Birth Experiences in Mobile, AL?

[snt88]

We might be moving to Mobile, and if so, we'd be planning on having kiddo #2 while we live there. Can anyone tell me what the environment is like? Are there natural birth friendly hospitals or obstetricians? Nurse-Midwives? Birth-centers? We have Tricare for health insurance and I didn't find any Nurse-Midwives on their provider list, but I'd be curious to see if they are at least out there.

Any thoughts, experiences, would be most welcome.

Thanks from one worried mama!

[alexisyael]

Hi!

The birth culture in Mobile is pretty bad... but there are some bright spots

First, the bad:

High C-section/ intervention rates for all area hospitals.
No Birth Centers.
Home birth is illegal (for midwives, not for moms and dads).

The good part:

There are nurse midwives (I used one as my backup for my home birth). The group I know of practices out of USA's hospital and is blue cross/ blue shield plan (maybe tricare, too? I don't know.)
There are homebirth options, but you kinda need to know people pretty well to find them (and be serious about it!).
Most women who want a homebirth end up renting the birth cottage in MS (an hour drive from Mobile) and using a midwife there.

I'm going to respond to your other post, as well

[kalohabreeze]

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20330477613

That is the link for the local birth stories group

[snt88]

Originally Posted by kalohabreeze

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20330477613

That is the link for the local birth stories group

Thanks! I finally gave in and signed up for facebook so that I could take a look.

[Hayes]

You might want to check out www.alabama-moms.com as well. There are quite a few Mobile moms who might be able to hook you up with the right women! My cousin is a practicing OB there, and she scares the crap out of me regarding birthing stuff!