Planning an "Accidental Homebirth"

[Metasequoia]

I had a mw with both dd's - she's great. My insurance will not cover a homebirth or birth center & we can't afford to pay out of pocket. If I see my mw for prenatal care & accidentally have an uc, what do I do with the baby? I know I should have him/her checked out, but how do you do it? If it is born in the middle of the night or on the weekend - what do you do? I'd be comfortable if I had a mw to check him/her after birth, but I don't feel confident enough to not have the baby checked at all.
I also don't want CSS knocking on my door.
Will I be screwing my mw if I don't go to the hospital for the birth? It would be believable since my last labor was 1hr, I just don't know how to go about the details.
If I take the baby to the hosp to be checked by my mw (and the ped I guess) will we BOTH be able to leave asap or will we get "stuck?"
TIA wise mama's!

[Sagesgirl]

I would, personally, call the midwife after the baby was born, explain the "oops" (), and follow her directions--as long as she doesn't treat it like an emergency and tell you you have to rush to the hospital ER. Try to set up a normal after-birth appointment for the baby within the week. If you do wind up going to the hospital, don't take your hands off your baby for an instant. You can indeed go with them whereever they take your child. Keep in mind your rights as your child's mother, which means you can refuse any treatments and can refuse to let them keep the baby there. If the baby is healthy (which s/he most likely will be), there's no legal way they can keep either of you there, so don't let them intimidate you!

[Metasequoia]

Thanks Sagesgirl, I also keep thinking that if I take the babe to the hosp for a check up & I refuse anything, that CPS will get involved & I will do just about *anything* to avoid that. I guess I should talk with my mw about "what if I don't make it......"

[Leav97]

If your last birth was only an hour, not making it in time is a valid concern. It shouldn't raise to many alarms if you point this out to your mw and ask what to do.

[Aughraseye]

I was just coming over to this thread to post a similar question, you beat me to it!

I am about 7.5 months pregnant, and planning a UC. I have one son already, and I had a very easy birth with a CNM at the hospital. The hospital here is very progressive (there's no nursery, for example) and since my CNM is no longer delivering babies, she referred me to the most non-interventive OB in town (because my insurance pays for it and won't pay for a homebirth ) I'm very set on a homebirth, and so I'm planning to just "not make it on time." The only problem I have now is what to do when I call to announce the "accident." Calling right afterwards and saying "oops, we didn't make it, we're coming in" is one thing, but calling the next day and saying "oops, we didn't make it, and I delivered the placenta, and then we all curled up in bed and fell asleep... Can we come in tomorrow? And btw I'm not bringing in the placenta..." (which is my plan :LOL) is quite another. I'm also very sensitive to making my dr think that I led her on and lied to her...

Sometimes I wish I could just tell her and stop going... I don't keep seeing her "just in case," but rather to avoid any heat from anyone, you know? Plus I want to see her for my follow-up care, and I want to see her if I have an emergency, and I just don't feel like it's appropriate to even ask if she'd be there for me if I needed her because that makes her liable and puts her in an awkward position.

Anyone else do an "oops, we didn't make it" type of thing? Or does anyone have any experience with seeing a dr and telling them late in the pregnancy that you're planning a UC?

Sarah

[cathicog]

Most docs i know will stop seeing you the instant they find out you are even planning a homebirth, oops or otherwise. Many midwives will too, since legally they are considered responsible(why, I don't know except that they are supposed to have deeper pockets than thier clients, which I KNOW is not even true!) Anyway, if you want to do an oops, Just have the baby, call the mw, and say so, then see if she can do the ped check at the house. Our health dept nurse came to our house for Jeremiah's ped check, and he was 3 days old. I told them when I was pg that I would not be bringing him there, since there are sick children, but could they come to the house and do it, and they said yes. They did a great job,too, right in the living room. He did get the Eldon card done then(knowing what I know now I would have refused it) but otherwise, was perfectly healthy, and the nurse was impressed....and it doesn't have to be done the same day, you can wait a day or so....

[MylilTs]

Originally Posted by Aughraseye

Anyone else do an "oops, we didn't make it" type of thing? Or does anyone have any experience with seeing a dr and telling them late in the pregnancy that you're planning a UC?

Sarah

We planned an oops, we didn't make it. And really, baby helped with the plan since he insisted on coming 2 hours after my water broke. By the time, dh came home from work, I was in transition and feeling pressure.

Anyway, our insurance did not cover hb, nor did we feel like we had the money to pay out of pocket. I would have been comfortable birthing at the hospital since it is a progressive, low intervention unit (and I work there) but I didn't feel like that's what I wanted for baby. Being an L&D nurse, I knew I would catch flack from coworkers and others about planning a UC, so everyone assumed that it wasn't planned. I let them.


As far as after care, I talked to my CNM by phone. She told me if I felt okay with the bleeding, etc. she did not need to see me until my PP checkup. For baby, we took him to the pedi's office the next afternoon.

[Metasequoia]

I'm guessing our ped would be okay with that, but what if I deliver on Fri or Sat night. Do you think it would be okay to wait until Monday? I know that I could wait that long but i don't want to be harrassed by the peds office. I've heard horrible stories about CPS being called about stuff like this, like the mother was being "irresponsible" or some such bull.

[Aughraseye]

Thanks, MylilTs, that was helpful.

[Marcokat]

Just call her for a newborn check, this is a usual and customary thing. I am doing the same thing and blamed it on insurance. I have always put off the peds office visit for at least a week. After all it is 1 of the most important reasons for a homebirth - to keep your baby away from a clinical environment in the early days.
Best wishes,
Kathy
wife to John, Mom to Cam 4, Ian almost 2 and a baby girl in 8 weeks

[Castle]

I planned an "oops" UC, and like MylilTs, baby cooperated by coming after only about 2 hours of labor. I wasn't going to call or take babe to see anyone for a few days afterwards, but I tore bad enough for me to want stitches, so about 6 hours after the birth I called my OB/CNM clinic and told them my baby came "too fast" to get to the hospital. My CNM was great, thought it was awesome that I did it at home alone, and told me just to get into the hospital whenever I felt ready. About 8 hours after the birth we finally got to the hospital, with babe in tow, and just told them not to touch her. Which they were completely respectful of. I got my stitches, and they hurt SO bad to get, the lidocaine didn't help at all. I'm thinking because it was so many hours after birth. Usually you hear about stitches not hurting at all, but I think that's because they're usually given relatively soon after birth when the skin is still kinda numb from the birth.

We did get kinda "stuck" at the hospital because it was a really busy night for them in L&D, and they wouldn't let us leave till the attending OB signed us out, and she was involved with a "difficult" birth (vacuum, yuck). They wouldn't even let us out AMA. We didn't want to cause too much of a stink though, so we waited the 2 hours(!) for the OB to finally come and just ask us the same questions we had already answered when we first arrived, then she signed us out. She was the only annoying person we encountered the whole visit, though, so all in all, it wasn't a horrible experience, but definitely one I want to avoid this time. That's why I was hoping to find a HB midwife as backup who could just come do stitches if necessary, but I couldn't find one covered by my insurance. So I found a birth center that is covered, figuring it would be easier to just go there after a birth if I needed to, but I just found out last week that they're closing all of a sudden! So I guess right now I'm back to having the hospital as my back up. Let's just hope I don't tear, and that there aren't any complications!

[cathicog]

Originally Posted by Metasequoia

but what if I deliver on Fri or Sat night. Do you think it would be okay to wait until Monday?

I am sure it would be OK.They are well aware that babies are born all the time and never see ped at all...I wouldn't want my newborn in a pediatricians office anyway, cuz of all the germs and sick kids. I would explore the possibility of a home health nurse coming to your house. maybe the health dept would be willing to go along with that...

[Metasequoia]

Originally Posted by cathicog

I am sure it would be OK.They are well aware that babies are born all the time and never see ped at all...I wouldn't want my newborn in a pediatricians office anyway, cuz of all the germs and sick kids. I would explore the possibility of a home health nurse coming to your house. maybe the health dept would be willing to go along with that...

Home health nurse - good idea. I think my insurance does cover a post partum visit. I'll call my mw just after the birth & ask her if she thinks that would be a good idea - I'm sure she'll agree.
Thanks!