Homebirth Roll Call! UC or MW, come one, come all!

[Lemon Juice]

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So who is doing a HB? This is our 5th baby and our 1st homebirth. I want a HB very bad and I feel I'm hitting some hard walls w/ it all tho.

We were planning UC for a long time b/c of lack of funds ($3300 to the MW in neighbor states to attend and not under our insurance). But we found the one and only MW (CNM) in our state who accepts our insurance and we started seeing her last month.

This month she mentions that in 2 weeks we need to pay. SO...we have to pay in full by the time we birth. Nothing was mentioned about payments, even last month, which would have given us more time to come up w/ the $$. We will get it all back, eventually, or at least 80 percent, but we just don't have that much money now and especially w/ the holidays coming and 4 kids. :

So we may end up UC again. It scares me tho b/c while I was down w/ this, dp was not. So I was worried and it was just easier w/ a mw and having support like that, kwim? Not sure what's going to happen w/ it all. Dp will talk to her and see if they can/can't work something out. I won't be having a hospital birth so it's this or that.

But...I'd love to see who here is having a HB, mw or UC. Get some support from one another and what not

[fruitie]

I'm planning a homebirth with a MW, a doula, DH & my mom in attendance. We are renting a birthtub. My insurance covers the MW charges, thankfully! The tub, the doula and the assorted supplies we need to have on hand are not covered by the insurance but that's a pretty minor cost compared to 9 months of prenatal care and delivery by the midwife.

Its my first baby so I am a little nervous but all in all I know I will be SOOO much more comfortable in my own home than I ever would be at the hospital or even the birth center in town.

[StarMama]

Me too me too! We're in a similar situation too, can't afford the midwives They've even approached us with an alternative arrangement and I don't think we can even swing that right now. My daycare is down 2.5 kids which is a serious bite into our income unfortunately. So I've been doing lots of research on UC, it was actually Dh who brought up the idea, I'm kinda shocked! I just wish I could still have a midwife back up though. Someone I could call if I had questions, or if we needed help...

The only way I'm setting foot in the hospital is if something is *wrong*!

[jrabbit]

hb - it will be our 2nd hb ... first was in a hospital, not horrible, but not wonderful

same mw will attend. She brings an assistant. I will probably call her much later than last time, but my labors were short before, so it's hard to say "when". Childbirth classes start next Monday!! yikes!!

birth in our bathtub - but it's not a completely submerged water birth. I love our mw - she's very active in the community and has been practicing forEVER. Kids will be present. Trying to figure out how to get someone else to be here for their needs, though. There are no relatives I trust - nor close friends nearby. We're on our own.

LemonJuice - our mw doesn't expect payment til after the baby is born - but maybe that's because she takes insurance?

--janis

[Lemon Juice]

Frutie, you don't have to pay any of the amount up front? I thought my mw was like this..but she wants it up front and it's up to us to haggle the insurance company and fight to get our money back.

Starmama I know how you feel I hope your UC goes well. I think we may end up doing this too. I wonder if it's a scary as I think it is...or just the opposite?

jrabbit, she does take our insurance. She's the only one in our state and actually did. I was so happy! But at the 1st appt. last month I didn't know about paying b/c she only wanted my insurance card and DL. Before seeing her we made sure she took it and she was all cool about it, failing to mention that we must pay and then try to get the money back. I like how your midwife doesn't request it until after. We'd be all set b/c dp gets a huge bonus after the holidays and it would cover it if she did that. But I don't even know how much we can afford to pay in 2 weeks! :

So...for those renting tubs, how much do they usually run? How do you drain them? Oh we are having kids present if they are awake. I have a feeling she'll arrive at night when they are fast asleep tho

[bronxmom]

First homebirth here - 2nd birth (though 9 1/2 years later). We're all very excited, esp my 9 year old daughter who is the little expert on midwifery and homebirth. I swear she knows more about birth than most pregnant women. Planning a waterbirth.

We love our midwife. The expense is very frustrating and stressful partially b/c we're in NYC. So my insurance covers a good amount ($5K) but we're still responsible for $2,000 out of pocket, which I still haven't quite absorbed yet. I'm comforting myself with the fact that we'll be able to claim the baby as a tax deduction and hopefully the refund will help offset the cost. But it still annoys me that I paid literally nothing for my hospital birth, but will have to pay for my less expensive homebirth.

[quantumleap]

Major hugs to those of you who have to deal with insurance and midwives! We're also planning a homebirth/UC of sorts, but are lucky to be in Canada. Midwives in many provinces are covered under provincial health care plans, and you certainly don't have to worry about anything other than getting a space with a particular midwife! I hope everything works out for you guys. I know our children are worth any money we may have to shell out for their arrivals, but it would be nice not to stress about it, hey?

jrabbit - have you done the bath tub thing before? How did it go? Ours is long enough, but not deep enough for a true water birth. I'm still tempted though - just unsure of how it will work.

[chic2chic]

this will be my 3rd all-natural, unmedicated birth, but my first homebirth!!!

i'm very excited, but find it a little stressful, too, as my midwife practice is very strict (in terms of my remaining low-risk, that is). i have 9 days to go until 37 weeks, when i'm officially "cleared" for HB. :

(and UC is always a possibility, too, as my previous labor was so quick -- under 1.5 hours -- that we barely made it to the birth center)

[Lemon Juice]

bronxmom, wow! that is pricey! But NYC...so yeah. Ds and dp are off to NYC tomorrow for a quick business trip. I wish I could come too! But I sooo hear ya, my hospital birth and OB that would have cost SO much more would have been covered, no problems at all. My very inexpensive HB is taking a lot more out of my pocket! If we get it all back (and can even come up w/ it) we still have to pay $400 for her assistant, the pool, birth kit, sonos, and any other blood work, etc. This is what makes it harder to accept in dp's eyes. Ugh. So much drama...

Thanks, selkat Less stress would be great. Just goes to show how mixed up about HB our country is still...we've come a long way w/ it..but have a long way to go still.

chic2chic...: : Sending some vibes that the babe will stay and play in there for another 9 days! I have about 3 weeks to go and today woke up to some nasty contractions! All day off and on..nothing major..just annoying and sporadic, really.

[wild fire child]

I'm having a hb, my MW and assistant are wonderful. The only reason I can afford it is that her fee is low enough that OHP covers it 100%, if it weren't for that I think I'd be having a UC with my mother (she has some MW training) as support. I don't have to pay anything up front, only have to have an 'open card' so she can file the claim. I think things are much different for her with different income families. She only does 12-13 births per year (though she assists with more), and is cheaper by about 1,000 than the MWs who do 3-4 per month, so I don't think she relies too much on births for income.

I have a pool and plan to set it up for use in labor, we'll see if I want to have the baby in it or not.

[leavemealone]

I am having my first homebirth and first natural birth as well. My first child ended up being a c-section (obviously had medication) and my second child was a hospital vbac with epidural at 8cm.

We have to pay $2600 up front and then submit a bill to insurance afterwards. The insurance reimbursement check will then usually come to us as the MW is considered "out of network". Judging from out out of network deductible, I may get about about $1300 of the total price. I'm actually still paying the hospital for our son's birth two years ago. Just two more payments and he's all ours!

To rent the Aqua Doula tub from the MW will be another $175 that may be covered by insurance. I am not sure yet if it is available or if I even want to rent it, but I do have a fishy pool just in case it's not.

[KindRedSpirit]

This will be our fifth homebirth, all with the same mw,differing attendants.We can't afford her either, but she will accept payment after the birth, and she's only $1800!Yay!We have always paid her with our tax return $.Her tub is $300 to rent though, so we're buying a swim pool from her for $25.Jackpot!She is a 2 hr drive, but I'm fine with UC and having her come for post partum.
We'll also have our 4 other kids and dh and my placenta prep friend and her 2 girls,and likely 2 or 3 of my sisters and my parents.Or....just the folks in the house, ya never know with an hour drive for the closest folks.And our labor have been from 2 1/2 hrs to 13 hrs, so, again, who knows?

[sarahmagoo]

This birth will be attended by a MW, but it will be a "game time" decision as to whether it happens at home or in the hospital.

[kJad29]

Wow. Sorry again about your midwife situation Lemon Juice. It really stinks that she didn't say anything to you until the 11th hour. I'd be pretty ticked off right about now. I hope that she can work with you about this and possibly give you an extension on payment. It's not like you're going to skip town or anything after the birth.

I'm having a homebirth with our midwife/ND. I'll have my primary midwife, a second midwife, their apprentice, my chiropractor doing adjustments, DH, my mother and father. I think that's more than enough support and people in my space and I trust them all so I'm pretty happy and excited about it. This is my first baby and of course first birth. We'll be getting a fishy pool from the midwife and the birth kit. I think that she has another list of birthing supplies or things that we'll need like extra towels or whatever. We can all talk about it later.

Have any of you had your home visit or couple's visit? Also have any of you written your birth preferences yet? I still have yet to write it because I feel like it's so overwhelming to do so. Ideas????

[2hcreative]

This will be my second birth. My dd had an unmedicated hospital birth with midwives. This time we are planning a homebirth with a different midwife practice (previous midwives won't do a homebirth where we live), DH, DD & my mom in attendance. We are going to have a birthpool. Where we live MW are covered by provincial health insurance, however, I have to cover the cost of all the supplies and the pool.

I know from last time that what I need is privacy and intimacy. I'm looking forward to being able to crawl into my own bed with the babe after birth.

[caedmyn]

We're planning a midwife-attended but hands-off homebirth. DH actually wants a UC, but I'd rather have a midwife there. DH-"Why are we paying her to do nothing?" Me-"We're paying her so if there's an emergency she can handle it." We were able to arrange to have DH do some work for the midwife's husband and work off part of the fee. I'm sure she would let us do payments if necessary but it'll all come out of savings one way or another so it doesn't matter if we pay it all before the birth.

[fruitie]

Originally Posted by Lemon Juice

Frutie, you don't have to pay any of the amount up front? I thought my mw was like this..but she wants it up front and it's up to us to haggle the insurance company and fight to get our money back.

Right - we haven't paid anything. We started with monthly appts, then about a month ago started having checkups every two weeks, and I think next week or so we start going in weekly, and we haven't paid a dime. (Well, except to the lab that processes the bloodwork, etc.) I was pretty surprised actually, I can't imagine running a business where you provided services for 9-10 months before billing for them! But she has a well-enough established practice that I guess she gets a steady income even so. She explained that since the care for each woman/birth is different, it works better to tally it all up at the end and send the whole bill off to the insurance after it's all done. And she said she's never had any trouble getting paid by our particular insurance company, so fingers crossed on that!

So...for those renting tubs, how much do they usually run? How do you drain them? Oh we are having kids present if they are awake. I have a feeling she'll arrive at night when they are fast asleep tho

The tub rental in this area is $200. Our MW doesn't rent them, but there are two others who do and they both charge the same amount. It's the Aqua-Doula model, with heaters built in. I've already made the reservation and put down a deposit, we'll pick it up the weekend before Thanksgiving so we will have it on hand in plenty of time before we expect the baby.

[jrabbit]

Originally Posted by selkat

jrabbit - have you done the bath tub thing before? How did it go? Ours is long enough, but not deep enough for a true water birth. I'm still tempted though - just unsure of how it will work.

first birth was in hospital with mw, and I was "allowed" to rest in their tub. I loved it. When we remodeled our house 3 years later, we designed our bathroom for home birth We put in a "normal" sized tub with whirlpool jets, but after the last birth, I realized we should have installed it in reverse! oops. www.pigvig.net/photos.html (boob shot)

I was very happy with the bathtub. When Molly was crowning, we had drained some of the water, which is different than a "water birth" - the water was just there for comfort. I think our mw does full water births, but I'm not actually positive. Molly's hand was by her face, and mw was worried, so she didn't want to leave her underwater for too long.

--
Regarding payment: our mw has billed us, but she doesn't expect payment yet. I suppose I could be in a little denial about it, but I'm leaving all that up to DH. She has a person who works for her who battles the insurance companies - that's all I know. We did pay for the ultrasounds - but that's because they are through a separate doctor/office.

I went to my primary women's care mw for my first prenatal appt (long story), and they billed us for the entire pregnancy cost ... needless to say, we didn't pay them.

--janis

[MamaSong]

Hey fellow HBers! I had a great HB with a MW with my first ds. Our MW was very hands off - I remember her speaking about 5 words to me the entire time, lol - and I had a doula and my dh. Now, for second baby things are not quite so cut and dry. My MW (who of course I had to have again!)and I now live 3.5 hours away from each other, so the plan is to go to her town the day before I turn 39 weeks and we are going to stay at her daughter's house (who is also a friend of mine) until the baby comes. If I go into labor before we get there then we will either book it down there as fast as we can or I will just opt to stay home and UC. I'm okay with either scenario playing out, so I plan on just deciding in the moment. I am really excited about giving birth again. A little scared, but mostly excited. Its weird though having so many "unknowns." I do hope we make it down to her town for the birth. My ideal would be to get there, get settled for a few days, and then have the baby. She lives right by the ocean, so I am looking forward to stormy windy walks on the beach and the power of the ocean to empower me. It gives me good shivers just thinking about it...

[Lemon Juice]

wild fire child, I'm so glad Seven will be around to help out. I wish she were near me to help It seems that the areas that have more HB's seem to have mw's who are more laxed in payment and much more affordable than here. It's just so opposite here and I can't wait to get back to where things like this are the norm.


There are quite a few of us! That's great A mama I know was switching her insurance plan to use the same mw and didn't know about her policy to pay upfront...so not sure of why she didn't mention this to either of us but, hopefully we can work something out. I know that mama just can't afford it and had to give up her dream of a HB And I was the one who informed her of this...so I wish our mw was upfront about it before we saw her...and not after 3 appts. *sigh* I just hope we can work out something w/ her. I really, really do. :


caedmyn, that is how we are! But dp wants the mw, I figure she might not even make the birth anyway (she's about an hour away) as I birth fast and furious

kJad29, thanks We have not had a home visit. Now what in the heck does that even mean? : But the past 2visits the mw has come to me b/c she works north of us and makes my appt. after and catches me on her way home.

mamasong...the ocean storms sound wonderful! I will miss seeing those this year. I do believe you will get some great strength from that and have an amazing birth :