Interested in a Homebirth

[happywife101]

Hi there. I hope Im posting this is in the right place so here goes. Im 25 weeks pregnant, and have been going to the doctor this whole time. I have started to reconsider having my baby at the hospital versus a more natural approach by having the baby at home. I have a normal healthy pregnancy which I know is ideal. My fears are that I would not be able to handle the pain, but I have heard from others and a midwife that I can do it, I just have to get myself into the mindset. I had a bad experience with my son and don't want to repeat it (hospital birth) I had gotten an epidural, and they nicked the nerve and I had a spinal head ache for almost 2 weeks after the birth..it was horrible. I have been doing some research and watching many videos. I have also read a few posts in this category. I have talked to one midwife in my area who seems really nice. I try not to bring finances into basing my decision, but I have health insurance that will NOT cover a homebirth or midwife, so I would need to come up with the money on my own. As of right now, the cost through my health insurance to have my baby at the hospital is 2000$. We already know that is what we are going to have to pay, so I was hoping to find a midwife that would cost that or less and then have the great pleasure of being able to be more in control at home and have that whole experience, being that this is my last child. But I cannot afford to pay more than 2000$ for a midwife, because at that point, I would just go to the hospital and have the baby for that much at the hospital. Do you have any suggestions or advice for me? Any midwives to recommend? Im located in the Bakersfield, CA area. I was hoping to have the best of both worlds...less than 2000$ and have a memorable experience at home, but not sure if I can do it now. The one midwife I talked to I explained Id be paying out of pocket and she said her fee was 2800$, and that is even coming into the picture at 25 weeks when all tests etc have been done. I understand this isn't supposed to be about money but it is still something I have to worry about. Again, any advice, criticism etc is totally welcome! Thanks so much for reading and your time!

Id really like to try and do this at home, Im just at a loss for what I should do or where to go from here

SIncerely,
Happywife101

[jess152]

Originally Posted by happywife101

But I cannot afford to pay more than 2000$ for a midwife, because at that point, I would just go to the hospital and have the baby for that much at the hospital.

I guess it depends on how bad your hospital experience really was. For me, it's a no brainer. I am paying out of pocket for a travelling midwife to come from Montana to Alberta, and it will be worth every.red.cent to not have to repeat my first hospital experience. I know there are no guarantees, but it's my best shot and I'm going for it!

If you are at 25 weeks, you still have time to budget a midwife in. You can arrange a payment plan with a midwife, start saving your coins, cancel your cell phone/cable/magazine subscriptions, skip the daily Starbucks/Sonic/whatever habit to come up with the money.

[Belle]

My midwives' fee was $2800. Huge bargain considering it covered all prenatal, birth, postpartum, and newborn care. And the extra money we spent was completely worth it. My homebirth was nothing like the hospital birth I experienced the first time around.

[niengolina]

Personally, I would do whatever possible to raise the remaining money that you need. I had 2 hospital births that I did not like at all. I had my 3rd at home and it was amazing. (I'm planning my 2nd homebirth in December). We currently have state insurance, as we did with the last pregnancy. Sometimes I think, "well, I could have this baby at a hospital for free but instead I'm worrying about coming up with money out-of-pocket." And then I think about my hospital births vs. my home birth and I know that I can find more stuff to sell I've also worked out a payment plan with my midwife and have cut even more expenses. Money from things I sell (clothes the kids don't wear, cloth diapers that didn't get used much, our pickup) goes into my birth fund.

As for the pain thing, I worried about that too and am worrying about it again. I'm really good at worrying . I found that vocalizing - low moaning, really helped. I actually don't think I could have stayed on top of the pain without it. Also, I had a water birth and the warm water was so helpful, as was resting completely between contractions. Talk to the midwife about different techniques for the pain and do lots of research. Also, you could try to find a student doula to volunteer her time if you don't have a close female friend/relative to be there to support you.

I hope it works out for you and you can have your home birth.

[moonglowmama]

So far as the pain worrying, I'd recommend watching "orgasmic birth." It's available on Netflix. I just watched it, and the info and visuals of what really occurs during an undisturbed birth is encouraging.

I've had 3 home births, and now preparing for my 4th. I would not trade those experiences for any amount of money and I'd be selling furniture to get be able to do it again. Money is temporary. Birth is the beginning of everything.

[Nicole730]

I agree with PP - find a way to come up with the extra $800. Do you have any health flex-spending money you can use from your employer? We are using that, but it comes from the employer, not the insurance company.

[Bmorefarmgirl]

our homebirth is costing about $3700, and our insurance will pay 80% of that. we have to have the money up front, however, because our midwife submits the bill to the insurance company after the birth.

even though your insurance does not cover home birth, it is always worth it to submit the claim. my midwife has a billing company that she works with that sends the bills to the insurance companies. sometimes there are loopholes or the paperwork just gets passed through the system without anyone realizing it is a homebirth. sometimes that just does not work though.

if you can't get together enough money to pay for a homebirth, are there other hospital or birth center options? some larger midwife practices take many different insurances and there are some hospital midwife practices that allow water births, do not require iv's, etc. i would recommend researching other options along the way. these may only serve to steer you more in the direction of a homebirth, but maybe that will help to make it seem more worth the extra expense!

my husband and i looked at a freestanding birth center, a hospital midwife practice, and finally interviewed a homebirth midwife. i feel we would not have been so 100% in favor of a home birth if we had not explored all the other options as well. by the time we talked to the midwife, we had a good idea of what we did not want, and that helped us to realize that the homebirth was what we wanted, even though a hospital birth would have cost us $0!!