Twin homebirth midwife recommendation

Anonymous
I had twins, very complicated pregnancy, c/s, etc., but I have heard that Tammi with Northern Virginia Midwifery has delivered twins at home. If you go to her site below and click on Women Speak there is a story from a twin mom.

http://novamidwife.org/
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am all for midwives and can understand the appeal of home births. But giving birth to twins is a complicated situation and there is a lot that can go wrong very quickly. Even if both twins start out head down, the second twins can change direction after the first has been delivered. That is part of why most (or maybe all) hospitals have you give birth to twins in an OR. it pains me to write this because I too had my heart set on natural childbirth with a midwife. But once I found out I was having twins, I had to throw those plans out the window.


There are many women both in the DC Metro area and throughout the country who have safe, healthy, twin homebirths. It is a safe choice for some women.


The point is that you will never know in advance whether it is safe for you. Sure you can say that about any birth, but with twins the likelihood that intervention will be needed for mom or one or both babies is so much higher that I can't understand risking it.
Signed, mother of two (singletons) born after drug free natural labors


Yes, but how do you know that this is true? Have you talked to a midwife who delivers twins at home? My guess is that you are basing your information on the experience that some people who know have had during hospital deliveries of twins. Things can be very different at homebirth - oftentimes easier and less interventive, even for twins.


17:04 CNM here again:

The thing is, the main risk inherent in a twin delivery is present REGARDLESS of where you give birth. That risk being that the second baby cannot engage in the pelvis until the birth of the one before and so the risk of cord prolapse is significantly higher with twins than with a singleton birth (where it is an exceedingly rare event). The risk of malpresentation (breech, face, arm, etc) is also MUCH higher as baby b goes from floating high in the uterus to engaged within a matter of minutes. In addition placental issues (such as partial abruption) are also more common during multiple births. Postpartum hemorrhage is also significantly more common with twin and higher multiple births.



Anonymous
This mama asked a simple question about which midwives catch twins at home. She didn't ask for a debate about the safety of twin homebirth and I imagine she's thought quite a lot already about where she believes the safest place is to have her babies. Her reasoning and choice is really not our business.

To the OP -- if you're not a member already, I'd join and post your question on the Birth Options Alliance listserv. There are CPMs in this area who do attend twin home births and probably someone on that list can assist you. And members on that list would most likely be much more accepting of your choice than some of the mamas on here

You can join the Birth Options Alliance listserv at www.birthoptionsalliance.org

Good luck to you! My friend had twins at home earlier this year (she had started off pregnant here and was seeing a CPM, then moved to north carolina and hired another midwife there). In her case, everything went smoothly and great.


Anonymous
I'm a CPM and have done twin births at home. I'd be happy to speak with someone expecting twins and wanting to birth at home.

Blessings,

Kim Pekin, CPM
240.422.3889
kim@birthbydesign.org
www.birthbydesign.org
Anonymous
OP, you would get the most complete and accurate answer from one of these people:

For DC/Maryland: Suzanne McGowan justbirth@gmail.com

For central Maryland: Jessica Groves NaturalBirths@aol.com

For northern Virginia: Tammi McKinley www.novamidwife.org (http://www.novahomebirth.org/)
Anonymous
OP not to take this in another direction but I'm curious, are you looking for a home birth to increase the odds of having a natural birth or do you really want to give birth in your home? I ask because I know several people who are really struggling with the decision. Ideally, they would like to give birth with a mid-wife in a hospital the way things were 10 years ago without all the unnecessary interventions or super high c-section rate. They feel home birth is their only option but worry about the what if situation.

I think as more hospitals take the non-evidence based interventions farther and farther more women are getting pushed out of the system. Some ob/gyns will now not even consider trying for a natural birth with twins and will only so a scheduled c-section which seems crazy.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am all for midwives and can understand the appeal of home births. But giving birth to twins is a complicated situation and there is a lot that can go wrong very quickly. Even if both twins start out head down, the second twins can change direction after the first has been delivered. That is part of why most (or maybe all) hospitals have you give birth to twins in an OR. it pains me to write this because I too had my heart set on natural childbirth with a midwife. But once I found out I was having twins, I had to throw those plans out the window.


There are many women both in the DC Metro area and throughout the country who have safe, healthy, twin homebirths. It is a safe choice for some women.


The point is that you will never know in advance whether it is safe for you. Sure you can say that about any birth, but with twins the likelihood that intervention will be needed for mom or one or both babies is so much higher that I can't understand risking it.
Signed, mother of two (singletons) born after drug free natural labors


Yes, but how do you know that this is true? Have you talked to a midwife who delivers twins at home? My guess is that you are basing your information on the experience that some people who know have had during hospital deliveries of twins. Things can be very different at homebirth - oftentimes easier and less interventive, even for twins.


17:04 CNM here again:

The thing is, the main risk inherent in a twin delivery is present REGARDLESS of where you give birth. That risk being that the second baby cannot engage in the pelvis until the birth of the one before and so the risk of cord prolapse is significantly higher with twins than with a singleton birth (where it is an exceedingly rare event). The risk of malpresentation (breech, face, arm, etc) is also MUCH higher as baby b goes from floating high in the uterus to engaged within a matter of minutes. In addition placental issues (such as partial abruption) are also more common during multiple births. Postpartum hemorrhage is also significantly more common with twin and higher multiple births.





I really respect your opinion and your training, but I am curious if you have ever spent some time discussing these things with a CPM who has attended many twin homebirths?

My understanding is that the training, background and hands-on experience can be extremely different between a CNM and a CPM.
Anonymous
Twin mom here. While I completely respect OP's desire to give birth to her twins at home, one must keep in mind that many twins are born prematurely -- in which case they'd require additional medical attention immediately after birth. How would this be handled by a CNM or CPM? Any professional input is appreciated.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I had twins, very complicated pregnancy, c/s, etc., but I have heard that Tammi with Northern Virginia Midwifery has delivered twins at home. If you go to her site below and click on Women Speak there is a story from a twin mom.

http://novamidwife.org/


Did anyone else read this story? This woman was originally planning to do a twin birth at home UNASSISTED. Her solution to a potential hemorrhage? Pitocin over the internet. Oh, and her husband was "really nervous" about all of this. But she was going to do it anyway.

Yikes.

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I had twins, very complicated pregnancy, c/s, etc., but I have heard that Tammi with Northern Virginia Midwifery has delivered twins at home. If you go to her site below and click on Women Speak there is a story from a twin mom.

http://novamidwife.org/


Did anyone else read this story? This woman was originally planning to do a twin birth at home UNASSISTED. Her solution to a potential hemorrhage? Pitocin over the internet. Oh, and her husband was "really nervous" about all of this. But she was going to do it anyway.

Yikes.



I am original poster and agree WOW...just WOW, but the OP didn't ask my opinion on homebirthing twins, so I'm just providing her the info she asked for.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Twin mom here. While I completely respect OP's desire to give birth to her twins at home, one must keep in mind that many twins are born prematurely -- in which case they'd require additional medical attention immediately after birth. How would this be handled by a CNM or CPM? Any professional input is appreciated.


Singleton or multiple, CNMs and CPS will only deliver full term babies (37 weeks is usually the cutoff). If the mom goes into premature labor, she is sent to the hospital.

I had a home birth last year and was practically counting down until I hit 37 weeks in order to have my homebirth.
Anonymous
14:12 here. OP, I meant to suggest contacting Evelyn in MD. She's a CNM homebirth midwife. Don't know what her policy on twin births is. I believe she has/had hospital priveleges at Mercy.

FYI, Mothering.com forums would be a much better place of support for what you want. DCUM has more moms who follow conventional thought, so you are bound to get alot of homebirth nightmare stories in response to your question.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Twin mom here. While I completely respect OP's desire to give birth to her twins at home, one must keep in mind that many twins are born prematurely -- in which case they'd require additional medical attention immediately after birth. How would this be handled by a CNM or CPM? Any professional input is appreciated.


Singleton or multiple, CNMs and CPS will only deliver full term babies (37 weeks is usually the cutoff). If the mom goes into premature labor, she is sent to the hospital.

I had a home birth last year and was practically counting down until I hit 37 weeks in order to have my homebirth.



Which is yet another reason why you need to think LONG and hard about having a twin home birth with a midwife, especially in Maryland where the only providers doing home twin births are CPMs (otherwise known as LAY midwives). These midwives DO NOT have collaborative arrangements with OBs unlike CNMs because they're practicing ILLEGALLY to begin with. So, if you're a patient of a CPM and have issues with premature labor (which happens not infrequently with twin pregnancies) you are stuck going to the ER for care and being seen by whatever provider is on call for OB that day. Not an arrangement I'd be comfortable with at all because you have NO idea who you're going to get. And I can guarantee that the ob/midwife (especially OB) who is on call is NOT going to be thrilled to see you as they'll certainly think you're nuts for attempting an out-of-hospital twin birth.
Anonymous
If I was having twins in Maryland, I'd hire Karen Karr. She's well known for her expertise in twins births.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Twin mom here. While I completely respect OP's desire to give birth to her twins at home, one must keep in mind that many twins are born prematurely -- in which case they'd require additional medical attention immediately after birth. How would this be handled by a CNM or CPM? Any professional input is appreciated.


Singleton or multiple, CNMs and CPS will only deliver full term babies (37 weeks is usually the cutoff). If the mom goes into premature labor, she is sent to the hospital.

I had a home birth last year and was practically counting down until I hit 37 weeks in order to have my homebirth.



Which is yet another reason why you need to think LONG and hard about having a twin home birth with a midwife, especially in Maryland where the only providers doing home twin births are CPMs (otherwise known as LAY midwives). These midwives DO NOT have collaborative arrangements with OBs unlike CNMs because they're practicing ILLEGALLY to begin with. So, if you're a patient of a CPM and have issues with premature labor (which happens not infrequently with twin pregnancies) you are stuck going to the ER for care and being seen by whatever provider is on call for OB that day. Not an arrangement I'd be comfortable with at all because you have NO idea who you're going to get. And I can guarantee that the ob/midwife (especially OB) who is on call is NOT going to be thrilled to see you as they'll certainly think you're nuts for attempting an out-of-hospital twin birth.


Your post is full of misinformation and scare tactics.

Let's say this one more time so the whole class can hear: before you decide that you "know" how anyone would handle a twin homebirth, you should spend some time actually interviewing a midwife who provides such services. End of lesson.

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