Midwife options in Southern Minnesota?

[moodymomma]

I'm looking for anyone that has had any experience with the midwives working in the S. MN area. I live near Mankato, MN and I could only find 3 of them. One in St. Peter, one in Faribault, and one in Hartland? Please let me know if there are any more. Just wanted to know if anyone has had a homebirth with these ladies and what their experience was? Good or bad? Also does insurance cover midwife care at all, I have BCBS?

Edited by moodymomma - 7/22/11 at 12:05pm

[Cynthia Mosher]

Moving this to the Minnesota, Wisconsin forum. 

[mugglesmom]

I'm guessing the Faribault midwife is Nickie Kerrigan with Helping Hands Birth Services?  I just had my baby a few days ago and used her and her apprentices.  I had a wonderful experience.  I would get pregnant again right now just so I could use them again.  I HIGHLY recommend them.

[snguyen]

I had my little girl three months ago with Erika Urban from St. Peter and it was a fantastic experience from the prenatals to the the birth to the postpartum care.  I would highly recommend her!  Rachel Knudsen from Hartland was her back-up at the birth and she was wonderful as well, she was sort of like my doula during my pushing stage--very helpful.  A friend of mine has had two births with Rachel that both went very smoothly, too.  

I am in the the midst of working out the insurance stuff right now.  There were some errors on the BCBS end that I am dealing with, but have gotten at least one small check from them so far, don't know if there will be more.  Here's the thing, at least with my BCBS policy.  It says in my maternity coverage that pre-natal care by a "health care professional" is supposed to be covered 100%, whether in network or out, minus any difference between the actual charge and BCBS's Allowed Amount if out, which homebirth midwives are.  So the more of my costs I can get coded and covered as prenatal care, the more likely I might get more money back since my policy otherwise specifically excludes homebirth. Since Erica and I had signed a contract last fall stating what her charges are per prenatal appointment and I mailed in her invoice to BCBS stating the dates of my appointments, I am hoping that will make a good case for getting a fair amount of my money back.  

We'll see, fingers crossed!

[moodymomma]

Thanks for all the replies. I talked to Erika first but she is unavailable the month that I'm due. I'm meeting with Rachael tomorrow. I called my insurance and they stated that they only cover Nurse midwives in a hospital or facility. I might still keep track of all appointments and cost and see where it gets me. Even getting a little back would be nice. This will be my first HB, so I'm both a little nervous but very excited about it.

[mndoulamom]

I used Nickie Kerrigan and she did a really nice job.  It was my first baby and she was a calm and confident presence.