hey all! i'm not pregnant, but working on it, and i'm planning ahead, thinking about what my birth options will be. i've read a ton of posts in the archives over the past 2 years, but i'd love some updated information since things have changed.
i am very interested in homebirth, but the issue is money. we'd pay $250 for a hospital or birth center birth rather than $3000+ for a homebirth. i have harvard pilgrim HMO, and it says clearly that planned HB is not covered. is there a way to get around that or get partial reimbursement? i don't see how we can afford an extra few grand - even if we had that kicking around, there are a million other places we'd NEED to put it. i'm not ruling it out, though, because if we could swing it, this would be my most preferred option. i would love to hear from anyone about how to make it affordable, especially if you had a payment plan or barter arrangement with your boston-area HB midwife.
last time around i used the MWs at women's health in wellesley and birthed at NWH. i had a great experience and an active, natural birth. i would love to go back to them for my care, but i do NOT want to stay in the hospital afterwards, even for just one night. does anyone have any info on leaving the hospital before they "let" you? my ideal situation would be to give birth there and then come home whenever ready, but i know nothing about leaving against medical advice with a newborn. i loved the MWs and i had a great birth experience, but i hated staying in the hospital overnight, and that was before i had a toddler at home.
i felt like the north shore birth center would be a great alternative, but then i read the info on them nearly closing and now requiring EFM. what exactly is this policy saying? it doesn't mean continuous EFM, does it? has anyone given birth there since things have changed? i'd also consider the cambridge birth center, which is closer to me, even though i'd read some not-so-great things about it when i was pregnant with my DD. the main reason i would consider going to a birth center rather than NWH is so that i can get discharged earlier. what i do not like about the birth centers is that there are so many midwives, and it seems so easy to "risk out" - and i'm not interested in giving birth at the cambridge or beverly hospitals. but i would still like to hear any info about them that anyone wants to share. i saw on the NSBC website that you can leave in 4-12 hours... how about at CBC?
i think those are pretty much the options around here, aside from mt auburn, but i'd prefer NWH to them unless MA has an early discharge program. i'm not interested in traveling to NH even though the birth cottage sounds amazing... but i am VERY prone to severe anxiety while in a car, and labor only served to make this worse last time.
any other ideas? TIA!
i am very interested in homebirth, but the issue is money. we'd pay $250 for a hospital or birth center birth rather than $3000+ for a homebirth. i have harvard pilgrim HMO, and it says clearly that planned HB is not covered. is there a way to get around that or get partial reimbursement? i don't see how we can afford an extra few grand - even if we had that kicking around, there are a million other places we'd NEED to put it. i'm not ruling it out, though, because if we could swing it, this would be my most preferred option. i would love to hear from anyone about how to make it affordable, especially if you had a payment plan or barter arrangement with your boston-area HB midwife.
last time around i used the MWs at women's health in wellesley and birthed at NWH. i had a great experience and an active, natural birth. i would love to go back to them for my care, but i do NOT want to stay in the hospital afterwards, even for just one night. does anyone have any info on leaving the hospital before they "let" you? my ideal situation would be to give birth there and then come home whenever ready, but i know nothing about leaving against medical advice with a newborn. i loved the MWs and i had a great birth experience, but i hated staying in the hospital overnight, and that was before i had a toddler at home.
i felt like the north shore birth center would be a great alternative, but then i read the info on them nearly closing and now requiring EFM. what exactly is this policy saying? it doesn't mean continuous EFM, does it? has anyone given birth there since things have changed? i'd also consider the cambridge birth center, which is closer to me, even though i'd read some not-so-great things about it when i was pregnant with my DD. the main reason i would consider going to a birth center rather than NWH is so that i can get discharged earlier. what i do not like about the birth centers is that there are so many midwives, and it seems so easy to "risk out" - and i'm not interested in giving birth at the cambridge or beverly hospitals. but i would still like to hear any info about them that anyone wants to share. i saw on the NSBC website that you can leave in 4-12 hours... how about at CBC?
i think those are pretty much the options around here, aside from mt auburn, but i'd prefer NWH to them unless MA has an early discharge program. i'm not interested in traveling to NH even though the birth cottage sounds amazing... but i am VERY prone to severe anxiety while in a car, and labor only served to make this worse last time.
any other ideas? TIA!
& paid for by insurance. HOWEVER - do in part to their association with Camb Hospital, you have to be a pretty much perfect canditate to not be risked out before labor. They have something like a 30% - 40% transfer rate that isn't talked about much. With DS1 my water broke early & with merconium, so I was immediately admitted to the hospital, where they tried to insist on continuous fetal monitoring, etc. We fought every intervention & ended up with most of them ("for the good of your baby" card was played over & over - even by the midwives. I wish I knew then what I know now! I would have fought harder 
) 48 hours later (we refused to let them do the c-section the hospital wanted to do after 24 hours - the usual window allowed by the hospital between water breaking & delivary), Skyler was born. Here's the one cool thing - the midwives posted a notice on our door saying "Do Not Disturb - Birth Center Mama". So Skyler slept in my arms that very first night, with no interruptions by anyone. He was born at 10:00pm, we left the next morning at 8:00am - almost ama. They rushed to get the ped in to look him over when I told them we were leaving in 10 minutes no matter what.
:
: then it'd be an absolute no-brainer.
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