what kind of birth are you planning?

[MamaFern]

i had my son at home with a midwife..

im planning another homebirth, hopefully with the same midwife. i really want a water birth this time, since last time it didnt work out.

[mommy2boys]

I wish I had the option of having a homebirth. In Florida our insurance is required to pay for a homebirth but the nearest homebirth midwife is 2 hours away and thats without traffic. So I will have another unmedicated hospital birth and hopefully I will have another midwife for the delivery. I am planning my third unmedicated birth.

[s_kristina]

I'm currently trying to get in touch with a midwife to start working towards a hosptial birth with her. My dh would be far too worried because of issues at our dd's birth to ever be comfortable with a home birth. Although I don't plan on having my blood pressure go through the roof after giving birth again it will be nice to be in a hospital just in case something happens especially as the nearest hospital is a half hour drive.

[BensMom]

I had a full-intervention filled hospital birth with DS and am planning a homebirth this time. I am so looking forward to my healing birth. DH was not onboard until we interviews a HB MW back when we started TTC. Now his only concern is the cost, since its not covered by insurance. I meet with her for the first official visit next Tuesday.

[Brenda2005]

I'm going to give birth in our local hospital. I can't afford a home birth and it's my dream to have one :(

[Belleweather]

We're planning a birth at the local free-standing Birth Center. I'm not nearly crunchy enough for a home birth for a bunch of reasons -- mainly, we live in rental housing, I don't want to clean up, and we don't have a bath tub, not to mention the to-die-for jaccuzi at the Birth Center.

It's expensive, especially considering that if I had a hospital birth everything would be paid forby health insurance or MA, and we'll be paying a 20% copay that we'll have to sell stock from our house/retirement fund to come up with, but it was really important to me not to give birth in the hospital, since the only one available to me is so far in the dark ages as far as obstetrics that they don't believe in Rooming In.

[brandybehr]

I am planning an unassisted homebirth.

With my 1st 2 I had (Dr attended) hospital births, fully covered by healthcare insurance (Alberta) and my third was a homebirth (midwife attended) that was out of pocket. Midwivery isn't covered by insurance in my province. This time I can't hire a midwife, there is such a shortage so we are going it alone.

:)

[darsmama]

Peeking in from the July boards :) Congratulations to all you newly pregnant mommies!

We are planning a home water birth again. We will have a midwife in attendance!

Katie

[willemsmamma]

Unassisted homebirth with my honey and a volumptuos earthy doula.
And this time I'm renting an aquadoula! No more messing around with blow up kiddie pools! Not after last time! :LOL

[neveryoumindthere]

we are planning a waterbirth at home.
we're in canada so everything is totally free

with dd i had a 24 hour pitocin-induced labour, ended up with an epidural..NOT what i wanted at all...so this time doing it at home

just got a hold of the midwife today so our 'spot' is already booked now..YAY!

[*Amy*]

Oooh, I am so envious of you water birth mamas! That's what I'm really dreaming of. We're going to deliver in a birthing center (I'm not quite ready to go it alone at home), but I have a wonderful midwife, and they should have a birthing pool installed by that time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it'll all work out. I'm also thinking about hypnobirth. Have any of y'all tried that?

[mamatoady]

you know you're pregnant when you read through everyone's plans for their birth and CRY :crying your eyes out :D

I had a pitocin induced hospital birth with my daughter because of pre-eclampsia and am planning another homebirth. I am this time working with my doula who has been training as a midwife and she will deliver my baby! I am SO excited because I love her so much! My chiropractor is going to be working with me nutritionally and such to make sure I don't get the high bp again (which actually was my ONLY pre-eclampsia symptom 150/110 :jaw )


Sarah

[FillingMyQuiver]

DH and I are still in the negotaiation phase, :LOL. I want a HB SO badly, but he's not totally on board yet. My last birth was a hospital birth w/ an OB and I just wasn't happy w/ it at all. My MIL has a wonderful jacuzzi tub in her master bath and I would :love to give birth in it and use it for pain management. :fingersx: that I can work DH over before the birth.

[Queen of Cups]

I'll be delivering at the same hospital I had DS at, with the same midwives. They were so excited to see us today when I went in for bloodwork! I love the midwives I'm with, they're both CNMs and were sooo wonderful at my last birth. I used hypnobabies (self-hypnosis program for pain management) with DS, and it worked wonderfully so I'm planning to do that again. I had a totally drug-free birth with no interventions until a last-minute episiotimy. I'm hoping to avoid that this time by doing perenial massage with DH starting several weeks before our due date (we didn't do it at all last time - obviously). I had a wonderful birth experience last time and can't wait to do it again! I was in labor for only 7 hours, and the only unpleasentness was the last hour of pushing (yep, I pushed for 2.5 hours)! The hospital staff was wonderful - very supportive of breastfeeding, rooming in was expected, and I was released about 30 hours after I gave birth.

[maybemom05]

I will be doing a hospital birth with an OB (please don't kick me off the board!!) :blush

I have some orthopaedic issues with my hip that in all likelyhood will not be an issue, but it keeps me out of midwife contention.

I am fortunate to live in an extremely liberal area with a progressive hospital, so I'm cautiously optimistic :)

[Queen of Cups]

I will be doing a hospital birth with an OB (please don't kick me off the board!!) :blush

I have some orthopaedic issues with my hip that in all likelyhood will not be an issue, but it keeps me out of midwife contention.

I am fortunate to live in an extremely liberal area with a progressive hospital, so I'm cautiously optimistic :)

After hearing all the scary hospital stories out there I was worried about delivering in a hospital last time... but it was a great experience! No IV, no internal monitoring, I was allowed to labor in whatever position I wanted, DH and my sister and my in-laws were all there, no one had to wear scrubs (DH and my sister were barefoot the whole time! and I was naked!), DS did have to be takent to NICU for three hours observation (meconium in water, cord around his neck, labored breathing, etc) - but the nurses brought him over for me to hold first and then DH stayed with him the whole time and he was brought to me promptly after the 3 hours and we started breastfeeding, the LCs called me every few days for the first 2 weeks after he was born... It was a lovely experience.

Make sure your OB is on-board with your birth plan NOW. When you go to the hospital to deliver, bring a big basket full of cookies and candies, a thank you note to the nurses, and your birth plan. I did that, and every single nurse I saw while at the hospital would enter the room, introduce herself, thank me for the basket, and tell me she read my birth plan. It was great!

[Baby Hopes]

We have no idea what we are going to do this time around. DD was induced (because of other complications) and I ended up with an epidural. Not in my original plans, but ended being exactly what I needed at the time. (The epidural, not the induction. lol.) We are slotted to head back stateside on the 18th of November, and with this little one due on the 27th of November... something is going to have to give. Either I'll head stateside before the birth, or we'll extend. Either way birth plans are up in the air.

Idealy? I wouldn't mind going to a birthing center in town. They offer the waterbirths and other more natural options.

[HeartsOpenWide]

Home birth all the way, natural natural natural. The only way I will deliver in the hospital is if there is somthing validly wrong before the birth or if a real complication happens durning my labor and I have to be transfered. Lucky for me my MIL's best friend is a midwife so I can use her and know she will give me a good deal or let my husband do some trade work. (contractor)
I would like to get one of those little kiddie pools to put in the kitchen for a water birth. Any suggestions...how well do those things support your weight when you are leaning up against them? What brand? Should I push it up against a wall and then lean on it or just get in the bathtub instead until pushing?

[MamaFern]

its great to see you U/C mommas! im thinking about this as well.. i guess my only fear about it is that i bled a LOT after my son was born, but i know that there are herbs and remedies for that.. and i also would have a midwife if i needed to call her if i Felt like soemthing was going to go wrong.. it is something im totally thinking about. maybe we should do a U/C su[pport group on here>?

[hypatia]

I used hypnobabies (self-hypnosis program for pain management) with DS, and it worked wonderfully so I'm planning to do that again.

I'm glad to hear that your Hypnobabies experience worked well for you. Last time, I did Hypnobirthing with mixed success, and I decided that this time around I would try Hypnobabies, because it seems to be a better program. But I don't know how to find the time to squeeze in the tapes now that I have a child!

My last birth was in a hospital, which was ok, I guess. Not scarring, anyway. For this one, I am debating between a zero-deductible birth center birth, or paying out of pocket for a homebirth. No matter how many stories I read by women saying how wonderful it is to have a baby at home, I have guilt about justifying spending that much money.

[flapjack]

I'm planning on a homebirth again this time- the cost isn't an issue because I live in the UK, so all the healthcare is covered by the NHS. Unfortunately, we've moved and are no longer in the catchment area for my gorgeous lovely team of midwives- but the new ones should be just as gorgeous. The only thing I'm really wondering about is whether to hire a birthing pool...

[zjande]

Although I don't have the foggiest notion yet of where my birth will be, I have 2 plans that will be very different with this birth than my previous 2.

Number one, I will give birth someplace with a bed large enough for me AND my partner. I need him up against my back, or able to rub me from a natural position, I want his physical precense against me, not on the floor next to me holding my hand while I work my butt off all alone in a bed.

And number two, I will be ASSERTIVE with my needs & wants this time around. I will SPEAK UP ! I'm chanting this already, to prepare myself. There were SO many things that I kick myself for not speaking up about during my last births. I had it too deeply in my head that the hospital staff were the experts, & I let them do everything while I just lay there silently. Once a person came in & started drawing blood from my newborn boy without even explaining, & I just laid there & cried while he cried! Oh how I wish I could travel back in time & grab my baby from her & give her some of my mama bear attitude. GRRRR.

I only just read Ina May's "Spiritual Midwifery" recently, & I swear, it changed my brain! I soooo wish I'd known that book existed before my other births! I'm going to memorize that book by the time I'm due! :D I'm going to prepare myself for a natural birth FAR better than I had before.

[gratefulbambina]

Hospital water birth with a midwife

[*Amy*]

Are any of y'all planning to use a doula? Or have you in the past? I have a midwife whom I love, but I've read that a doula plays a different role than the midwife or the husband.

I am not on speaking terms with my crazy alcoholic mother, and my best girlfriends all live a zillion miles away (I don't have sisters), so I won't have a female presence in the delivery room to just pay attention to my needs. I'm curious about whether it's a great thing or unnecessary, or if it all just depends on the personalities of those involved.

:shrug

[Queen of Cups]

My sister was there with me last time, and it was wonderful to have her. I told her she was soooo great that she should become a doula, and she said, "Are you kidding! I'm not doing that for anyone else!" :LOL

Everyone I know who's had an actual certified doula has loved it!

[RachelGS]

I did have a doula there last time, and would never even consider giving birth again without one. I had a long, hard, posterior labor, and even with excellent midwife support, I never would have managed without my doula. She is the reason I was able to avoid a surgical birth. She was amazing. My husband, who was initially quite the skeptic, declared it some of the best money we've ever spent.

[Belleweather]

I was thinking about it, but I feel kind of like I was discouraged by the birth center (!!). Mainly because they send two midwives to each birth, both of whom are trained as Doulas themselves, so that after the birth one can mind the baby and one can stay with the mama. They're also really into having as few people in attendance as possible, which I can kind of see... I'm sure I won't care while I'm giving birth, but eventually it will be over and I'll figure out that it's one more person in a small room staring at my crotch.

I'm still unsure what we'll end up doing; I'm a little worried that without a Doula more emphasis on taking care of me will fall on DH, and I'm not sure he's ready for that.

[*Amy*]

Well now I am getting really excited about the possibility of having one! I even called my insurance and it turns out they will pay for it! Of course, the insurance rep I talked to had never heard of a doula, and I had to spell it for him. :LOL I found about 5 in my area, but will probably talk to some local LLL mamas before setting up any meetings. How did y'all go about finding yours?

PS: Rachel, I love your singature line. So true.

[memory maker]

I had my ds at a hospital with a OB. I had DD at a hospital with a midwife. I am planning on using the same midwife this time

[BensMom]

Are any of y'all planning to use a doula? Or have you in the past? I have a midwife whom I love, but I've read that a doula plays a different role than the midwife or the husband.

I am not on speaking terms with my crazy alcoholic mother, and my best girlfriends all live a zillion miles away (I don't have sisters), so I won't have a female presence in the delivery room to just pay attention to my needs. I'm curious about whether it's a great thing or unnecessary, or if it all just depends on the personalities of those involved.

:shrug

I'm a doula, and became one because I had such a bad experience at my sons birth. Every client I have had was grateful for my presence. I don't think any women should go into a hospital birth (no matter how "friendly" the hospital or provider says they are) without trained support. Family is great, but doulas are trained in techniques to ease pain, trained in whats normal and trained to help the parents advocate for themselves.

Now for a HB or Birth Center birth, it depends on the attendants. For my upcoming HB, I am still trying to decide on whether to have a doula. Paying the $2500 for the HB itself is going to break us as it is. But I will probably have someone there - hopefully one of my doula buddies will cut me a break :love .

[Chi-Chi Mama]

I'm getting excited with all these threads!! I've been mostly a lurker on MDC for so long, busy with everything, but this forum keeps bringing me back :love

I am hoping for a home waterbirth. I was going for a free standing birthing center waterbirth last time, and ended up in the hospital with pitocin (no epi at least) 'failure to progress' my water broke and I didn't have any decent contractions for over 24 hrs, was nervous and scared and 'not ready' and my midwife wasn't really there for me at all. Ended up transfering to the hospital another 20 or so hrs later, didn't see the midwife again. Dd was born 5 hrs later, so I'm sure I would have been fine maybe with a different midwife.

anyway, looking forward to all the planning and sharing over the next coming months!!!!

[jennay]

DS #1 was induced, horrible interventions (water broken by doctor, epi, etc) ended up with c-section.

DS#2 Unmedicated VBAC at the hospital. Was only at the hospital for about an hour and a half before Ben was born. Hired a doula but because the labor was so fast she didn't have much opportunity to be of help. However, the pre labor support was great.

#3 Planning for another unmedicated VBAC at the hospital. Not brave enough to do a HBAC and the birthing center wwon't take me because it would be a VBAC. Will probably hire another doula this time and want to take Bradley courses or something like that because I didn't handle the pain as well as I would have liked last time.

[snugglebutter]

My hope is to birth with the same midwife at the same hospital - maybe in the water! We had a really good experience there last time. The staff was very encouraging about natural birth.

We also have an increased risk for certain complications, and possibly an early induced birth at one of the huge hospitals downtown. I'm not too concerned at this point. We will cross that bridge if we need to. I had a consult with the specialist last fall that went well and he was also recommended to me by another high-risk/natural-minded mama.

[Jacqulyn]

I hired a Doula last time and I don't regret it a bit. I had a pretty easy labor, 13 hrs, 1.5 hrs of pushing. She met me at the hospital where I showed up at 8.5 cen. but ended up having another 5 hrs to go. She helped with some ideas to get the babe down, and extra encouragement when needed. The best part was after it was all over as she massaged my legs with hot oil! I think the most important part about having her was that I felt empowered to have a natural birth before I went in knowing that I would have her help. It was definatley worth it!
:thumb

[brookermans]

I am due Nov. 7 and am planning a homebirth. I have had 4 previous hospital births with epidurals and have hated the experience. This time I am following my heart and mustering up the courage to face the pain without meds at home. I am still trying to find a midwife, though, and I wish I was under someone's care at this point.
Doreen :wink

[GatorNNP]

Self or nurse attended hospital birth :) . I plan to arrive very late :wink and push when I want to. I work at the hospital, tee hee, so at times it does feel rather "homey" in a sick and twisted way. Oh, and leave as soon afterward as I feel like it.

[DreamsInDigital]

Apparently, I am going to be going it alone again this time. Due to insurance/money reasons I will probably birth in the hospital with a CNM because it's covered. In all reality, if I could afford it I would homebirth with Pamamidwife is she had room for me. But I can't afford to pay out of pocket. :(

[nataliekat]

Planning a midwife birth at the freestanding birth center. I can't wait.

With Maisie I had an OB at the hospital. Also had a doula, though, and I HIGHLY recommend one. I couldn't have done it unmedicated without her.

Belleweather - If your CNM's are really trained as doulas, then that should be fine. I would specify, though, that what you want is one of them dedicated to concentrating on YOU and only YOU and what YOU need. I needed my doula every second. And that's the point of one. Someone is there to do nothing but take care of you. Make sure one of the CNM's is going to do that for you or I would hire a doula. You'll have so much to cope with and so much work to do that who sees your crotch is the last thing you're going to care about. That was my experience, anyway. ;)

[babygrant]

Hospital birth with OB here. DS was sick at birth so was glad with him that i was there so wont take the risk with this one.

[pixiedust]

I'm so jealous of all the waterbirth's. Neither my husband or I feel comfortable with a homebirth, and the closest birthcenter is 1 1/2 hours away, so it looks like the hospital for us. I did have a hospital birth with my daughter and it went VERY well, no med. intervention, etc.. we just showed up about 2 hours before she arrived. :) Probably will wait around this time also. :)

[Awaken]

Hi,

We're planning on a birth center birth with midwives- I had ds there and had a great experience. I'd really like a homebirth since last time the labor was so fast and I had him a few mins. after I got there. Seems kind of silly to drive 45 mins. only to have the baby and then drive back home; why not just stay where I'm comfortable. The drive to the center was the worst part of my labor experience and I'd really like to avoid that this time!! However, we can't see spending thousands of $ when the birth center is covered by insurance, and I really like the cnm's and have been going to them for years.

Amy- re hynobirthing- I used it and LOVED it. Since the birth was so fast I didn't get to actually do the techniques during labor, but it prepared me for the birth and I was not scared or in pain and that is why I believe it went so well and easily. It also is very helpful for stress reduction after the birth, I still listen to my CD's now 2 yrs later.

Hypatia- how is hynobabies different/better? I was just going to do home practice/study this time around instead of taking classes and I am willing to look at other options! Thanks!

[DreamsInDigital]

Oh my freaking goodness I am SO excited! I got special permission from my health insurance to see the same midwife I saw for DS2's birth! It's a 3 hour drive up there but if I time it right everything should be okay. I just don't want to take a risk with a crappy CNM like last time. I ended up changing providers 6 times and finally found a good CNM at 30 weeks! This time at least I'll be comfortable from beginning to end.

[liliesandliars]

I'm going to give birth in our local hospital. I can't afford a home birth and it's my dream to have one :(

I'm confused... how can a homebirth cost more than a hospital birth?

[Queen of Cups]

If you have health insurance a homebirth is way more expensive!

If I go to a practice and hospital covered on my insurance plan it will cost me exactly: $60 for initial lab work, $60 co-pay for all my doctor's visits - regardless of how many, and $400/night in the hospital and I'll hopefully be spending only one night again (but even if it turned into a long stay, the cost is capped at $2000 per hospital admission). So, my total cost will be probably be only $520. If I did a homebirth I'd have to pay out of pocket and the average cost for that around here is $3000+.

[bec]

I am hoping for another homebirth. But I might have a hard time finding a care provider that will do one for me.

I had a c-section with my first, and a HBAC with my second. I'm hoping to have a second HBAC, but won't be using the same practice that did it before. I'm starting to have a hard time finding people that will even consider doing a VBAC, let alone an HBAC. Illinois is such a VBAC unfriendly state, that it is looking like it's going to be a search.

Oh, and they could charge $5000 for the aquadoula and it would be worth it! :LOL


Bec

[liliesandliars]

If you have health insurance a homebirth is way more expensive!


If my insurance won't cover prenatal care if I decide to go homebirth, I just won't tell them. There's always the line, "Oh, the baby came so fast we didn't have TIME to go to the hospital!"

[Queen of Cups]

Lilliansanders - obviously that would work as far as getting prenatal care covered. But why would you want to see a hospital based provider if you were planning a homebirth with a midwife (who you'd still have to pay out of pocket)? Are you envisioning an UC? Because, obviously, that is cheaper!

[liliesandliars]

LOL... yes, I'm going to have a UC... I forgot to mention that. :D And although I'm a naturalist, I DO so want to see those ultrasounds... and I don't know any other way to get them other than OB...

If you ladies know any other way, please tell me.

[*Amy*]

I had a very un-fabulous nurse visit this past week, where I learned that several of the staff at the perinatal center, including one of two midwives, had been fired. So that means that my midwife (luckily not the one fired) will be in high demand in labor & delivery and that her prenatal appointments will be very limited. Also, she won't be on call at all, so if I go into labor in the evening or on the weekend, I will just get whatever OB happens to be on delivery at that time. No thanks. I met almost all of the OBs last year during my miscarriage, and I only liked one of them.

This knowledge, along with the fact that the nurse was *completely* condescending to me, prompted me to look into my other options. Turns out, if I switch from 100% coverage insurance ("prime") to 80% coverage for doctor's visits ("standard") I get to go to a *real* birthing center, complete with many midwives, and jacuzzi tubs in each room!!! :banana I was nervous about switching my coverage, but found out that the co-pay for maternity & delivery is $25. Yep, just a one-time pay of $25, which covers everything from now until post-delivery! The baby will be covered at 100% for the first 60 days, and then we can enroll him/her in prime anyway, and then I will still be on standard for another 4 months (which is no biggie, as far as I can tell). Even on standard though, there is a cap of $1000 per fiscal year, no matter what may happen to me. So we're going to do it!

I made an appointment to tour the facility on April 11th, right after my ultrasound, so that'll be a big day for us. I'm so excited to see the center and meet some of the staff. Turns out I may be able to have my dream birth afterall! :love

[bec]

That's exciting, Amy!

I think I may have found a midwife as well! There were only two to choose from that are willing to do a homebirth after cesaerean. But I really loved the one I met yesterday. She's just about my ideal for a care provider. She's been doing midwifery for over 20 years, has attended thousands of deliveries. She's confident enough in her abilities to let go of the control and let the labor and family wishes guide her. In the last 20 some odd years of doing this, she has only had to transport to the hospital about 4 times, and 3 of those times were after the birth!

She isn't spooked, concerned or uptight about the HBAC. We had really good chemistry. I was there for an hour and a half! I've never found a doctor that would spend more than 10 minutes with anyone, so this is a huge shift in style of care.

I'm really excited about it.



Bec

[Nicole77]

My daughter was born in the hospital with a midwife. This time around I am planning for a homebirth. I am very excited and am off to see the midwives for the first time today! :bgbounce

[hypatia]

I think we're going to have a homebirth! I'm kind of in shock about it. I had pretty much resigned myself to the local birth center, because I thought it was free, and it was hard for me to justify to myself having a homebirth when there was a substitute available that was (a) not terrible and (b) free. But it turns that the birth center is not free at all -- it would actually cost almost as much as a homebirth. So, now, I have no guilt about going ahead and having the homebirth I wanted in the first place.

I have to interview midwives now, which makes me nervous. I'm not really sure what to say.

[bec]

Hypatia - I had a list of questions that I typed out ahead of time to ask them. I was able to make most of them sort of fit into the conversation, but it was nice to have a piece of paper to refer to when I got stuck. If you would like, I can either post the questions I asked, or pm you with it.


Bec

[PicnicBear]

Homebirth with a MD. It's totally covered by our insurance.

Bec -- did you a have experience with Homefirst? I did a search for them on MDC and think that your user name came up but I don't remember seeing anything about your birth experience?

I have read mixed reviews of them, but if we want homebirth we have no other option. The fact that they are MDs doesn't bother me. The Dr. (Shatteur -- spelling?) seemed to be on the exact same wavelenght as DH and me when we went for the free meet and great in Feb. I am going for my first appointment there tomorrow AM.

[bec]

I did use Homefirst for my last birth. And you are certainly welcome to my opinion about them. Although it isn't the typical answer you're going to find around here. And it is emotional. So, be forewarned.

I have a hard time controlling my own rage when it comes to Homefirst. Not to put too fine a point on it. My pregnancy, labor and birth were fabulous. I have not one complaint with it. It was the most amazing experience I have ever had. Although, the doctor didn't get there until the last ten minutes, I would have gotten the same treatment in the hospital, so I wasn't too concerned. :eyesroll

The problems started with the aftercare. Emily was a big baby. She was 10lbs, 7oz. In retrospect, it's a good thing, it's probably what kept her alive. Before the nurse left the day that she was born, I asked her to look in her mouth. It looked a little strange, like the back of her throat was open a little too much. Not knowing much of anything, I dismissed it as being one of the anomalies of different babies. The nurse said it looked like her throat was sore.

At one week, I brought her in, and she weighed in at 7lbs, 14oz. I was doing breast compressions at every feeding, and, as it turned out, essentially hand expressing into her mouth. This kept her from getting into serious trouble, but not from the inevitable weight loss. At, I think 3 weeks, we had a slight tongue tie snipped. She did have a tongue tie, but this didn't effect her nursing. Her diapers were getting drier and less frequent, she was hovering on the edge of dehydration and worse.

At 5 weeks, she weighed in at 7lbs, 10oz. I begged the doctor to look in her mouth again. He finally looked in the back of her mouth and, very casually said, "Oh, it looks like she has a cleft palate. You might want to have surgery for that at some point." :jaw Talk about understatement of the year! Anyway, I asked if this was why she wasn't nursing well, and he responded with a helpful, "Maybe." Then he goes on about how God has a plan, and how God has a reason for everything, etc., etc. I wasn't scared until he started talking like that. Not really. But it seemed like he was trying to prepare us for her dying. He sent us to a LC two days later. Emily had lost another 2 ounces. I was starting to panic. The LC was pretty useless, but suggested that we might want to start pumping, but, no, they didn't have any pumps available right now.

DH and I scrambled to find a pump and some syringes. We found one, and I started pumping. I only pumped 10 ounces that first day. My poor baby, for 5 weeks had been living on less than 10 ounces of milk per day. :bawl It still brings tears to my eyes, and I still wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat because of that realization. She was starving to death because she couldn't access the milk that I had for her.

I pumped, and supplemented with formula while my supply was built back up. The next week (we saw the LC on a Saturday), we took Emily to my other daughter's ped (we'd always intended to switch her, but I wanted to wait until Emily was back up to birthweight before making the move. Another decison that I deeply regret). It was like night and day when we went to see them. They set us up with an appointment at the Cleft Palate Clinic at Children's Memorial (probably the best children's hospital in the country, definitely in the state), for the next day (not an easy thing to do). I heard the ped swear for the first time in 3 years, and knew that my outrage was not unfounded.

This was a very basic thing that should have been discovered moments after she was born. If they had stuck a finger in her mouth, and tested her suck, they would have known something was wrong. If they had looked at her palate, they would have seen the gaping hole there. I will never forgive them for putting my daughter through that agony.

Oh, and Dr. Schattauer was one of the principal doctors involved in the malpractice suit that was decided against them last summer, where a baby had died. It was a 30 milllion dollar judgement. The amount is being appealed, but not the judgement itself. You might ask them about that.

I don't know where you are located, but there is another homebirth MD in Libertyville. Dr. Elvove. A lot of people have used and liked him in the AP community. He doesn't do VBACs or I would be using him this time around. There's also a host of midwives around that aren't associated with Homefirst.


Bec

[dancingmama]

Wow, ouch, bec what a story. I am so so so sorry you had to go through that! How awful.

We are planning another homebirth with midwives. DD was born at home with the same midwives, in the water, and it was wonderful. Pricey, but worth it.

[bec]

Well, the bottom line is that Emily is a very healthy, active, sweet (when she isn't terrorizing her sister :LOL ), normal toddler. She suffered no permanent damage due to her rough start, for which we are profoundly grateful, and one of the reasons we aren't pursuing our own malpractice suit against them. She has had the surgery to repair her cleft palate, and came through it like a dream. Her surgeon is one of the best in the country at this sort of thing, and we are grateful that we were able to use him. Her speech is ahead of schedule, and she is simply doing great.

I wished I could have gotten her to go back to the breast after her surgery, but there were no good associations for her there to entice her back. She loves her bottle. She had fresh breastmilk for a year (we only had to supplement with formula for a couple of weeks), and has had frozen breastmilk since. We are almost out of that. I figure, when the new baby comes, I might pump a little so she can have it again for a while.

All in all, it could have been much, much worse. I think we were on the edge of it becoming a very serious problem. But I do have very strong feelings towards Homefirst, and really feel the need to point it out when people ask.


Bec

[PicnicBear]

WOW -- Bec, thanks so much for sharing. I am so glad that Emily is OK, like you said I imagine that's the only thing keeping you from being even more enraged about this disaster.

I just don't understand how something like that could happen and so to me, of course, that's a major red flag. This is a lot to digest and I just read your post to DH. We're going to look in our Blue Cross Blue Shield IL HMO directory and see what other practices are there, and check out if any of the hospitals have birthing centers or anything.

Like I said, this is a lot to digest so I can't even think to clearly now.

I will mention that my appointment went well today, but he said that that I wouldn't be considered a patient until DH and I signed, and had notorized, a contract stating that the maximun malpractice award we could get was $250,000. Now this makes more sense to me.

And I thought I had this all figured out -- silly me -- there is always more work to be done.

I guess you'll be around the board so I'll "see" you and might like to touch base on this again if you don't mind -- since you seem to know the Chicago area pretty well. Thanks -- Julia

[bec]

I guess you'll be around the board so I'll "see" you and might like to touch base on this again if you don't mind -- since you seem to know the Chicago area pretty well. Thanks -- Julia


Hey, stick around here! I don't know what area of Chicago you're in, but there is a very active and cool AP group up here in Lake County.

I've been in this area for most of my life, so I'm pretty familiar with it. The midwife I have found is in St. Charles, and seems really cool. Also, check out Birthlink (http://www.birthlink.com/) for more lists of providers.

Feel free to ask me any questions!



Bec

[cjbeach]

Hi, I'm a newbie here. My previous 2 were natual vag deliveries in a hospital setting (no local free standing birth centers) but I'm tired of hospitals so we're hoping for a homebirth this time (my first MW appt with new MW is on Wed!!)

[3 for me]

Hi everyone, I had an unpleasant hospital experience with ds#1 (I was 16) but I had a VB. With ds#2 it was a great hospital experience up until the C-section which was the absolute worst pain in my life (long story~I felt everything they had to put me to sleep and I didn't even have my Dr. there :( But with #3 I am planning a VBAC at a hospital with No pain meds. I have a new Dr. and she is awesome. There are 6 dr's at that office and so I will see the 2 main ones during my Pg in case I have to have one of them. The entire staff at the office are great and so hopefully all will go well. I really don't want another C-birth! I have read alot about VBAC's but I do not personally know anyone who has had one. Oh well, Dh is a lil nervous about the whole VBAC thing because I want to try it with no pain meds. I have very low tolerance to pain but I refuse to believe that my body can not naturally birth this baby! He is supportive so far but I am hoping he can become more in touch with the natural side of birth so he can help me when it hurts like :yikes: ! I am known for LONG births. 29 1/2 hrs with ds#1 and I did 26 with no pain meds(it was hard labor the whole time). 12-14hrs with ds#2 up until 5cm when I had to do an emerg. C-sec. I am really hoping I might be blessed with a SHORT, FAST, and EASY labor with #3. Keep me in your prayers!

[bec]

Hey, I had a VBAC for my second one!

I would just make sure that the hospital policies on VBACs are not too restrictive. I know that one of the things that made my labor stall with my first was being confined to the bed, and not being able to move about. Check their policies (including their VBAC success rates) out now while you have plenty of time.



Bec

[samsmamma]

Hopefully all will go according to plan. If it does, I'll be thrilled!

Sam was born at 35w6d. He was supposed to be born at the freestanding birth center (which no longer exists...) but since he was so early we had to transfer to the hospital. My MW was there and it was a totally successful drug-free birth - and Sam was fine. 6lb11oz, totally totally fine, went home the next day. of course, we had trouble getting nursing established - would have been nice if someone told us that could have been a problem! - but we managed to get through it all and everything was fine. So here's hoping #2 comes a little closer to on time!

--Erica - mama to Sam (3.25 yrs) and the thanksgiving turkey due 11-23-05

[bklynmum]

My DD was a nightmare birth with a negligent midwife in NYC, resulting in 8 days in the NICU and a bad time for my precious one...I have since moved to London UK where my DS was born at home with no problems, short labour and perfect result! I am planning on the same with #3 but I guess we will just wait and see how it all turns out.

[PicnicBear]

Bec -- in case you are curious about our Homefirst decision so far, or have any advice -- here it goes -- this is our decision "for the time being" anway:

We are going to stay with them now and we are going to look into other options that are on our HMO plan and are therefore free (well, $15). The other Dr. (Elvove) and midwives we would have to pay for, and we really want to take advantage of our awesome insurance that we have through my government grad student fellowship.

So, we are going to get all the info we can for the hospitals on our plan, there are quite a few but I know U Chicago (where I am a student) and Northwestern (where I know someone who had a god birth) are not on them. Close to us there is Hinsdale Hospital and West Suburban. Have you ever heard anything about these? The websites seemed to be similar in what they described as their special birthing rooms, one had private baths, tV/VCR and a "24-hour anesthesiologsit" LOL.

I have given the job to DH of calling these places and finding out as much as we can about them and perhaps meeting with a Dr. I will give him a list of questions to ask since I can't use the phone much during the day. Then maybe we will visit and if something comes up with Homefirst, we would know where to switch to.

One thing that came up lately that made me feel more hesitant to leave Homefirst was that I got an email from my university saying that my vacines were out of compliance. I won't bore you with the details, and I will say that I think it's all going to work out fine since I faxed them some more records, but I would much rather work with Homefirst in trying to get around something like this if I needed to. I won't have any vaccines while PG, even if that means taking a leave from school.

Two other random comments about Homefirst. Both times I have been in their office, it has been kind of dirty, like it needed to be vacuumed, with little pieces of paper on the floor, etc. (BTW I am not a neat freak at all). Also, I wasn't able to learn much about the malpractice case because the SunTimes article is no longer posted, but I did find a record of their bankrupcy and plan for paying it back, so apparetnly they are in Chapter 11. Does this mean there is a chance they could just shut their doors one of these days?

Wow, this is long! So, this is still an ongoing process, but this is where we are now . .

[bec]

Plagio - I don't know much about those two hospitals, sorry. As far as Homefirst's financial viability, I don't imagine that they would be able to stay in business if they have to pay that judgement out. Even half that is much, much larger than a typical practice's malpractice insurance. Which means that I wouldn't be surprised if they won't survive much longer. I don't know, I guess I won't be crying any tears for them. If you do decide to go with them, I would recommend having a different pediatrician give your newborn an exam.

I do have a name of a fabulous doula, though, if you are interested. Let me know, and I'll PM you her information.


Bec

[PicnicBear]

Yes, I need a doula. I would love that info! Please PM and let me know.

Yeah, there are a few things about Homefirst that seem sketchy, to say the least. I still haven't let all the info really settle in my mind. Honestly, the fact that Homefirst existed, i.e. that I could have a homebirth, totally covered by insurance, attended by what I thought were competent providers, was one of the deciding factors for me in TTC when we did. (DH was up for it any time!).

I am a stubborn person and I don't want my determination to have homebirth to cause me to put my blinders on -- I do beleive that homebirth is generally safer than hosptital, but that's probably assuming you have competent providers. With my options, hospital birth could be safer.

I could go with a midwife and wouldn't mind paying some money for that, but my concern is what if I am transfered to the hospital and need $20,000 worth of care that. Would that be covered by my HMO since, in their opinion, I probably "didn't have prenatal care" or would it be treated like an emergency that would be covered. I don't expect you to know this, but it's something I need to find out.

BTW, from what I saw about the Ch.11 it looked like they had worked out some kind of payment plan. Who knows what that means, though.

[GatorNNP]

just had to add that I have found a(the only) LM who does HB/vbac in my area! May be changing plans from hosp. birth to homebirth afterall. Explaining this to my previous OB, (who I work with and hang out with sometimes) is going to be a little sticky I'm sure. One problem with the hosp/OB plan is she is moving away same week I am due, so I don't even know if I would end up with her or not!

[AmyGirl28]

We are planning a VBAC hospital birth. My last birth was awful. I had pre-eclampsia and was induced. I was in labor for 20 hours and only dialated to 3cm. At that point the doctor performed a c-section. I was devistated. I have changed doctors this time and she even has a midwife in her office. I am pretty sure that the doctor will do the delivery though. I have been drinking Pregnancy Tea made by Traditional Medicinals. It has Red Rasberry Leaf in it which helps strengthen your uterus. I am only drinking one cup a day and will probably increase it to 3 cups in the last few weeks. I am hoping that will help me to have a shorter labor (less than 20 hours). I have been doing a lot of reading on VBAC. If anyone has any advice or suggestions let me know. :happyt:

[Awaken]

AmyGirl: I know I am always talking about this, but you might want to looking into hypnobirthing/hypnobabies- it can really help with moving labor along, minimizing pain, and getting your body to funtion at it's optimal level.

;)

[QueenMommy]

Just want to share my experiences with you...

I was induced with my first and spent over 13 hours in labor before I started hemorrhaging and they had to do an emergency c-section. My second was a VBAC, but it was another long labor. My third was yet another VBAC and the whole thing lasted 2 hours start to finish. I did much of the labor at home (did not realize my water broke...it didn't gush and keep coming like it did with DS) and was shocked to learn I was fully dilated when I got to the hospital.

So...I will be thinking of you and wishing you a speedy birth :) It can happen!