April HBers - Check in here! - Page 17

[emmaegbert]

Yeah an uncomplicated vaginal birth with a less than 24-hour stay and NO medical interventions is around 10K here. I would be covered 100% though except for $15 copay for each office visit and the $200 deductible for the year that I already used for something else anyway. Instead my HB is around 4K and I will get covered at either 60% or 80% (if I can convince for an in-network exception, which I'll try for). I'm okay with it (obviously). Its worth it to me. I'm actually feeling fairly lucky that in CA they have to at least cover it at all!

I haven't had the baby. Sigh. Am going to take a long walk tonight and have a date with DH, since I might not get to do that for a while (mom is here). I have had some intermittent painful contractions (like one woke me up in the night...) but nothing regular yet.

I have all my supplies, had my home visit, tried out the pool, mom got here, I even baked the layers for the baby's "birthday cake" and put them in the freezer. So, we're as ready as we can be.

Good luck mommas! Can't wait to hear about your HBs.

[Latenightanarchy]

OMG! I was reading back to some of the posts I missed and I saw the one about supplies and stuff and all I can say is I'm going to try to post some links to stuff that are AMAZING. I have my birth kit, baby clothes, towels etc all ready. I use cloth pads but if you just get like 3-5 of THESE, they are AWESOME! It does have a chemical inside -twist or squeeze it to activate, so gotta keep away from littles, but if you alter them with cloth over the first 24 hours and just use one every 4 hours or so, the swelling and soreness are about 1/2 as without (I know from experience!) My MW looked at me sideways when I showed her, and she said something about wanting to avoid unnatural stuff and I just said, I know but I just need these. And you don't wear them constantly. Just a few as a cold compress/pad. They are really very very nice.

Also, I am getting a nice diaper bag custom made from Etsy and can let everyone know how that is when I get it. Also my mama pads were from Etsy as well and I'm really satisfied with them - I haven't used them yet for PP obviously but tested them with water and they could hold what I considered a pretty good amount, they are good quality. Here's the link to that seller: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5130820

I also bought washable chux pads (which are great too with a cosleeping CD baby!!!) so I do not have to worry tooooo much about if my pad leaks in the first few days.

Hope this can help someone!

[simplymother]

dawncayden, Congratulations! Sounds like a wonderful birth! I'm glad you are both doing well.

-Kate

[acp]

Just wanted to update with my birth story - it was a successful home birth (my second natural birth, first one at home) and there were a few reasons I ended up being really glad I did it this way.

The main one is that I developed a very slow leak in my waters a couple days before my due date, and labor didn't start. Even at my old (hospital) midwife practice, which was pretty laid back, I know they would have had me come in for an induction after 24 hours. My home birth midwives were fine with waiting - just checked every day to make sure baby was still good, had me take it easy, stay home, etc.
Three days after the leak started, I finally went into labor. It initially didn't progress fast at all (2 cm when mw arrived, still 2 cm over 2 hours of VERy painful contractions later), but then they suggested leaving me and DH alone and having him help with nipple stimulation - immediately the contractions got longer and more intense, and in about an hour and a half I had gone from 2 to 9 cm, and was pretty much ready to start pushing.
I pushed in a variety of positions (I labored in my big tub, but we hadn't gotten a birthing tub), and DS was making progress, though somewhat slowly. My water finally broke for real near the end of pushing, and there was meconium in it. My midwives instantly switched into a more intense gear, and told DH he wouldn't be doing the catching - they were totally calm and not nervous about things at all, but I could tell they wanted the baby out, and they helped me find an even more effective position.
A few minutes after that his heart tones were going down a bit, and it was clear the cord was wrapped around his neck and pinched - which is almost certainly what caused the mec. I was getting his head out at that point, but his shoulder was stuck, and my midwife reached up and dislodged it easily. He was totally healthy, and had apgar scores of 8 and 9.
Despite his size - 9 lbs 10 oz - and huge head (over 38 cm!), and the fact that my midwife had to reach in to free the shoulder, I didn't tear at all.

Honestly, I think if I'd been at a more traditional practice at a hospital, they would have induced me with pitocin and then AROM soon after I developed the leak, and that might very well have aggravated the situation with the cord around his neck and led to more interventions and likely a c-section. Despite the few tense minutes, I always felt like my midwives were perfectly in control, and they were SO competent, and worked with me to get him out in the way we needed to.

Plus, it was just really nice to finish and be in my own bed, in my own room, able to snuggle my son between DH and me, rather than being in a strange hospital room with lots of disruptions.
Like last time, it was a hard, painful birth that pushed me at times to the limits of what I could bear, but I woudln't do it differently for any reason, and am so glad he was able to come into the world the way I wanted him to.

A great first homebirth experience...

[acp]

Originally Posted by emmaegbert

Yeah an uncomplicated vaginal birth with a less than 24-hour stay and NO medical interventions is around 10K here. I would be covered 100% though except for $15 copay for each office visit and the $200 deductible for the year that I already used for something else anyway. Instead my HB is around 4K and I will get covered at either 60% or 80% (if I can convince for an in-network exception, which I'll try for). I'm okay with it (obviously). Its worth it to me. I'm actually feeling fairly lucky that in CA they have to at least cover it at all!

This is virtually the same for me, except that I'm still not sure if my insurance will even cover it at all (they claim they don't cover home births... I'm hoping my mw can get around it. At the least they need to cover prenatal and postpartum). Makes me so mad that I'm saving them SO much money, and yet it will be significantly more expensive for me in the end.

[Peony]

We have private insurance so no maternity coverage, all of my births have been out of pocket. DD1 was a hospital birth, the rest have been home births. The hospital fee in my area is either 8 or 9K, I can't remember which now. The MW, testing, everything is separate. This birth is an complete bargain for us. I'm not doing prenatals, just paying 2K for the MW to attend the birth if I want her to. That would include Rhogam if I want it, and several after appointments as well.



And ACP, great birth story! CONGRATS!! :

[emmaegbert]

ACP, thank you for sharing your birth story

[Azreial]

awesome birth story acp. Thank you for sharing

[emmaegbert]

Oh, I know its getting awfully late as April is halfway over and our births are all planned or have already happened... but I just borrowed "welcome with love" from our MW to read to my 4yo son and HE LOVES IT. Absolutely identified with the main character (its told from the POV of the older brother). He's been quoting from the book, it just seems to have really clicked for him. So... we decided to order it for him-- even though it might not get here before baby (who knows), but figuring he may want to read it afterwards as well, and share it with his sibling, etc. Apparently its out of print? We got a copy used on Amazon, anyway, a little pricey but such a lovely story, beautiful artwork, and just seems very child-focused. Accurate but still gentle. Maybe all you enlightened MDC mommas already knew this book but I'd only heard of it- never actually seen it.

[Peony]

I love Welcome With Love! It wasn't out of print with my last birth so I got it then, I was sad to hear that it is no longer made.

[JenMidwife]

Originally Posted by acp

This is virtually the same for me, except that I'm still not sure if my insurance will even cover it at all (they claim they don't cover home births... I'm hoping my mw can get around it. At the least they need to cover prenatal and postpartum). Makes me so mad that I'm saving them SO much money, and yet it will be significantly more expensive for me in the end.

which insurance do you have? They sound like mine (Aetna)

[Latenightanarchy]

ACP what a story! I only hope to remain so calm if something comes up like that. And hope my mw does too!

Grrr. IF I get my hb. Comon baby make things move!! My appt today showed no progress, still hanging on like no tomorrow. I'll be 40 wks Sat. I basically have till 4/28 to progress before they pull the plug for me. sigh.