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My first birth I went the traditional Nebraskan route. I had an OBGYN, was induced, had an emergency C-section. When I decided I wanted a different route for my second, I was told I could only birth in the hospital, because of my past C-section. Not even considering the cause or why I was induced in the first place (boiled down to poor eating habits that I didn’t know any better until later).
Hospital birth was not an option for me. Just going through a tour of the Labor and Delivery ward set me into an anxiety attack (I had only had 1 other attack in my 26 years on this earth). The only birth center in Nebraska wouldn’t accept me. So what did I do? I defied the doctors and birthed at home. I was fortunate to find a lay midwife who was willing to help me and I am glad she was there. She was wise enough to let me be, but knew when she needed to step in and help.
Unfortunately many women are not that lucky. It is becoming more difficult to find midwives willing to risk their career, and sometimes lives, to help women birth at home. Leaving many women with the option of hospital, or going solo at home. The argument is always birth is safer in the hospitals! But the date really shows otherwise (that's a topic for another day). Why are women not able to choose who and how they give birth?
Much of it revolves around policy, laws, and unfortunately the dollar. When birth moved to the hospital in the 20th century, it did not take long for hospital boards to realize how much money can be made in birth. As of December 2019, the Business Insider found that the average cost to have a child in the United states was $10,808 without complications during delivery. If you factor in the care provided before and after, it can increase to $30,000. No wonder hospital boards want women in the hospital care system for birth! They have enough pressure and pull between them and insurance companies to sway the political politics governing health care, and birth workers.
So what can you do? Look up the laws in your state. In Nebraska, home birth itself is not illegal. Having a certified medical practitioner there is. Talk to you state representatives, tell them how you feel and bring them data on how birth is safe at home.
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