In Indiana breathing mold is okay but home birth is not, just an FYI.

Posted on Dec 19 in 2008 pregnancy, Life in Evansville, home birth advocacy, personal stories, pictures say 1000 wordsby TalinaPrint

Yeah I know the title seems kind of odd huh? I have been tying all sorts of weird things together these days like posts about a ladies hoo-hoo’s and mold. This is just the way my brain is working these days… Hopefully it is mildly entertaining for you cause this mold thing is making me beyond pissy! This is a pissy post by the way.

Yeah, so in Indiana having a baby in your home with certain midwives is bad news but you can be exposed to any level of mold spores by your landlord because there are no defined limits on mold here! Nice huh?

Yep, I found out that there is no regulation on mold growth here. We talked to the Indiana department of health about it today. Really just goes to prove how much the laws truly protect us.

DEM (direct entry midwives) and CPM (certified professional midwives) are not able to legally practice in Indiana simply because their training did not include licensed nursing. They are thoroughly trained and know their trade but they are considered unlawful by the state, the reasoning is that law is “protecting us”.

Yet mold safety limits are not set in Indiana and the presence of mold is not a health department or code enforcement issue (we’ve called both organizations) here despite the CDC’s statements that “If you can see or smell mold, a health risk may be present.” and that all forms of mold are bad and should be removed. Where is our law that protects now? *scratches head*

Oh and our landlords did allow that certified letter and rent check we sent to get returned to us. The post office held the letter and left them notice to come pick it up, the letter waited for for 18 days but the landlords just couldn’t be bothered with it… So now we are waiting for it to appear back in our mailbox so we can determine what to do now. Good thing we wasted like $5.00 to send it. I am just so damn mad about all this rental drama today!

Thanks for all your well wishes. Yesterday I was feeling a bit better but today I am back to feeling like a cold is coming on. We have our air ducts in the bedroom closed off and I have a humidifier with vicks vapor stuff in it that makes my breathing less painful but my head still aches and so does my body (like I am running a fever).

It is confirmed, I am breathing in mold while in the house, the mold tests are beginning to show mold growth on them so that proves it. Now we just need to see if the mold presence on the indoor tests proves to be more that the control test we were instructed to run outdoors. The tests have another day to incubate.

If there is more mold in the house than there is in the air outside that is considered bad news. I am certain the air quality is impacting our health and the health of the pets since we are all having respiratory issues.

Here is what those petri dishes are looking like today:

This first photo is of the outdoor air sample, the control test that determines what amount of mold growth is normally in the air surrounding the house. Click on the image for a larger view.

The next photo is of the basement test. This one was placed on the floor near the area that water seeped under the bar and in to the tiled area of the basement. Click on the image for a larger view.

So far it looks like more mold was present in the basement air test that in the outdoor air test. Just to be sure we did a second basement test today and N is also planning to run a HVAC mold test to sample the quality of the air from our heater and AC unit.

Honestly I am at a loss as to what the next step is. I do not have the physical or emotional strength to move right now nor do I think I will throughout the course of this pregnancy.

I know we are going to have to either way as our lease expires before I am due. Obviously we don’t want to remain in a home that has moldy air while I am pregnant and I am certain we can get out of the lease if we want to despite the lack of mold regulations in the state…

We are looking for a place to buy right now because quite frankly we do not want to be moving every year for the next 3 years while we are here for N’s job, especially with a child. But buying a home is also something you don’t just rush in to. If we rushed we might end up owning a dump that also has mold issues except we would own it and have to spend a ton fixing the issue.

I am just exhaused and can’t find a solution. In a perfect world we would already own a home, I would be decorating the baby’s nursury, things would be calm and I wouldn’t face heath risks as a result of my home’s air quality… Reality has presented me with the exact opposite of perfection and we’ll just have to find a way to make it work, as usual. That just pisses me off today, I am going to eat a corndog now.

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7 Comments

• Memarie Lane says:

  December 19, 2008 at 5:34 pm

  fyi it is much easier to pack and move and unpack when you’re pregnant than when you’ve got a baby or kids to deal with. i’ve done it both ways.

  Memarie Lanes last blog post..The Yule Log Air Freshener
• Lori says:

  December 19, 2008 at 6:34 pm

  I agree with Memarie Lanes,, granted it is still easier said than done but as the pregnancy progresses you will want to do it less and less. Your situation doesn’t seem to give you much choice, and your right, rushing into buying a home is a bad idea! I wish I had some magical answer for the mess your in between the mold and the mid-wives! If you do rent again, at least you can illimate 30+ houses that the landlords also own, that should help narrow the search down,, lol.

  Loris last blog post..A Good Dump (of snow that is!)
• Becky says:

  December 19, 2008 at 7:32 pm

  I agree with MemarieLane and Lori. This is a crappy situation that you are in and it really sucks that there is no clear cut answer or solution to this. So, I’m just going to send you hugs and tell you to hang in there:)

  Beckys last blog post..Dashing Through the Snow
• Momisodes says:

  December 19, 2008 at 9:43 pm

  Wow. That mold is scary. I am so sorry. My heart goes out to you. Moving sucks…any way you put it. Any chance you guys can invest in some air purifiers? We had to do that while i was pregnant. We were doing quite a bit of renovating, and I was terrified of all of the dust and fumes.

  Momisodess last blog post..Crouching Rodent, Hidden Santa
• Hyphen Mama says:

  December 19, 2008 at 11:49 pm

  Oh, what a tough situation. I hope it works out. You’re going to send those mold kits off for more analysis, right?

  Sending you {{HUGS}}. I know this is hard on you.

  Hyphen Mamas last blog post..Fair ‘n Square
• Talina says:

  December 19, 2008 at 11:58 pm

  Momisodes » Never thought about the purifiers We will look in to that for sure! Thanks.

Trackbacks / Pingbacks

• Still trying to find somewhere near southern Indiana to deliver my baby… at Harvest of Daily Life says:

  December 31, 2008 at 6:02 pm

  [...] This reminds me of how we felt discovering that same sex domestic partnerships are recognized here but not male/ female domestic partnerships and how mold is lawful here but not home birth. [...]