Birth certificates are issued by the state and/or county of birth, not by the hospital. Before you leave the hospital, the birth registrar gives you all the paperwork required to obtain a "certified copy" of the official birth certificate which must be submitted to the Department of Health in Austin, Texas or your County Clerk's office. The certificate given to you by the hospital is more of a birth record momento (sometimes with foot prints) to put in your baby book. You can print/mail/fax requests for birth certificates at http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/vs/default.shtm Vanessa I don't know why they don't give out the authenic > certificates at the time of birth anymore. > Good luck...... > Carol > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com