birth certificate vent

[Marmalade]

I had a home birth and I am having the hardest time getting Jaden's birth certificate done. I figured I would go down to the county building and register her the week she was born. So my midwife said she'd fax in the stuff. It took her 3 days to do it. Fine. So after she faxed it I called the lady who does birth certificates. "call back after thanksgiving." Ok. So I called, and she said she'd call me back. Three days later same thing happens. Well a month later, 5 phone calls with promises of returning my call go by. Call again and someone tells me I have to fill out paperwork (my midwife already did this!) and they'll send it to me. Ok. Fill it out. Call in to get an appointment. "Do you want to leave a message?" NO! I've left like 10 messages and she doesn't return them. So the girl said she would personally give it to the lady. So the lady finally returns my call. The earliest appointment I can get is the end of February. Ughhh!!!! I've been waiting on the birth certificate so I can get her medical insurance through the state program! My insurance doesn't cover her anymore.

Why did I think that a COUNTY employee would be able to get me an appointment to make a birth certificate within 2 weeks of the birth??? Because I was naive. I should have realized "government employee." I'm done venting now.

[smileyface]

I just wanted to acknowledge your frustrations!!! (((hugs)))
I hate when the system just doesn't work smoothly, no matter how hard you try to be polite!!! Good luck.

[karin]

I feel your pain. I didn't have any problems getting the certificate, but getting her on the insurance was another story. The company my dh worked for (a very large company) had never seen a homebirth baby before!

[jennmomof1]

I am really suprised your midwife doesn't do the paper work. Mine does. Plus I am really suprised they are giving you a hard time. I feel for you. I took us 2 months to get our cert. Then they made an error on it and we had to get a new one.

[teachinmama]

I've been having a hard time w/ ours too. Mainly b/c my mw didn't get the paperwork done. I told her SEVERAL times...we HAVE to get this done b/c we HAVE to get a SSN for her for taxes!!!! I finally called the vital records dept and spoke to a lady. Apparently my mw does NOT have a good repuation there! This lady said, when I told her who my mw was, "oooooh...yea. We have problems with her. *laughing* Next time you have a homebirth, get a different midwife!"

Finally when I called my mw and told her that we would just take care of it (this lady I spoke to was going to help me), she called me and said she had it ready. I'm just praying she mailed it. *sigh* It's on my To Do list to call her and find out..lol

Get this....I saw the mw that delivered my dd (it's her apprentince) at church Friday night. We were talking about a few things regarding the mw and I asked if she knew if my cert. form got mailed. She said she didn't know. Then she said they had a staff meeting and she helped get some cert's finished. They had to call a lady who delivered LAST FEBRUARY (!!!!!!!!!) and the mw still hadn't filed the cert!!! I was appalled.

Not sure I'll be using this mw if we have another baby....

[TCmommy]

My home birthed son turnded two yesterday, and we still don't have a birth certificate for him. We have been trying to file a delayed record, but I don't seem to have enough proof for them. I can't really prove my pregnancy or when and where he was born. I had a midwife who was suposed to file the paperwork, but somehow things got messed up. I have been trying to get my records from her for the past year and a half, but for some reason, she does not want to return my calls, and we have since moved out of town. I had such a wonderful birth experience, but all this mess has really made me think twice about having another home birth. If anyone has any ideas on how to get a delayed record I would appreciate it.

[TCmommy]

Unfortunately I really don't have any of that. We had such an easy pregnancy, there was no need to go to a Dr. I was not able to file him on my taxes since we didn't have a social security number for him. I was hoping to be able to do it this year, but since I have still not made any progress, I guess it is not going to happen. I just wish my midwife would call me back. Oh well. I will just have to keep trying

[elyssia]

it's just a pain in the butt
when my 1st daughter was born 7 yrs. ago
the law at the time was that it had to be done
w/in 72 hrs.
and i really didn't want to get out of bed
it was february
we had to bring her w/ us to the appt.
but it was easy
my midwife didn't have to file anything

w/ the 2nd daughter, born in '01
there is no time restriction
i called for an appt. and they gave me one
3 mos. into the future
but again, my midwife didn't have to file anything
i just had to bring the baby, my and my husband's id

getting ss# isn't too hard in indiana either