Over the past two weeks or so many women have found themselves questioning the wisdom of going into a busy hospital where the sickest among us are congregating in order to deliver their baby. We're being told to avoid gathering in large groups, so those who were already hesitant about going to the hospital have started researching midwifery options in Alabama.
Yes! Midwifery and homebirth is legal in Alabama, and there is likely a CPM (Certified Professional Midwife) serving your area. She is trained to monitor a pregnancy through prenatal visits, labor, and postpartum visits. If there are problems that make a hospital birth safer, she will advise you to have your baby there. However, if you are low-risk she can take care of you and your baby at home with less interventions in the process than you would have at the hospital while avoiding viruses and bacteria foreign to your family.
The best place to start would be here, the Alabama Midwives Alliance website. You can contact a midwife serving your area up an interview. I have to add a small plug here for the midwife I apprentice with, Rebekah Myrick, because we now have the option of doing prenatal visits here at A Nurturing Moment in Huntsville! Find her information on her website.
Other options would be to give birth across the border in Tennessee if you don't like the idea of birthing in your own home. Midwives there have done that before, and would be able to give you guidance on how to do that. The website for the Tennessee Midwives Association can give you the contact information.