In Maryland, if you want your home birth attended by a midwife who is not also licensed as nurse, you first need to find a brave soul and then pretend to anyone official that you are having your baby unassisted. If a complication arises in labor and you need to transfer to a hospital, your midwife becomes your “aunt” or ducks out entirely.
Those days may be numbered, now that the state Senate has unanimously approved a bill that would allow certified professional midwives to attend home births (following the unanimous approval in the House of Delegates of a similar bill).
The Baltimore Sun reports that the bill gained traction after home-birth advocates compromised on the issue of VBACs (“vaginal birth after Caesarean”), agreeing to table the question of whether midwives should be allowed to attend such births at home. A report on the safety of the practice will be delivered to the General Assembly at a later date.
