Home Birth: Falling Through the Cracks

We recently welcomed another kiddo to the family. 4 weeks ago I did not foresee the problems I would be having today. Like most moms who have "been there done that" I had all my "i's" dotted and "t's" crossed... or so I thought.

In preparation for the home birth I made sure our little guy would still be able to have the same routine tests any newborn in the hospital would be allowed. I made sure our little guy would get the genetic screening "heel prick" test, his hearing screening, and the vitamin K shot. I also, spent hours making sure our pediatrician would take this new bundle of joy once he was born.

Little did I know everything would fall apart.

All those little tests I was told would be available are still available but he hoops I have had to jump through are ridiculous. For his hearing test I have to have a referral. For the vitamin K we had to get a prescription. The heel prick was another referral. To get any referral I had to get this kid into the doctor ASAP.

His doctor's office, who assured me they would take him, refused to take him until I could provide proof of insurance. I had to get our regular doctor there to force the issue and "sneak" him in. Luckily that only had to be done once and after the initial appointment he can now be seen whenever. Hooray for a great midwife who kept his newborn, 1 week, and 2 week appointments while we were fighting to get him in!

After we saw our pediatrician he started writing the orders for everything else and we had a vitamin K at 3 weeks and heel prick at 2. I glad we got the vitamin K even though it wasn't immediate; it took a long time for his heel to stop bleeding after they did the heel prick test!

Currently we're waiting on one last referral for a routine newborn hearing screening and then we can finally breathe!

It's just so hard to imagine why this is so difficult to have done. All these tests are routine at any hospital or birthing center. Why then is it so hard to get them just because a baby was born at home? Why doesn't the state have some sort of provision for home birthed kiddos to get this done at the local Department of Health? It shouldn't be this difficult to get state requested testing done. In many states this is all routine anyway but I guess these special babies who were born in the comforts of home will just keep slipping through the cracks.

Stay green,
Yasha