WOW - Is this a reasonable homebirth midwife fee? - Page 3

[ZeldasMom]

I live in the midwest. My midwife is a CNM. I'm paying $2400, all fees included:
http://www.gentlehomebirth.org

If something happened during the pregnancy that makes home birth not possible (e.g. pre-eclampsia, birth before 36 weeks, etc.) the fee will be less (I could pay my midwife a doula fee to have her be present at the hospital birth in this scenario). But if a complication happens during the home birth that requires going to the hospital once I have gone into labor after 36 weeks, I still pay the whole fee and the midwife goes to the hospital with me and serves as my doula as part of the $2400 fee.

I believe the birth center in my city charges around $4000.

[Taedareth]

My midwife charges $2400 for prenatal/birth/postpartum care. I'm in Washington State. Lab work is charged separately. If we want to birth at their center then it's an additional $1000 facility fee.

[mwherbs]

just for reference I wanted to say that 28 years ago when we had our first we had to pay the doctor out of pocket and it was $2000 just for his fee then the hospital was additional $3000 then- it was a straight forward birth no meds no extra stay for me daughter was born 1 day before insurance kicked in so her extra stay for bili-lights was covered.

here if you pay out of pocket with no insurance it is a higher price than if you had insurance-- so typical hospital charges for a birth are $10,000- dr fees seperate and if baby goes to neonatal nursery would be $$$$ more

[CherryBomb]

I'm in Indiana and it's $1500 for my homebirth. That includes all my prenatals and everything. Of course, I had to buy my birth kit (which was around $45 with shipping) and it's $150 to rent the tub, plus other stuff to have for the birth (old towels and such). Indiana has a low cost of living, though.

[UmmBnB]

The charge with my first was $1800 (that was in '00 - '01). You had to pay by 36 weeks but there was no discount. At the time she was one of the cheapest in town - and one of the two senior mw's and the most inclusive (only BC and NBS were extra, and those were simply the charges made by the state).

With my second, same mw, in '04 it had gone up to $2600. Again no discount for early payment, same inclusions. We did do a service trade for $300 of it.

[CrunchyMamaToBe]

Mommiska, thanks for sharing! We're planning to TTC in December, and I figure I will see what kind of vibe I am getting from the community midwife at my GP's.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying this thread to help me decide where we should move when it's time to go back to the US!

[calpurnia]

Originally Posted by CrunchyMamaToBe

Mommiska, thanks for sharing! We're planning to TTC in December, and I figure I will see what kind of vibe I am getting from the community midwife at my GP's.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying this thread to help me decide where we should move when it's time to go back to the US!

My mum had NHS homebirths in Manchester & she had the same midwife for all three births

[Parthenia]

I must have milk brain. I can't remember how much we were charged for our homebirth, prenatals, and postnatals. I think it was $3200, and would have been $500 more if we weren't paid in full by 36 weeks. Or maybe it was $2800 and would have been $3300 if not paid in full by 36 weeks.

We met another midwife and her charges were a little less. She had a sliding scale. I just clicked better with the other mw's.

At any rate their care was worth every penny, and if it was more, we would have paid more. They were more thorough than if we had done a hospital birth with cnm's.

[applejuice]

Depends on what part of the U.S. you are in. In Los Angeles, or SanFran, $5,000.00 is not unreasonable.