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With just a month to go, Stephanie Hunt and Oliver Cossairt are busy preparing for the arrival of their first baby. And they want to make sure that arrival happens at home.

“I really do trust in my body's ability to have a baby, to do the normal process that women's bodies are good at,” says Hunt. “And it's also important to us to have a home birth with a midwife because it means a lot to me to have that relationship of trust.”

At the Hunt-Cossairt home, they've definitely prepared for almost anything, down to a posting of which positions might be best for home birth on their fridge.

But since the closure of St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan, those kind of plans have been in jeopardy for hundreds of families throughout the five boroughs.

About 600 home births attended by midwives take place in New York City each year. While midwives are licensed, a written agreement between obstetricians or hospitals saying they will back up emergencies has been required by law for them to practice. St. Vincent's was one of the few willing to provide such an agreement.

The Midwife Reform bill, passed in New York's State Assembly and now awaiting a State Senate vote, eliminates that requirement. It is a rule many found unnecessary to begin with because the practice agreements did not require emergencies wind up being handled by the doctors or hospitals that actually signed on to them.

“It seems like having a piece of paper that outlines exactly what they can do and who their back-up is seems like a safety piece that should be there, but if you actually know how these practitioners work, you know it's completely redundant,” says Elan McAllister of the group Choices in Childbirth.

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists disagrees, saying midwives need a doctor's supervision, and written agreements are needed to protect a woman's health. Other doctors say what's needed is improved collaboration, not just on behalf of midwives, but doctors, as well.

“I'm a very strong proponent of midwives. I have three, four midwives who work with me and midwives are great,” says Dr. Jacques Moritz, director of gynecology at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital. “But they need to have a physician back-up. Why? Because any delivery can end in a c-section and the midwife should have some type of agreement with a doctor to help them out. I don't like the current state of affairs where doctors and midwives are on this huge divide.”

While the new law would require midwives to verbally inform new moms about physician back-up, it will be up to both groups of working professionals to bridge that divide on their own.