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So sorry, it must be so frustrating! How close are you to the tn border? I have heard of people traveling to deliver at the farm midwifery center in summertown.

@Danizaur: Ugh! I really feel you! Thankfully homebirth is legal in my state, but still we only have ONE MW that serviced our area when I was pregnant with P & she was officed over two hours away (now another MW has taken her place & she's 1.5 hrs away).

Is traveling an option? If you travel to a state where homebirth is legal then you can literally have your birth anywhere.... I wonder if you'd be able to find another mom, doula, or even a MW that would allow you to make a home away from home to birth? (I only thought of that b/c another mom in the vbacfacts group talked about how a mom from here went there to her & did that so she could get a vbac when there were absolutely no options here).

That statement from the hospital would really upset me too! Now just b/c it's clearly unsupportive of natural birth BUT b/c they just isn't true! Moms from all sorts of births have complications all. the. time. so to make it seem so easy peasy to go medicated (when that can have a whole slew of negative outcomes) is frustrating!

Have you considered maybe a doula if you *have* to stay with that hospital? That might be a decent (or atleast suitable) compromise?...

@Danizaur: Boo! I would get with the most local ICAN chater on your area or even region stat! They should be able to give you the best chance of resources for providers/doulas/etc.

And if worst comes to worst research the heck out of every common medical practice & know what, if, when, & how you'd be willing to do something! It is possible for you to get what you want in the conventional medical community but you have to know your stuff, be in unison with you DH, & stick to your guns.... It makes me think of a hospital vbac story Jen Kamel shared on her "why homebirth" page... Yea thus couple got their vbac but they had a long uphill battle while IN labor with the hospital to get it.... Definitely not the ideal situation BUT they did DH it so that tells you it CAN be done.

@Danizaur: And it should be bc that's how birth should go! The center of the birth should be the laboring mom.... Support from her team should go in to her & requests should come from HER out.... It's gets so backwards in the common medicalized birth.

AND, nothing is "mandatory". The fact is you can decline anything AND once you're there they can't refuse to treat you.... They have to treat you until "stabilized" & for a laboring mom that means a baby is born OR they would have to transfer you but that's incredible unlikely.

It really is just a matter of knowing ALL the interventions & in what cases you're okay with using them... Then YOU & your DH decide what to do.

It sucks but when you're in places where the medical community isn't very great (like where I live) you have to be ready to stand your ground.

@Danizaur: That's our primary cesarean rates as well & that doesn't include all the "mandatory" ercs we have. It's so sad that so many moms accept such horrendous care. (It's makes me really really sad)

@Danizaur: My MW almost didn't go with us to the hospital... We really had ALOT of favor with it all that she was allowed up bc a number of years ago when she transferred another mom one of the nurses who knew who she was & supported hb came & told her she had over heard the doctors talking amongst then selves & one said "any other moms she bring in here aren't leaving without a scar"... To not risk her mommas she stopped going with them!

Ugh, I feel you so.hard. right now. I posted a thread the other day about my miserable hospital tour. I live in nowhere Pennsylvania, but I'm from nowhere, Appalachia Kentucky so I completely get where you're coming from. This hospital I'm delivering at is stuck in the stone age. I hate being treated like a disaster waiting to happen instead of just someone having a baby.

I haven't even done that much research yet. Both my doctors promote vaginal, unmediated birth, if that's what the mother wants. We only have two hospitals in the area and I figure if they are promoting it then the hospitals have to be okay with it? That sucks that you aren't given much options for your birth. Hope that talking with the hospital & your Dr. gives you more incite as to what their procedures are and how flexible they are.

I don't have any advice/recommendations that others haven't already suggested, I just wanted to say I'm sorry - it has to be so incredibly frustrating to not have many options; and to know that there are options unavailable to you. Keep us posted on how your meeting with the OB goes.

@Danizaur: Ugh! I so feel for you.... It seems our medical communities in this instance are very similar.

@Danizaur: Legit, I'm from south east KY and never even knew homebirths were illegal in the state! DH and I have considered moving back down for awhile (my dad and most of my family still live there) and I've vowed with my next baby I will be having either a homebirth or at least finding a friendlier hospital. That's not going to be so easy it seems if we move back. Greeeeat.

@Danizaur: Small world! My husband is from Inez! A lot of home births happen in your area of the state precisely because of the lack of options when it comes to birthing. I would prefer to home birth, but my husband wasn't keen on it because we live in the city (he's like me and can't believe that it's illegal). My doula friend recently had a home birth in Clark County and she attends a lot of them. Definitely keep me updated, and when I see her in a few weeks I'll ask about doulas in that area.