Home Birth

[carrieV]

Is anyone else planning a home birth? This is my first baby, but I am confident that I want to have this baby at home. Right now I am searching for a Midwife to help me. And hope to be interviewing some in the next couple of weeks.

If anyone has some advice for me I would appreciate it. What should I be asking?

My husband and I do not have insurance, so I will have to go with state funded care, just incase something came up that I would need to be transfered to the hopsital... any suggestions for working this. I will probally be completely honest with my intentions, but then I also worry, that they could somehow refuse to pay, if I told them I wasnt planning on being at the hospital for the delivery. Any thoughts?

[ChristineIndy]

Hey! Where in Indiana are you?

I'm in Indy (duh!) and I'll be using Nurse-Midwives of Indianapolis . . . but I'm lucky enough to have insurance. If you use a midwife, they'll probably be able to help you answer this kinda stuff.

[lotusdebi]

I'm planning a homebirth! My son was born in a birth center. While that was a decent experience, I'm looking forward to the more private, comfortable atmosphere of a homebirth. There are two midwives for me to interview. And I still have a little more work to do to convince my husband. But, I think it will all work out!
I want to have a waterbirth in my home, so I'm also busy looking into birthing tub options!

I wish I could answer your questions, carrieV, but I have no idea! Have you posted in the homebirth forum?

[Helen White]

I'd love to have a homebirth, but there aren't really any midwives to speak of in my area. That is to say, I know of one, but she's not certified, and I was unable to find any who are. I plan on renewing my search this time around. In retrospect, we could have had DD with an unassisted birth. We barely made it to the hospital, had her on the floor by the elevator, and she was crying before anything but her head had made it out. lol Still, I'm not comfortable in planning an unassisted birth, and that may very well be my only option with a homebirth.

[blackapple]

I want to but can't. We aren't broke by any means, but paying for it would certainly be too much of a luxury for us. We have to go with a hospital birth, but I hope to labor as much as I can at home and to go natural and with as little assistance as possible. I am actually mad though that it has to be a particular hospital. I hate this particular hospital.

[jessjillbolyer]

If I am pregnant I really want to have a at home water birth. It will be a VBAC for me. I might end up having to drive back home to Texas though to get my wishes. Not sure yet still looking for a midwife.

[Girl Named Sandoz]

Home (water) birth for us if I am pregnant. :)

[Peony]

Home birth for us as well.

[LavenderMae]

I will be having a homebirth too!!:love

[taliasully]

:thumb
I have been TTC for five months and got a POSITIVE yesterday, I am definitely going to have a homebirth, my last baby was born 50 minutes after we got to the hospital, the last thing I would want is a 911 birth KWIM.
WE have Tri care insurance and I will be talking to them next week about covering my midwife

[redhotmama]

taliasully, can you let me know what TriCare says? We just had our positive test last night and are so excited! I had no idea TriCare would even consider covering a home birth and a home birth would be my dream come true....:love

[mbhf]

we are planning another homebirth.


as for tricare, they covered our last birth. your midwife has to be "in network" which doesn't mean much. as far as i know anyone can be in network if they fill out the paperwork and agree to take whhat tricare gives them. and she may have to do some creative billing. my birth was $5500, and tricare as a standard payment for homebirth ($1400). that's all they'll pay for the birth itself, but you can have your midwife bill them for the remainder through your visits. when you speak with them, don't ask if they'll cover homebirth, because it's likely they'll say no or give you the runaround. remember that it's whoever you're talking to's job to tell you no.

personally, i think if you're persistent enough, insurance will pay to get your nails done. :lol

[Helen White]

This looks like a pretty good source for anyone interested in getting insurance to cover a homebirth:

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

[altmomma]

ill be doing a hospital birth with a midwife. did this with #3 and it worked out wonderfully for us. the hospital ill birth is really nice (you dont switch rooms, and it feels as homely as possible).. i like the comfort of having it in the hospital, but with a midwife who will make sure things go natural (hopefully, again)

im hoping i can get my DF to participate more, as my exdh did little more than sit and watch tv.

augh.

[kimnicole428]

This looks like a pretty good source for anyone interested in getting insurance to cover a homebirth:

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


Helen,
Thanks for the great resource. I am using information to try to get the birthing center I want to use covered. Had a consulation/pregnancy conf appt OB/GYN yesterday. LONG (I was there from 2:30-4:30) story short I spent 15 min with a nurse pract and 2 seconds with the actual doctor AND they want to schedule me for an 11 week US even though they say everything looks good now. Couldnt get out of there fast enough.

[aniT]

ill be doing a hospital birth with a midwife. did this with #3 and it worked out wonderfully for us. the hospital ill birth is really nice (you dont switch rooms, and it feels as homely as possible).. i like the comfort of having it in the hospital, but with a midwife who will make sure things go natural (hopefully, again)

im hoping i can get my DF to participate more, as my exdh did little more than sit and watch tv.

augh.

The last hospital I gave birth at was horrible. My midwife was great but the hosptial sucked. IMMEDIATLY after giving birth was I wheeled out and put in another room becuase they needed the labor and delivery room. Then of course I got a roommate and never got a minute of sleep. Top that off with the fact that we lived an hour away so since DH couldn't go home to sleep, and you know he was tired casue he was up all night :irked: :irked: , he sleep on a palet on the floor and SNORED. UGG. And I didn't have stuff to throw at him to wake him up and yelling at him wasn't doing a thing.

Oh yea.. and the showers were down the hall and everyone had to share. luckily I made them release me after 12 hours so I was at least able to sleep when I got home, but this time I want to try a homebirth. That way if DH feels the need to snore he can go DOWNSTAIRS to the couch were I can't hear him!

[altmomma]

well considering ive birthed twice in this hospital, and they dont make you change rooms (and they are big rooms) and you never share rooms... and they have pull out sofa sleepers for dad... im very happy with going there again. my midwives and the hospital worked so well together in fact, that the midwives specially set up the room so it has dim lights and soothing music, a big tub, a rocker.. everything i could have at home (besides the water birth) with the comfort of not having to do the clean up.


I was in and out within 24hrs with my last one (they let me leave, didnt MAKE me) and that was nice too.

[Sweetiemommy]

We're planning our second homebirth!! Only this time around we are moving to a new house and my bathroom is going to be the size of my old dining room!! I can't wait to have a big wonderful tub to birth in!!!

[gen_here]

I would love to - it had always been my dream. But we live in SD where an assisted homebirth is illegal... and I'm not personally comfortable/confident with a UA.

I had a WONDERFUL!!!! hospital experience with my son - birthplan was read before we got there, no drugs were ever mentioned, no long monitoring, no episiotomy suggested, no strep B test or forced antibiotics because I refused it - and breatfeeding was encouraged, no flack for not vaxing-vit K-eye stuff-circing. So, while I would still prefer my assisted birth at home, I'm so thankful that a decent second choice is available (there are no birth centers in the state either).

I'm looking forward to hearing about all of YOUR homebirths, though... I'll live vicariously through all of you :)

[BathrobeGoddess]

I am considering a home birth this time around. It all comes down to if we qualify for the state health program for middle income families. My dd best friend's mom is a HB midwife and takes that insurance....keeping my fingers crossed!

[Brisen]

Planning a homebirth (this will make #3)... considering unassisted.

[rad]

All 3 of my kiddos were born at home. I plan to birth this one at home too. I really don't know any other way. :)

[Mermaidmomma]

Yup, first baby and planning a homebirth all the way!:love

[AngelBee]

Planning a homebirth (this will make #3)... considering unassisted.
Me too...almost. :D

Planning UC.....may have a midwife there, very hands OFF :)

Oh...and first homebirth. :nut Ok.....so not really a me too... :laugh:

[Chicky2]

Helen, if you really want a homebirth, would you consider that uncertified mw if she has lots of experience? Ask for her references. I used a dem intern for my first vbac, and was only her 8th catch. She was supervised by my now-mw, but even she was 'only' a dem at the time. Now she is a cpm. Anyway, I find dem's to be really, really great because they are less apt to interfere. Sometimes, even mw's can be too medically minded for me. And if you had such an easy delivery last time, you're already a pro!


CarrieV....Here's my .02....(and also from experience!) W/my first vbac, I had no insurance (still don't, and this is 2 babies later). My mw was soooo willing to work w/me any way she could, and I didn't have the title to my first child for months after she was born, lol. Most mws will work w/you if finances are a problem. Also, for my last 2 babies, my dh worked weekends and some nights delivering pizzas to pay for our mw. You'd be amazed at how much extra that can bring in! This is the first pg that we've been financially stable.

Anyway, also, if you find a mw, and then something happened (not likely), you can always be transferred to the hospital. If you are looking at state funded birth options, then would you qualify for Medicaid to come in and pay for hospital bills? As long as your mw knows you are uninsured she'll take you to a hospital that wouldn't refuse a laboring woman. I don't know how easy it'll be to get state funded ins. to pay if you are upfront w/them about your intentions, to be honest. That may create quite a stir.

As for ?s to ask....Ask about her transfer rate. Ask her how hands-off she tends to be. Ask for refrences so you can ask them how they felt about the care they received. Ask about her training, how many babies she's caught, and what is included in her fee. Ask about postpartum care (mine comes at 2 days, I see her at 2 wks, and at 6 wks). and what she does to pamper the mama and baby immediately after the birth (I get a great herb bath prepared, help cleaning up, a nice meal (I have to provide the food but they will help prepare it), etc...

OH yeah, and I'm having another home water birth! Yippeee!

[mariew]

carrieV, I'm also from Indiana and apprenticed with one of the cpms here for a while so pm me if you need any help finding someone, or have questions about the different midwives as I know most of them. Sorry, don't want to post their information for all to see. Good Luck!

[boscopup]

I had a hospital birth last time, and the hospital setup is pretty nice - you have your own room - no sharing. They do have separate postpartum room, but usually you don't leave the LDR for a few hours. And the LDR I was in was HUGE... way too big actually. I didn't labor in it though (thankfully - those beds suck!). They had to race me down the hall during pushing stage because I'd been in the antepartum unit for 4 days and they didn't think I'd go as fast as I did when my labor started. :)

I had continual monitoring, but that was mostly due to the circumstances of my being there in the first place (PROM at 29 weeks), so that was ok. They didn't do an episiotomy - didn't even mention it. Phew! They did stitch up my 1st degree tear, and my midwife says she usually doesn't do stitches for a 1st degree tear. If I'd known that, I would have said NO - don't stitch me! that was the worst part of the birth experience for me... It was a student learning how to stitch, and it took 45 minutes! Then the stitches irritated for 3 weeks until they finally fell out. Yuck.

For baby - they asked ahead of time (when we first went in) if I wanted him circ'd or not. I said no, and that was that. They didn't have any problem with that. They also asked if I planned to breastfeed, which of course the answer was yes. I had meant to tell them no Vit. K or eye gunk, but didn't remember to in time - baby was taken away to the NICU for all that stuff, so I wasn't present when they were looking him over. I was able to refuse the Hep B vaccine though, since they don't do that to preemies until they're about to go home. So when they said "He's going home in a couple days and we'll do the Hep B vaccine tomorrow", I said NO, don't do it. And they wrote on the chart not to give him that. Not a problem. I think they also verified that I didn't want him circ'd - that's another thing they would have done before going home if I'd wanted it. He was 4 weeks old when he went home, btw.

I'm not planning a homebirth since it's illegal here to have an assisted homebirth, but I am planning a "homebirth away from home" in a little house my midwife has just over the state line - 15 minutes from my house. That is, as long as we come up with the rest of the money for it. DH saved the money he'd gathered up for last one, since we never ended up needing to pay her. But he did have to dip into it recently, so we need to come up with a bit more, but we should be able to do it.

I'll be seeing an OB in tandem, just because my last birth was so preemie - I want to have an OB to go to if something happens again! But there's only 10-20% chance of that, so odds are that I should have my full term midwife attended birth. I wouldn't mind being in the hospital if they didn't have such stupid rules - like no walking after your water breaks, etc. But sometimes if you have the right OB (which I do), they will get around some of it. You do still have to have a hep lock if you refuse an IV - you can't be totally needleless in the that hospital. I hate needles. :irked:

[rainbowfairymomma]

Def another home birth here! :love
I couldn't imagine any other way! :)
My last babe was a VBAC so this will be my 2nd vaginal birth so hopefully it will go faster!!! (he was 25 hours)
Will have my midwife and doula there, they are AWESOME and very hands OFF! I'm excited to see them more now that I'm pregnant! :lol