (and as far as I know). My friend went about a week before she thought baby would come (if I remember correctly!) and stayed in one of the cabins. I don't know about "rent" for that or anything like that.

She had a great VBAC there. I know she posts here sometimes, but it's probably been a while. I'll try to let her know someone is asking about VBAC'ing at The Farm, and maybe she'll post more info for you.

hths

mrsfru

[mrsfru]

Here's a link to my friend's website about her birth at The Farm:

http://members.tripod.com/stafl-ivil/id16.html

She doesn't post here anymore (I asked her this morning), but you can search for her posts--her screen name here was "stafl".

hths

mrsfru