So sad...HB not happening...UPDATE

[ladybugchild77]

I have been searching for a HB midwife or OB here for almost 6 months now. I was planning to use Homefirst (I know they are not well-liked by some but that is what our insurance will cover). Now it turns out I am not in their "area of care" and my insurance will not cover them. I have called around for midwives and either they are too expensive for us to pay four out of pocket or they are already booked at the time of my birth. I am too scared to have a UC and I casually brought the idea up to dh and he will NOT go for it. I am stuck with an OB (I used a midwife last time but our insurance changed) I don't feel comfortable with and have to birth in a hospital with a high C-section rate. So very sad...I was looking forward to this homebirth/waterbirth more than you would believe. I wanted so much to heal from my last traumatic, hospital birth and wanted my dd to be there with me. So, so sad...

[courtenay_e]

Have you talked to the homebirth midwives you "can't afford?" So MANY of them are willing to do payment plans rather than have you birth in a hospital. It would be SO worth your time to go to the effort to find one who will take a payment plan. Give it a try.

That said, if you really DO end up with a hospital birth, please call some of those midwives you can't afford and ask them who they use as a backup, who they've worked with in the OB world that they liked, who they'd recommend. I bet you'll be surprised to get some of the same names over and over again. AND I bet that one of those names will be one who accepts you insurance. You'll be in a much better situation using an OB recommended by a homebirth midwife, as opposed to just a random one from your coverage book.

Then hire a doula.

Then wait as long as you POSSIBLY can to go to the hospital.

Then, when you get to the hospital, ask for the most natural birth friendly nurse they have on duty.

[Valerie]

Please don't give up yet. How many midwives have you talked to? May I forward your post to the Illnois Midwives yahoogroups list? There ARE midwives out there who can help you.

Valerie
Illinois

[doctorjen]

I see you are in Dekalb. I had my first baby at Kishwaukee Comm. Hospital, and it wasn't a bad experience, but that was almost 18 years ago. The OB I saw is still in practice I think. He was very pro-breastfeeding, and supportive of my desire to have a med-free birth and spoke to me respectfully even though I was 16 when I got pregnant with ds and had to put up with a lot of people talking to me like I was an idiot. I don't know anything about his practice currently, but if you have to go the hospital route, you might interview him and see what you think.
Also, I took my ds for a while to a family practice in Sycamore that had several docs that delivered and they were very popular with the labor nurses and the lady I took a childbirth class from. I loved my family doc there and he also was very respectful and kind to me.
If you want to drive a little more than an hour down Rt. 23, there's me!
Let me know if you want those names and I'll pm you.

[ladybugchild77]

Thank you so much for your replies. I have seriously talked to every midwife I can think of or who I have been recommended and all are full at this point. I have also gone with one of the two OBs my insurance is covering. I have an HMO that is not very good so I don't have many choices. I am having the doual who assisted with my first birth be with me and she was amazing so I am sure if it turns out to be in the hospital then I suppose it will be OK - just not what I prefer.

[StacyL]

Did you look into Dr. George Elvove? I beleive he's a homebirth doc.

Yep, here it is:

http://www.elvovemd.com/home.htm

He's in Libertyville.

[mother culture]

SO sorry there are few choices for you! I would try posting on some midwifery boards. There may be some underground or student midwives that would support you at home or even a doula and a doppler. I would feel comfortable with anyone who had a good Idea of labour, birth , and infant CPR. When you think about it Midwives are usually there just in case and when an emergency arrises you transfer to the hospital. If you settle for a birth environment that is not suitable to you it will reflect in your labour. Just believe that you are an independent birther not interdependent needing a delivery. Blessings.

[pamamidwife]

oh, I'd totally drive an hour to birth with DrJen!

I second the idea of checking in with more midwives - and if you have to birth in the hospital, PLEASE get a family practice doc! Do not go to an OB!

[Arwyn]

I love family docs (my mom is one, and I go "why???" everytime women who choose midwives because they don't want OB specialists go on to find pediatricians for their children - huh?), but what matters more than the specialty is how they practice. Some OBs pretty closely follow the Midwives Model of Care, and some midwives don't. I do think the odds of getting a good MD birth practitioner are much better with a family doc than with an obstetrician, but not all family practitioners are better than all OBs.

Stephanie - that is such a hard position to be in! I'm glad you already have a doula lined up, that will help so much. Definitely look into seeing DrJen. Good luck!

[Emmeline II]

Here is some info. Federal law basically says that if 1) You have health insurance, Maternity care is offered, and it is part of your plan, 2) Your provider is licensed in your State to provide maternity or pediatric care, that you cannot be denied -- though you may have to pay out of network rates.

There is also a link at the bottom with help on dealing with your insurance company. You can also snoop around midwifery sites and look for some more info on billing. My midwife (DEM) and her biller delt with my insurance company (who said hb only with a doctor, and birth center birth with either CNM or doctor) and I got the in-network rate. The cash cost for my midwife is $2700.

Code of Federal Regulations, Title 45, Volume 1
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2...cfr148.170.htm

There are two relevent parts. The first is from page 670:

Quote:

(iii) Attending provider defined. For purposes of this section,
attending provider means an individual who is licensed under applicable State law to provide maternity or pediatric care and who is directly responsible for providing maternity or pediatric care to a mother or newborn child.


The other is from page 672:
Quote:

(c) Construction. With respect to this section, the following rules
of construction apply:
(1) Hospital stays not mandatory. This section does not require a
mother to--
(i) Give birth in a hospital; or
(ii) Stay in the hospital for a fixed period of time following the
birth of her child.
(2) Hospital stay benefits not mandated. This section does not apply to any issuer that does not provide benefits for hospital lengths of
stay in connection with childbirth for a mother or her newborn child.

Some payment/insurance links:

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/index.html

http://www.gentlebirth.org/srcFiles/money.html

http://www.gentlebirth.org/insurance/index.html

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/...html#Insurance

[khaoskat]

I fully understand where you are coming from. I healed from my traumatizing hospital birth with my second child (used a birthing center and had a very good experience, except when they needed the room for another incoming mom and I volunteered to transfer to the hospital wing for the rest of my stay - the nurses there were horrible. We have a Natural CBC that is in a wing of an OB building at our major hospital. It is completely "free standing", but would allow easy transfer if something happened - seperate set of nurses and office managers, etc.) Hubby talked me into taking full advantage of staying 24 hours since I had been up for close to 24 hours before giving birth and hadn't had much of a chance to get more than a few catnaps after giving birth.

I had spent most of my time lounging in the nice queen size bed, with my baby sleeping next to me. When I said I would transfer, it was like a magic - your baby has to be in the hospital bassinett or else type of thing.

If I am not able to do a homebirth, I will again be using the birth center. Although I am highly favoring the homebirth, so there is less pressure on that magic 42 week mark - even our midwifes around here start pushing you to make a decision about induction vs c-section like 3 - 5 days after you hit 40 weeks. It was a hard fought battle to prevent them from doing either until I hit 42 weeks exactly last time, with DS1 my OB felt comfortable in letting me go to almost 43 weeks (his wife gave birth to all their children at 44 weeks, and I was passing all nsts with flying colors, and even a later US showed no problems with placenta or cord).

Melissa S

[jrose_lee]

Yes, can you go with homefirst or a midwife out of network? I know our insurance wouldn't cover midwives at all but we found one in Western Springs, IL who charged under the OB's name so it was covered completely. Maybe that is a special situation because the midwives and OB were kind of a team. But you could choose to only have the midwife at your birth. We actually ended up switching to Homefirst b/c we wanted a homebirth. I LOVED it.....oooh wonderful. (Why do people not like Homefirst..I loved it?) Does being "out of area" mean that your insurance just wouldn't cover them or you live to far away for homefirst to come? If that is the case....is there a house you could "borrow" that is closer to their office? kwim? Anyone you trust or know in the area? By the way, we had to go out of network with Homefirst and it wasn't really too terribly bad. All of your prenatal visits and the birth are included in the cost. I hope things work out for you. Now that I've had a homebirth I don't think I could ever go to a hospital.

[Emilie]

Thinking of you mama- I hope something works out for you!
Hugs

[bradleybirth2mom]

If you have to use the hospital...

If you have no choice, you could always just stay home until you hit the '3-2'-1' signpost I learned about in my Bradley birth class----contractions are 3 minutes apart for 2 hours, lasting around one-minute long. For second time moms, four minutes apart is a better marker. Those are general guidelines, but if you wait to go to the hospital until you reach those approximate signposts you can probably fend off the interventions since you can make a good guess that you will probably be within 6 hours or less of having your baby. Remember, despite what anyone tells you, dilation is arbitrary and means next to nothing as far as your labor progress. I have heard many stories of women going to the hospital with strong contractions, long and close together, and a nurse checked them, found them at 2 cm and said, "That baby's not coming out anytime soon". Baby usually came out within an hour. Don't get discouraged by the staff's remarks or offers for intervention. Just remind hubby to remind you of what you wanted---no drugs, no breaking waters, etc.---when it comes up from a doc or nurse. I made it drug-free in the hospital with my first and you can do it too if you set your mind to it and relax your body completely. Remember---drugs don't take all the pain away, they usually slightly lessen it and make postpartum painful and/or cause complications during labor, like not feeling when you need to push and getting your broad ligaments torn by forceps. Get the book Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way by Susan McCutcheon. It gives great relaxation techniques that will speed labor along. If you have any other questions, send me a private message. Good luck, sister!

[ladybugchild77]

Well, I looked into other options (ie: Dr. Jen) and she plus the other midwives/doc suggestions I received are out of my coverage area as well. I have seriously been calling midwives now for almost six months and it is just not going anywhere. I can't find anyone this insurance will accepts and like I said before, I cannot pay for it out of pocket no matte rhow low the payments are. That's why I was so excited to be using Homefirst - the OBs were doing my prenatal care and a midwife was delivering my baby. Although my first birth was pain-medication and epidural free, as many of you know it was not pitocin free and having that happen again scares the living daylights out of me. I am also concerned about my dd because I have never been away from her that long and I don't know anyone really to leave her with. I have a few firends up here but they both work full-time. I guess I'll just have to suck it up and make the most of it. Thanks again for the thoughts and suggestions.

[Valerie]

Originally Posted by ladybugchild77

Well, I looked into other options (ie: Dr. Jen) and she plus the other midwives/doc suggestions I received are out of my coverage area as well. I have seriously been calling midwives now for almost six months and it is just not going anywhere. I can't find anyone this insurance will accepts and like I said before, I cannot pay for it out of pocket no matte rhow low the payments are. That's why I was so excited to be using Homefirst - the OBs were doing my prenatal care and a midwife was delivering my baby. Although my first birth was pain-medication and epidural free, as many of you know it was not pitocin free and having that happen again scares the living daylights out of me. I am also concerned about my dd because I have never been away from her that long and I don't know anyone really to leave her with. I have a few firends up here but they both work full-time. I guess I'll just have to suck it up and make the most of it. Thanks again for the thoughts and suggestions.

Clearly, the ultimate choice is yours to make, but I will ask again if you would like me to forward your information to the Illinois midwives Yahoogroups list.

I suspect there are some midwives out there you haven't yet contacted. I practiced as a homebirth midwife in northern Illinois (including Dekalb) until I retired in 2001, and I KNOW there are a variety of midwives who serve that area. Because of the difficult political climate in Illinois, they may initially be a little hard to find. As to cost -- that certainly has the potential to be difficult. But I believe most midwives are pretty flexible -- when I was in practice, I did a lot of barter for all or part of my fee. Did you mention that possibility to any of the people you talked to?

Valerie
Illinois