According to Texas Watch, when they found out about their pregnancy, Tina and Frank Comstive of Houston, Texas, decided on a home birth using a midwife.
The Comstives found out about Tina’s pregnancy just shortly after the loss of Tina’s 58 year old mother to cancer, overshadowing the joy of their pregnancy.
Many women today decide that hiring a midwife and having their babies at home is an ideal solution for whatever issues may be affecting them at the time, whether it be to save money over a hospital birth or, such as the Comstives’ case: a lack of maternity insurance.
One night in May 2010, Tina woke to use the restroom. For most women, a late-night trip to the bathroom is nothing unusual, but the tables turned for Tina when she discovered blood. Her midwife arrived within half an hour afterwards.
Tina’s midwife decided that it was safe for Tina to continue to give birth at home. Unfortunately, her husband would end up bringing his wife into the hospital just a few hours later. The Comstives’ son, Sam, suffered from a brain injury.
In Texas, “midwives operate under a state of the art gold standard.” This means that “there is full disclosure with the mother [during] orientation regarding many issues including no insurance coverage.” In short, the mother will have to assume full responsibility if anything were to go wrong.
Though the Comstives continue to support home birthing, they are seeking a change in the law regarding midwives, which would require them to have liability insurance. Though this law would not help in the case of their twins, they home the change would help future children and their families.
