[jlwagner]

We have a hopsital birth thread and an UC thread so I thought I'd start a homebirth (with midwife) one.<br><br>
This will be my second hb and I'm really really excited. With ds I switched from an OB to a hb mw at about 30 wks, so this time I super excited to have mw care for the whole pregnancy. It was such a struggle for me last time to make the decision to hb since it was my first birth and we were about 40 min from a hospital. It went beautifully though. This time is so nice because all of that uncertainty has been replaced with excitement. Now that I know what labor is like, I'm anxious to give it another go. Well... and a little nervous too, lol! Labor was no picnic!! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol"><br><br>
Anyway, who else is planning a hb? What are you thoughts? Is this your first hb? Anything else you want to add?

 

[Sihaya]

This will be my first baby and I am planning a homebirth. I am really excited and I love my midwife! We will be living in a one-bedroom apartment (about 600sf), but I'm not too worried about the neighbors hearing anything or the pool leaking or anything like that. I just hope 5-8 people (me, DH, mw, backup mw, mw's assistant, best friend, bf's DH, and baby!) in our tiny apt won't be too many.<br><br>
I've noticed on the hospital thread people talking about not being able to pay for a homebirth, so I'm wondering how the people who <i>are</i> planning hbs are dealing with this. Does your insurance cover it? Did you save up? Will you be trading your midwife for goods/services instead of money? Will you be setting up a payment plan over a longer period of time? One of the main reasons we were waiting to ttc was so we could save up $5000 for my pg and birth. It only took about 6 months and will cover the mw ($2500), prenatals, yoga, birth classes, hypnobabies, maternity clothes, and everything else I could think to plan for. We are, however, mostly counting on getting the little baby "stuff" we need from shower gifts and hand-me-downs.

 

[Mom2Wilmo]

I just found a group of midwives who do homebirth in my area today. I didn't think there were any. Last pregnancy I did a natural midwife assisted birth in a hospital. I was happy with the outcome but not happy with some things about my labor and delivery. I just assumed that it was my only option. The only reason why I may not be able to do a homebirth is that in my past pregnancies I got gestational diabeties at week 28. I was diet controlled and really doubt the accuracy of the test b/c my babies were small, I had no trouble keeping my blood sugar in check and even lost weight (1 pound a week) on the diet that they put you on. So that is my hurdle. I was questioning on if I should be upfront about the diabeties or not when I talked to her.<br>
Anywho- these midwife have you pay throughout the pregnancy and then have your insurance reimburse you if they cover it. I'm sure my insurance doesn't though. Stupid HMOs.<br>
Sorry to write a book here I just have al of these thoughts going on in my head about homebirth. I guess the short answer for me is that I would love to have a homebirth I just don't know if it will work out for me or not yet.

 

[kbuglove]

Most definitly I'm a homebirther, This will be my first. Luckily I've been a doula for years and been to many hosptial/homebirths/and birthing center births to witness many experiences.<br><br>
I will feel so comfortable and warm to have my baby at home with a midwife, my husband, family, and support. I know you have to be lucky to be able to have a great healthy low risk pregnancy and pray I can make it through!<br><br>
I would LOVE to have waterbirth, and will be renting a tub if home.<br><br>
I'm just lucky to have no fear about birth and be in total trust of myself and my midwife! I'm lucky to be living in SF where homebirth is widly accepted and practiced, but may be moving home to Atlanta, where there is still no certification for midwifery, but I'll still support homebirth there.

 

[lechepatito]

Another homebirther here - this will be my second. I can't wait!!!

 

[Quindin]

I had a wonderful Birth Center birth last time, so I decided that any other baby we had would be born at home!!<br><br>
DH had been negative about homebirths,but that was before the amazing birth center experience lat time. He was soooo happy about al of it: it was the first time he felt like he was participating, without any interference from know-it-all obgyns and nosy nurses!<br><br>
I am very excited about this! Heck, we are even considering unassisted homebirth! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol">:

 

[chann96]

We are hoping for a homebirth, but it's complicated. First, I need to get a level II u/s around 18 weeks to make sure the baby is healthy since my daughter has spina bifida. Second, the possibility exists that we will be moving from here (a hb friendly area) to MO where it is not homebirth friendly. I have been in contact with some mamas there and hb will definitely still be a possibility, but it becomes more complicated. Also if we move we will be very near family so a hb will be much more difficult to hide from them. They will not be supportive so my plan here was to try to not them know about it until after the fact. I don't think that will be possible if we move.<br><br>
Cost-wise I believe our insurance will cover the prenatal parts of things so we won't have to cover as much out-of-pocket.

 

[molive]

We're planning our second homebirth. I'm really looking forward to it, the first one was so wonderful. Intense of course, but so perfect. Last time it was just me, dh, midwife and assistant. This time, I'm considering inviting my mom, I don't know, just a thought. Any advice from ladies who've had family there at a homebirth? I did like the intimacy of just me and dh but I think my mother would really appreciate being there too.<br><br>
Cost-wise, my stupid idiot insurance doesn't cover any of my pregnancy. I'll have to use state insurance pregnancy coverage for my obgyn appointments. Which is no biggie, just a pain in the ass.<br>
The midwife charges $1500 for prenatals and the birth. I think that's completely reasonable and not too big of a deal. We can spread it out over the months if we want.

 

[*MamaJen*]

Homebirth for me, hopefully. I actually just booked my consultation with the midwife. Talking to her on the phone, she sounded super capable and sensible, but also very sweet. I think I'll feel comfortable with her.<br>
I talked to my boyfriend this morning, and he said he'd be comfortable with the home birth too. It's my choice, but I'm so glad he's been so supportive.<br>
This site is such an incredible resource, isn't it? I've been reading up on the birthing stories and it makes me feel so much more comfortable going with a home birth.

 

[Lizzardbits]

I saw my midwife today and so far it is a "go" for her that I have a homebirth. Little does she know that if she backs out, I will UC. I am soooo glad that my husband is 110% behind me and my NEED to homebirth!

 

[noah's mom]

Yup, hb here too - 2nd child, first homebirth. VERY excited - we have a super hb-friendly area here, I've interviewed several hb midwives already and have 1 more to talk to before making a final decision and starting my care.<br><br>
As far as costs, generally runs around $3K here - you can do some creative billing and get most of it reimbursed. For example, my ins covers midwife care for prenatals so the biller will code most of my care to prenatals. And whatever I dont' get back I will submit to my healthcare flex. So I should come out pretty good.

 

[raspberrymoondoula]

we're going uc, since our last one i just cant see having someone else at our birth tho i do think midwives are cool to have someone just to talk and vent to. i saw one for some prenatals last time and she was so cool just to chat with.

 

[Belleweather]

I'm *probably* having a homebirth. Since everything in our entire lives is up in the air right now (jobs, house, insurance, daycare, etc.) we don't know where we'll be living or what kind of insurance we'll have come the birth.<br><br>
If things stay exactly as they are, we'll have a homebirth with the same midwives we worked with when we had Elliot at the birth center, and it will be 100% covered by Medicaid. (Last time, since it was at the birth center, we had to pay a 'facility fee' of $1200 to birth there. Homebirth would save us that fee.)<br><br>
Otherwise, we'll have to see what the insurance covers... if it covers the facility fee for the birth center, we might consider doing that again because they have a TO DIE FOR tub/shower set up. If it doesn't, we'll homebirth. I don't care if the hospital is free -- unless there's an emergency, I'd rather give birth in a snow drift. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"> In my not-so-humble opinion, some things are worth the money, and a birth where you feel safe and cared for is about on the top of that list. We'd find some way to make it work -- last time we sold an old insurance policy of DH's for the money. This time, we'll save up, make payments, apply for a grant, and possibly put some of it on a credit card. But we'll make it work.

 

[raspberrymoondoula]

ya know i'd almot consider a birth center if 1. i werent a vbac and 2. they had an AWESOME birth tub lol<br>
i was watching house of babies today and i'm just like wo i want a tub like THAT to labor in lol

 

[mothragirl]

homebirther here.