Why I am glad I live in Texas

I read a lot of homebirth blogs, message boards, and stuff like that lately, since nobody I know actually understands why we would ever do this, and even reading things from others who have gone (or are going) the same route as we are, keeps me a little sane amid the silence and ignorant comments from my friends. One thing that has really become apparent to me in reading all this homebirth media is that I am so incredibly lucky to live in the state of Texas.

Because I live in Texas, I am able to find a midwife who is allowed to legally practice in this state. In many states, midwifery is only practiced "underground", which means that it is illegal, but some midwives still practice secretly so that women are not relegated to hospital births by default. In order to find a midwife in the first place, you have to know a lot of people in the area who run in very specific circles. Therefore, the odds of even finding a midwife (especially for military families in those states since we don't tend to know many locals anywhere we go) are slim to nothing. If you do find one, and she does take you on, you will worry for the entire 9 months that she doesn't get caught practicing, because if she does, she will be jailed for it, and everyone involved will be completely screwed. If you become a hospital transfer in states like that, your midwife cannot go with you, and you will have to tell the medical staff that you were having an unassisted birth, and then you will be treated like crap. One couple in Illinois even had their baby taken away. I am so thankful to live in Texas because I easily found three licensed midwives to choose from in my city alone, I know that Alyson will never be arrested for practicing, and that if I am a hospital transfer, she will go with me, and while I may be treated like crap by hospital staff (homebirth-legal does not mean homebirth-supportive, at least in this city) I won't have to tell lies that make me look like a horrible and uncaring mom. I have the legal right, as a resident of Texas, to give birth wherever I choose, and to be attended by a Certified Professional Midwife, who is licensed to practice in this state. We have it good here.

I also read about the things other homebirth moms go through, with their midwives even in some states where they have legal right to practice, being so constrained by overly medical standards, that they are pushing inductions a week past the due date, or doing hospital transfers for ridiculous reasons, just because the licensing in that state hangs in such a delicate balance that one even remotely risky thing that doesn't go perfectly at home (even though those things would play out exactly the same in a hospital) could spoil it for the masses. I'm lucky to be in Texas, where the state Midwifery Board has determined that midwives may deliver any baby they feel comfortable delivering (breech, multiples, any presentation, etc) in any setting (home or birth center). This, of course, is particularly necessary in West Texas since communities are so remote that a lot of people live 3 or 4 hours from the nearest hospital, and there really will be no time to transfer if the baby turns itself into a strange position, or if there's spontaneous labor with twins. Our West Texas midwives practice in both urban, and EXTREMELY rural settings, and because of the latter, they're able to offer a wider range of services to all of us, than they would be in any other state. I particularly love that the state of Texas will NEVER mandate that I be induced. Yes, they ask that anyone who goes beyond 42 weeks be induced, but they also offer a handy dandy little waiver that those of us who don't buy that line of crap can sign, and continue for as long as we want.

They always say Texas is one of the freest states in the country. In some ways, I disagree. When it comes to a lot of things such as gun purchases, we were much freer in Georgia. When it comes to a place to have a baby, though, you won't find better than Texas. Seeing all the flaming hoops moms in other states have to jump through, just to have their homebirths, just makes me that much more thankful to be where I am.