Workarounds

It was Christmas Eve when we got the lab results showing Ethan’s blood type was B positive. I just wanted to stay home with him, but I needed RhoGAM. Instead of enjoying Christmas with my baby, I had to drive an hour and sit in the hospital with my newborn to wait to get something my midwife could have given me at home. Ridiculous." —Sarah H., Home Birth Parent

Imagine giving birth and then having to put your newborn in a car seat and travel 2 hours to a hospital that has maternity care services. After a beautiful home birth, who would want to take their baby out to a hospital just to receive a vitamin K injection, get the erythromycin eye ointment, or get a RhoGAM injection? Why should families have to expose their new baby to COVID, influenza, or any other easily transmissible disease that may be present in the Emergency Department at the hospital? Families should be staying home and bonding with their new baby.

"Nobody wants to go to the hospital, especially in the time of COVID. My practice volume has nearly doubled since the pandemic began. It infuriates me to no end that we can’t administer the medications we’re trained to use. It’s like the legislature said “Sure, you can practice, but you have to do it with your hands tied behind your back,” when they passed our law in 2005. It’s time to fix this." — Virginia Licensed Midwife

Families must jump through numerous hoops to gain access to the medications that make their birth safer. Some have to drive over two hours to see a physician who would be willing to prescribe medications. Some have to go to the hospital within 2 hours of their baby’s birth so that their baby can receive a potentially life-saving vitamin K injection or erythromycin eye ointment that can prevent permanent blindness due to common sexually transmitted infections. Some people must choose between having to endure the pain of being sutured without the use of proper injectable local anesthetic or risking permanent damage to their body by not having those lacerations repaired properly. Some must self-administer prescribed medications, while their Licensed Midwife stands by, unable to assist them due to an outdated law.