Homebirth Roll Call! UC or MW, come one, come all! - Page 2

[wild fire child]

I'm so excited about my mom coming, too, she'll be here tomorrow!

All of my prenatals have been at my house, but we're doing the 'official' home visit on Sunday (she likes to do it between 36-37 weeks, I'll be 36w2d), which is when we gather together everyone who may be at the birth and talk about expectations and plans and not being offended by anything I might do or say lol. It's important for my situation because I live with my ILs and MIL is a very overly caring person.

[vivalamama]

First homebirth here :

DD1 was in a hospital (midwifery was illegal at that time in that state), dd2 was in a birth center, both unmedicated, and used a tub for labor but not birth with each. This time I only have my lame shallow tub, so not sure how much I'll be in water, since our shower won't produce hot water for hours on end

This birth we're seeing a new midwife as our midwives with our 2nd dd are cnms and not allowed to do homebirths here. I've contemplated a doula, but honestly, think I want as few people here as possible. Last time I waited until things were pretty far along until we headed for the birth center- I was 8 cm when they checked me. So, it will be my mw, a back-up mw that I've met once, my dh, and maybe my mom... my dds may or not be here. I need to see how things go- I might send them to a friend's to play if I'm laboring during the day.

I am extremely grateful that mws are covered by our insurance. Our mw has been awesome too, she's sending in to the insurance co for her services, but not charging us for our portion until after the birth.

It is highly frustrating that finances are getting in the way of the births you want, that just ain't right. Good vibes for a happy solution to present itself- :

[100%mom]

This will be my 2nd homebirth, 3rd child. First was unmedicated in the hospital. Second was a home waterbirth. This time we are planning another home waterbirth. We now live 3 1/2 hours away and are planning on going back around 37 wks to stay until at least the 1 wk postpartum visit. Just hoping that labor waits until I'm there or at least on my way. My longest labor was 4 1/2 hrs long.

[phatchristy]

Fourth baby, fourth hb here.

Gotta run to the bathroom.....LOL...

[FillingMyQuiver]

We're HBing again, too. This is our 4th birth, 3rd home water birth (first babe was born in hospital, NEVER doing that again). We've used the same MW/ birth assistant team for each of them, we lurve our team

We;re excited for this HB as it's in our *own* house that we just bought in March!!:: Our first HB was at my mom's where we were living at the time, the 2nd was in the apartment we were renting, now it's our OWN house!!! We use the fishy pool to birth in and I think we're setting it up in the living room for this birth. Gonna take some moving some furniture around to make it work, but oh well.

As far as our MW's fees go, she's $2000, due at the time of birth unless you set up a payment plan with her. She also reduces her fee for families who need it. We're fortunate b/c our MW really does this service b/c she believes in having birth alternatives. While she does make $$ from it, my understanding is that the $$ is not what it's about for her.

So let's see, Im almost 6 wks out from my EDD, so I have about 3 wks til I'm offically "approved" for a HB. I'm not that worried though, both my other HB babes were past their EDD, the 1st being 4 days past and the 2nd being 10 days past my EDD.

[grace's voice]

We're planning our 3rd midwife assisted home-water birth. Its been a little different this time since we moved from WA to MO where midwifery isn't so legal. So there have been some challenges. I'm also having a hard time finding a birth tub to rent, which is frustrating and scary. This will be our first hypnobabies birth, so there's a new twist. My neighbor is acting as my doula.

[Vespertina]

This is baby #3 and first midwife assisted homebirth. I'm really excited about it. I hope all goes smoothly.

[theboysmama]

This will be my 3rd home water birth. W/ ds 1 he was a planned home birth and I labored in the tub until his heart rate was dropping and had to transfer due to position issues.
Ds2 and ds3 were both born in the water
I had the same midwife for all 3 boys and have her again. My home visit is in 2 1/2 wks and she sent me home w/ my supplies today as she will be riding her scooter over and all of the stuff won't fit.
We use a larger fishy tub and I have been really happy with it.
I am looking forward to the birth and just love my midwife.

[Haselnuss]

Another 4th baby, 4th homebirth here.

I was able to get insurance to pay for the last three, but this time I have a different midwife and will have to pay out of pocket - $3200, which isn't that bad compared to what some of you are facing! We've been making payments since May, and it's almost paid off (full amount due Dec 1st, or we have to pay extra).

Right now I'm counting down the days until I'm "ok" for a homebirth, which is another week and a half away, or 36 and a half weeks. I've been having regular contractions on and off, but herbs (and last night, a little wine) have kept them at bay so far. Ideally I'll make it to November 29, at least, since until then my SO is out of the country. Just watch - I'll have the baby on the way back from the airport.... !

[etoilech]

This will be our 3rd birth and second home birth. Our midwife is covered fully. She will also bring a second midwife for backup and we've hired the same doula we had for DD. We bought a birth pool. Now we're waiting.

[Sunshine_Amy]

This is my first baby, and I'm planning a home birth.

I'm trying to be okay with the injustice of our Massachusetts health care system, which now forces us to pay for insurance, but then doesn't cover our preferred care givers. A new Massachusetts law requires us to have health insurance, so we just got on it this year, and we're paying for it completely ourselves (being self-employed). I'm afraid to even add it all up....Insurance is $550/month for the two of us right now, and it will go up to $1K/month when baby arrives. We are paying $3,200 out of pocket for our home birth MWs. For general care we use a naturopathic physician who, like our home birth midwives, isn't covered. :

I'm trying to focus on the fact that if I did need to transfer to the hospital, I'd be glad I have the insurance. And just be very grateful for the blessing if I don't need to transfer. Somehow I'm managing to actually start to feel okay with it all. But it's been a process!

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to being home, with the Christmas tree up, and the fire lit, when baby arrives.... I'm really lucky that it's something we are managing to do, despite the financial crunch all at once. DH has been working extra hours and saving all year. He's my hero, truly.

Oh...and I'm planning a lotus birth! At least, I'm going to plan for it, and give myself a no-pressure chance to see how I feel about cutting the cord. I want to have the opportunity to feel, intuitively, if it the placenta is still benefiting the baby, I don't want to feel pressured to cut it. Maybe I'll cut it after 7 hours, or a day...or maybe we'll salt the placenta (to keep it from rotting) for the full 3-7 days it typically takes to fall off on its own when not cut. ETA: I'm telling my caregivers that I'm planning to do a lotus birth, just so the scissors don't come out when I'm too tired to feel how I feel about it. The default will be to not cut it, and if I decide to cut it instead of waiting it out, it will be because I feel I want to.

Originally Posted by ferrum97

I'm actually still paying the hospital for our son's birth two years ago. Just two more payments and he's all ours!

[MamaSong]

Originally Posted by Sunshine_Amy

I'm trying to focus on the fact that if I did need to transfer to the hospital, I'd be glad I have the insurance.

I do think this is true. Its amazing how much anything at the hospital costs and in the long run you would be paying it off for so long. I am STILL paying off the surgery I had for my ectopic pregnancy which was 1.5 years ago. I hate sending in my checks every month. It drives me nuts.

HB MW's are covered under insurance in my state (WA). But, I want to use a non-preferred provider so mine is not covered and we are paying out of pocket. Like you I pay an exhorbitant monthly premium and am paying for my MW out of pocket on top of that. It is a hard pill to swallow. Having already had a HB with this MW I know it is worth it...hopefully it will be for you too!

[phatchristy]

Amy I am so with you on the insurance frustration....we pay about $8K per year, and of course, there are deductible, co-pays on top of that...so it's more like 10K. Most people at DH's work can't afford health insurance and don't get it. We only get it because we have the kiddos and are thrifty enough (stayed in our starter home, no extras, and live the frugal life) so we can afford it.

Our state does require insurance homebirth/midwifery coverage for LMs, however they get around it by being self-funded and only paying what is 'reasonable and customary'....I have a friend whose mw fees are $4800 and her insurance only paid about $1,800 after it was out of network, and they applied 'customary charges'...though in her case her DH only pays $100 a month for their family coverage as he has a county job...so she's OK with it.

It's so crazy though isn't it? She said, if she went with their in-network physician and had a repeat cesarean it would be $25,000 or so...and they wouldn't bat an eye paying for that. But won't pay $4800 for her midwife. : It's just so backwards the way it works.

[applecider]

This is my first homebirth, but I had DS at a birth center, a waterbirth. I'm a little nervous about how everything is going to go, especially with DS here, but my sister is coming to take care of him and he loves her so that should be good. I got one of those fishy pools, but I still need to get all the hose attachments. I think this weekend I want to go over stuff with DP and get everything in order, that will make me feel much more relaxed. I do still need to order my birth kit that my midwife requires.

Originally Posted by kJad29

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????

The midwife I'm using this time is the same one that I had with DS so I haven't written any preferences down. I suppose maybe I should but DP is pretty aware of what I want and don't want so he can be my advocate if we have to transfer or something. And he's pretty obnoxiously pushy if he wants to be. I am bummed out that my midwife doesn't do home visits. What really pisses me off is that originally she said she did, then when I asked about it she said she does if I want her to, then it turned into, well, we don't do them. Ok why didn't you just say that in the first place? :

As for the cost thing, I am so fortunate that I live in Washington. For one thing, I'm covered by Basic Health, which is like a state insurance. Now lucky for me, I'm not married and they only take into account your spouse's income. So basically, here in Wa, the state covers 100% of homebirth and the midwife takes care of all the billing. So frankly, I haven't heard any talk of fees or anything. If we were married, I would not get this and his employer does not provide health insurance for families.

After hearing about other states and fees and midwives, it makes me really feel fortunate that I live in the state I do. I know why you want to move back, LJ!

[gretae]

This is my third home birth. I have been paying my mw a little at a time. She also is the sort who firmly believes in birth choice so isn't in it for the money really and will work with me on it since I am a single parent. My insurance won't pay a dime unfortunately. The MW charges about 3k which isn't bad all things considered. But it really is too bad that insurance companies won't help with any costs when they are significantly reduced for a home birth versus a hospital birth. This country has a long way to go.....

I don't mean to be dumb but what is a UC? Unattended? I get rather confused by the intials and acronyms used on this board sometimes.

[MamaSong]

Originally Posted by gretae

I don't mean to be dumb but what is a UC? Unattended? I get rather confused by the intials and acronyms used on this board sometimes.

LOL! I get confused too! Yes, UC stands for unassisted childbirth.

[Sunshine_Amy]

Originally Posted by phatchristy

a repeat cesarean it would be $25,000 or so...

We definitely would have gotten insurance this year, even if the state hadn't required it--for exactly this kind of thing. I really am very glad to have insurance! I just wish they'd pay for alternative care. Since they require us to pay for it now, the least they could do is cover our caregivers. Washington state sounds much more together! That's great. Maybe Mass will follow suit. Maybe I'll bug my congressman about it.

I don't want to have a UC, but I'm trying to be okay with the idea, just in case I go so fast that my midwives don't arrive in time! I would totally love to have a fast and easy birth, as some women do--so fast that the midwife nearly misses it.

This happened to my sister! She was so calm and easy in her labor that she was talking with her nurse midwife on the phone, describing her advanced labor contractions articulately, as she was having one. The midwife told her to stay home, figuring that it had to be early labor if she could still talk while having one! My sister insisted on going to the hospital anyway, and she was ready to push as soon as she arrived! (She was very, very into her hypnobirthing-type exercises, and did them religiously for months. So that probably helped!)

[phatchristy]

Originally Posted by Sunshine_Amy

I don't want to have a UC, but I'm trying to be okay with the idea, just in case I go so fast that my midwives don't arrive in time! I would totally love to have a fast and easy birth, as some women do--so fast that the midwife nearly misses it.

I have to say, I have a few friends who have done UC on purpose (most were successful) and then two who had accidental UCs.

In general, our midwives tell us here that if we were in a situation where baby comes fast and they're on their way but miss it that generally means that there are no issues. It's the babies who are in the ideal position who come out quickly like that. So, something to remember .

I remember my DD was pretty fast....I thought I had so much more time! But, DH insisted that we call the midwife. When she got there things were intense already. They asked me if I wanted to be checked, and I was sort of musing about the idea (thinking how disappointed I would be when I was like 3 cm). Well, I told them, 'I don't know...I think I'm going to be like 3cm or something'. They're all like...'uh, no--we don't think so' in fact from the minute they got there they were immediately setting up. So they checked I was nearly complete with a bulging bag. I totally didn't believe them.

I was leaning over the birth ball on my bed, just going through contractions, then my water broke--big splash (body had started pushing on its own) and there came the head! She came out and her apgars were like 9 and 10. She was out quick, super easy and so awake and alert!

If I had played it more conservative the midwife may have missed the birth.

So, with my third we did call earlier, when I felt like there was something timable I called. And, this time we had an hour and a half or so before kiddo got there after the mw was here. Which was just fine. DS was posterior. I pushed I think the longest of any of the kiddos...about a half an hour. Not bad for a posterior baby who was stubborn and didn't want to rotate. We learned afterwards he had the cord wrapped twice around relatively tightly, so we figured that was why he didn't want to rotate! And, he was born in the caul...which was a good thing, so he had lots of cushioning on the way out!

[Mamaperk]

We're planning our 3rd UC waterbirth ... I will go to the hospital if I feel led to, but since we have NO insurance, I am praying that we won't need to.

I'm buying a Rubbermaid stock tank this time but used blow up pools for my last two births.

[Lemon Juice]

Okay...a question For those of you doing a waterbirth...what do you plan on wearing, if anything, while you labor and deliver in the water? I don't want to be full on naked b/c I'm honestly not comfy doing that w/ a mw and her assistant I don't even know.

So...what to wear? I like what the mama was wearing on the Business of Being Born, the 1st waterbirth they showed. It was a batick looking shirt/dress, strapless.