Compromise... finally

Wednesday morning I got up at 6 a.m., showered & got myself ready, ate breakfast, got Blondie & Kitty up and dressed and was out of the door by 7 a.m. We made it to the Capitol & parked around 7:35 and got to the committee meeting room around 7:40. I was surprised when we walked in the room that none of the midwives were there and the bill sponsor was not there either. Usually all of the major players are there in the room before I get there. About 10 minutes to 8:00 some of the House staff came into the room to get set up for the meeting and were surprised to find the room half full already. I heard one of the staff comment that usually there is no one in the room when she arrives and very few people there even when the meeting starts. From what I could tell the majority of people were midwife supporters, but still no midwives. By 8 a.m. most of the committee members were there and the chair spoke and said that he had just been informed that the UMA and LDEMs were in the middle of discussions to come up with a compromise bill to present to the committee. He said that they would wait for about 10-15 minutes for them to show up. So we sat around and waited for about 15 minutes and then the chair decided to bring the committee to order to discuss what to do. Someone got on the phone with someone from the negotiations and was told that it would take about 15-20 minutes to get the new substitute typed & printed up. So the committee decided to "saunter" until about 8:30 at which time there would hopefully be a bill to discuss.

At around 8:25 the midwives walked in and a few minutes later I recognized some of the UMA representatives. They then passed around a new substitute version of the bill and both sides testified to the committee that it was truly a compromise bill that both sides agreed to and that they would not present any more legislation on the issue until the trial period to gather statistics was over in the year 2011.

Overall I think that it is a good bill and definitely the best one that we have seen so far (that the UMA agrees to). The bill does not change anything for unlicensed midwives, but it does limit somewhat the scope of practice for licensed midwives (LDEMs). It looks like expectant moms can see an LDEM if she has had a previous C-section (VBAC) if she signs a waiver. The bill does not allow women to see an LDEM if they are expecting twins or if the baby is in the breech position at birth. That is how I understand the bill. I could tell that there were several doctors in the room who were NOT happy to see the section about VBACs in there. The truth is that there is a less than 1% risk of uterine rupture in a VBAC case and I think that women should have the right to choose their risks - either a VBAC at home or most likely a repeat C-section in the hospital - neither of which is going to be risk-free.

Now the goal is to have it pass out of the House and then back to the Senate for concurrence. Hopefully this is the end of it for at least 3 more years (at which time I will most likely be finished having kids). :0)