home birthing questions and need help

im just curious because me and my fiance want to have our babies at home and ive only gotten vague answers...what are the laws and all proceeders on having babies at home...i do not want to go to the hospital when i get pregnant and have them drain me of all of my blood and stress me out completly.....so im wondering what the laws and options are....help!

 

Do you live in Oregon? Homebirth is perfectly legal in Oregon, and there are loads of midwives to choose from. Most take insurance and Medicaid.


http://www.oregonmidwifery.org/ORmidwives.htm

http://www.cfmidwifery.org/states/states.asp?ST=49

http://www.oregonmidwiferycouncil.org/

 

what if u dont have insurance....thats my major thing is i really cant afford insurance and i want to make sure homebirth is still an option......the links really helped and i am definitly sure i want home birthing....i do not like hospitals and i do not like the idea of man helping me give birth other than my own fiance being there....it seems also like the laws in oregon help me out loads because it is up to the mother what she wants for her child...thank you brighid

 

If you get pregnant in most states you are eligible for Medicaid. Depending on your income level some states may require you to pay a small deductible.
Had

 

hmm well i work at walmart and can get a small minimal amount of insurance that doesnt cost most....but im afraid it wont cover such things...

 

I am glad that you want to have a homebirth. if you are sure that you don't want to go the hospital route, check out this site. it tells you all about unassisted childbirth and you can also find out about unassisted pregnancy as well.

http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com

I had an unassisted pregnancy but to appease dh I gave birth in a hospital with a midwife.

 

thank u so much...that ws the best website yet

 

no problem. i am glad that it was helpful.

 

you do also have to keep in mind that things might not go as you wish. i planned a homebirth, but had to go to the hospital.

 

Birth is a natural event. MOST of the time, things go very well. But unassisted births make me very uncomfortable. There are sometimes subtle signs that things are not going well, that you just can't know by reading a website or a book. It takes years of experience! Midwives school for years, and then intern for more years, and see EVERYTHING that could happen before they go out on their own. I just fear for the mama and baby who might be in the small minority of dyads who have something go wrong, and have chosen "unassisted" home birth. A planned unassisted birth is illegal in most US states. (Brighid, please correct me if I am wrong. I know it is illegal in my state.)

One more caveat. If there IS a problem, and you DO need to go to the hospital (God Forbid, there is a causualty or a death) CPS will swoop down like an Iron Fist. I'd be very careful. If you don't have the money for the midwife, fighting CPS (Child Protective Services) to regain custody of your baby is going to be out of your reach.

IMO, please see what can be covered and have an attendent at your birth who KNOWS birth well, and can help you have a SAFE birth.

Blessings.

 

In most states there are no laws against having an unassisted birth, but there are no laws supporting it as a right either. Even in states where there are laws prohibiting midwifery and homebirth with a professional in attendance. Which means, if you seek help, how you are treated afterwards is completely the luck of the draw. If there's an emergency and you need treatment, it will be at the discretion of your provider whether or not they think you are being criminally negligent.


Besides that, I am not totally crazy about unassisted birthing, but I will support a woman's right to choose it for herself. However, it is definately NOT for anyone and everyone. You have to have complete faith in your body's ability to birth (which you should in any situation) and be willing to take responsability for the outcome, whether it is good, as it will be in about 90% of the time, or bad. Personally, I have had mostly very easy births, and despite my 6th nearly being born unassisted (her head was already out when the midwife walked through the door) and my 2 youngest brothers being born unassisted, I would choose to have a midwife. Even though I have complete faith in my body's ability to birth, I like having someone take care of me in labour. I like being surrounded by women and being touched lovingly. And choosing unassisted birth, or midwife attended home birth, for purely financial reasons, are the worst reasons I can think of.

 

Thank you, Brighid. Excellent post! I also like the company of other womyn when I am having a baby (even though I had C secs, but labored anyway) and I like being taken care of afterward, too. Men just aren't quite sure what to do, even if they are good guys and try, an other womyn is a comfort during and after birth.

Although oddly enough, with my last baby, I spent a lot of time alone with the baby. We didn't have the money for a post partum doula, even though I worked for a doula company, we kinda thought they might offer me one, with a discount, but it didn't happen, so it was basically Sage and me on our own. Luckily, it was my fourth and I knew what I was doing. I was in a LOT of pain, but nursing her and sleeping with her and taking care of her was sweet.

 

Im a home birthing mama~ I will help in any way I can! I also used to live in Oregon


Good luck!

 

wow!! ..that actually is awesome....what part of oregon?....and why cant you still live in oregon??..lol

 

why is it such a big deal for unassisted homebirth?,...people used to do it all the time...every baby was born at home..i love the idea of having a midwife myself but unassisted childbirth is normal...women know whats going on with their own bodies and its natural...theres really no sense in having monitors and everything else...and what kind of problems couold happen and a women wouldnt know about it with what their bodies tell them?

 

I used to live in Salem.... I used to spend alot of time in Eugene too. Im moving soon~again~ lol most likely to Idaho. But there are great Midwives in Oregon. I forgot...are you pregnant now? Oregon is a great place that supports midwives.
If you need help finding a midwife, let me know...I can get ya some contact names. I loved my homebirths and had excellent experiences. If you PM me your zip code I can do a search for midwives in your area....I just have to remember the name of that website! lol

Also~~~~ Go to Barnes and Noble or Borders and pick up an issue of Mothering magazine. It is a great resource for home birth and natural parenting and has alot of great websites in it that will also get you in touch with the right people.

 

every baby used to be born at home, but even Egyptian and Mayan heiroglyphs depict midwives attending births. Peseshet, the first known female physician in the world, ran a medical school for women, and also a midwifery school almost 4000 BC. Ancient Rome and China have written documentation of midwives attending birth. In every culture through out time, women have been attended by other, older, experienced women in labour and birth.
Dolphins midwife other dolphins during birth. Fruit bats assist labouring fruit bats during birth. Elephants midwife other elephants during birth. The great apes also have been known to step in and lend a hand during a difficult birth. Birth is normal, birth at home is normal. Human beings, like dolphins, bats, and elephants, are social creatures. In the animal kingdom, animals birth in seclusion typically to keep the male of the group from eating the newborns.

The romantic ideal of the primitive woman who goes off to squat alone in the fields is a myth. The only society I know of who without a doubt birthed unassisted were a nomadic native American tribe (who also had very few adult women). Our pioneer women who gave birth alone did so out of necessity (take a walk through an early 18th century cemetary and you'll notice Frontier Farmer Brown buried at the ripe old age of 80, next to his 5 or 6 wives, many who died in their teens or early twenties), not because it was her choice.

I truly believe birth is a social event, and us being social animals, benefit from the care and comfort of other women during birth.

There are very few complications that can arise in a healthy, well nourished pregnant woman, even less will arise in a woman who births out of the hospital. The research proves this over and over again. And most of the time, the great majority of the time, our bodies will know if something is wrong. if someone wants an unassisted birth, they have my blessings. Myself, personally, I would rather have someone there to hold my hand and rub my back.

 

I also agree...While I support unassisted birth, I only highly recommend homebirth with a midwife. Only because the power of womyn coming together during birth is huge. My husband was in awe of the power we all created together. My midwives always pampered me. Who doesn't love that? They always stayed with me however long I wanted, they did laundry, made us dinner(well pizza hut!) And I made a great friend.

Womyn have been coming together for many years to birth.... There is power and magic to be found there.

 

nope im not pregnant yet...ive always thought i would never have kids because i hate hospitals and doctors and everything else...than i discovered homebirth and the thought made me want kids....bad....and yahno i like the idea of ueason....i think personally that it is a desicion made between two people..the two people who should be there for it...but i also love the idea of midwives better because it means id have someone for support other than my fiance who would probably do nothing other than freak out...lol