Weekly Thread November 15-21 - Page 2

[Meli65]

All this talk about pickles is cracking me up! Who knew?

I sent dh with ds to the library today and asked him to try and get some books to explain the baby in the belly ... the first one I saw had a baby sleeping in his crib with a bottle in his mouth !!!! I may have to order some books from LLL...

I ate four bowls of homemade soup today, and had a milkshake at my mom's house (dairy is verboten for ds so I have to eat this stuff on the sly and am totally craving it) -- then stood over the sink and ate even more ice cream right out of the box.

Mmmmm.... Cheetos......

PS PunkPrincess, I left a note in their suggestion box on the way out about the formula -- I said I thought it send a poor message. Why don't hospitals just give that stuff away to shelters for people who have already been sucked in and actually need it? Grrr.

[Pepper]

Melissa, what a load of mainstream crap from that guide! Of course, they don't mention the cascade of interventions that most likely will result from the drugs. Why don't they truly support women by empowering them and showing them that an unmedicated birth is possible for everyone and so much better for Baby? /rant

Mary, Please take it easy! I tend to overdo it myself so I know how that goes but listen to your body and treat yourself gently. (Remind me of this in a few months when I'm trying to keep up with two wild and crazy toddlers/preschoolers.)

I had my u/s today and got to see *ONE* baby (whew!) moving around and heart beating. It was simply amazing. It felt so much more meaningful now that I have two other children because I fully understand the potential of that tiny fetus. I see my children's faces, laughing, digging in the sand, munching on a cracker, sleeping peacefully, and I know that this baby is all of that...not just some "idea" in my head.

On the negative side I had to wait 40 minutes and got a lecture from the woman who did my u/s (name: Tiffany Title: unknown?) about the many tests that I should do now that I am 35. She actually told me that it would be good to get this one test now that can detect down's syndrome because if they find out at the 20 week ultrasound and I decided to "take care of it" it would be a birth/abortion She was so cold in her assumption that I would abort a downs syndrome baby.

When I was in the waiting room a pharmaceutical rep walked in with cookies for the staff and an armload of samples....I am having real misgivings about this whole medicalized process. This is SO not what I want. Dh is not on board with a homebirth because of the costs. In our area a hb is around $5k versus a basically free hospital birth under our insurance...I really need to talk to him about this, though..

Thanks for listening. I hope everyone is feeling well today. I started this post around 3:30p today and it's now 7:30p and I'm just able to finish it!

[Pepper]

Just had to come back and chime in about the prenatals being a bit of a scam. A regular vitamin with enough folic acid is just fine! I've never understood the whole prescription thing regarding them (another way for the pharmaceutical companies to make money off pregnant women, I guess).

Right now I'm taking a natural, vegetarian-based mega-vitamin bought at Whole Foods (beware of the big brand names as many of them contain dyes, artificial colors, etc.), a folic acid, and spirulina.

[Meli65]

It is a drag being pregnant after 35 in a mainstream practice -- like you are a ticking time bomb! However the Clinic midwife I saw already knew I was freaky --home birth, lay midwife, hairy legs (just a side effect of laziness, and I was a little embarrassied -- they're fine for others but not for me!) so she was like -- "I assume you won't want this, or that..."

Pharmaceutical reps give me the willies.

I can't believe how expensive homebirth is for you, Pepper! We are payng our midwife $1100 for everything. I talked to dh about this and said that maybe we should go to a hospital to we don't have tos pend so much money, and he said, "Honey, this is an investment. I don't want to see you strapped down in some hospital just because we want to save some money." WAG! (What A GUY!)

[Pepper]

$1100 ????? Wow, that's a great deal! I'm so jealous.

A midwife in our area is about $4000, doula services run about $7-800, and then supplies...so I figure roughly $5,000.

[punkprincessmama]

wow Pepper, that is a lot of money!! I wonder though if you might find a mw you could make payments to over time? Our homebirth midwife is $1600 plus about $150 for supplies. For us, that is a lot of money, I know it sounds like a dream to some of you though!

Meli65, our husbands sound similar!

Pepper, so only one babe after all Sorry the lady was such a drag. It seems like we all face some problems with the medical establishment - we are all either too old (need more tests!!) or too young (don't know what we are doing!!) :

I am seeing my midwife for the first time on Monday. I will be 9 weeks and 6 days. It's a little earlier than we had planned actually, but my mw will be out of town for awhile in December and she wants to make sure and see me before she leaves.

Gotta run --- toddler melt down....

[Meli65]

We figured we wouldn't need a doula with a homebirth/lay midwife -- the midwives I talked to said they actually see doulas at 10% or fewer of the birth they do at home. So,maybe a little savings there....

[twouglyducks]

I think our MW charges $1600 or $1800, can't remember. Then, supplies. I haven't thought about that. And a birth pool, $30. BUT insuranse supposedly covers 70% of a homebirth and MW said in those cases she will bill the ins. enough to where it covers our costs, too. She said they almost never cover as much as they say they will, so she does this to help parents out. Then, of course, she usually has to wait several months and do lots of paperwork and phonecalling to get her money. Anyway, I'm just rambling. I do that.

[miamommy]

Pepper, I am on the West Coast also and so far I still don't have a midwife because of the costs! I did hear about a birth center in LA that will bill insurance first and the person who told me about it said she ended up paying $1100 out of pocket. Much better than the $5000 that I have been getting. I am just trying to figure out if the midwives at that birth center do home birth. I had my first in a hospital, without drugs and interventions but it was an exhausting up hill battle with tons of forms and waivers and I just can't go through that again. The kept us there for 3 days because they thought dd "might" develop jaundice. It was just ridiculous.

I wish that I could find a midwife here who would bill ahead! So far the two that I have met both want monthly payments of $350 and twice montly in the last few weeks. ouch!

On a ligher much happier note - morning sickness has left the building!!!!!!!!!!
WoooHoooooo!!!!

Has anyone had their breasts get bigger? I am nursing and thought that this wouldn't happen because of that, but they are a size bigger than they were pre-preg (they are huge to begin with). Oh well, what can you do? All part of the fun!

[5kidsmama]

My MW (In FL) charges $2950. That includes all the lab work, etc. Not sure about the supplies, but I think it does according to the papers she gave me. My last birth in a birthing center cost $3500 - and the hb was about $400 cheaper then too. Dr was $4000, not including any hospital bills.

The great thing about FL is there is a law that says that ins has to cover (as in-network) birth anywhere it happens So it may be a hassle, but my ins should cover 100% of this birth (like they did the last one)

[fuzzypeach]

Wow 5kidsmama, that's great! There's no such laws here: ( And our insurance does not cover a midwife. However, the midwifery center here in town only charges $2000, I think that includes everything, whether you do it at home or there. We could've afforded it if we stretched... but as this is my first birth I want to be where the doctors are, with a CNM, just in case. Insurance covers everything except a $200 hospital charge at the end.

[aja-belly]

my midwife charges around $2000 also. we're getting new insurance in january, o we'll see if anything is covered then.

aja