So, I posted the isurance part of this in the frugality forum. I'm wavering on my homebirth-iness. Our insurance is so expensive and it kills me to not even use it. Our midwife is not expensive for our area ($2400) and I really like them and DH likes them and eveything is just peachy, but there is no way insurance will pay.<br><br>
Between insurance premiums and homebirth we'll be spending like a quarter of DH's gross income on healthcare. I thought about cheap insurance, but then if I do need to transport I'll be stuck iwth not only the midwife fees but also like a 5k deductible. No way in heck can we we afford $7400 for the birth!<br><br>
But every time I even try to think about a hospital birth I end up in tears. I can't even imagine being in labor in a hospital. It's just so public and so cold and so ick. Dh and the midwives keep trying to assure me that I'm worth it, but y'know I'm worth full-time staying at home with babe and having a nice house--we can't afford it. I wonder if this mightn't be one of the times it can't be about what I'm worth and itneeds to be about what we can realistically afford.<br><br>
But ick, a hospital birth? With strangers and who knows whhat weird stuff.<br><br>
MY old doctor is an osteopath though who works out of an all osteopahtic hospital. I tried to call the doctor today to set up a consult just to talk and ended up talking to an L&D nurse at the hosptial instead (stupid insurance directories!), and she talke dto me for like half an hour and was really nice and got very heated about how frustrating it is to see these women who insist on repeat c-sections bc it's easier; I mentioned how my mom has always had problems from havign so many (unnecessary) sections and she totally into it and talking about how frustrating it is when celebs get elective c-sections and how she likes the osteopathic hospital bc they don't do things like you consent to epi in advance.<br><br>
But she also said that their section rate is about 25%, although half at least are elective repeats (I didn't ask about v-bac policies, but I got the impression that they tend to encourage v-bac there). I mean, if i'm gonna go to a hospital, this is definitely the hosptial to go to.<br><br>
And just to put the icing on the cake I found that my dr and the otehr woman in the practice split off from the three old school interventionist men in the practice and hired to more female D.O.'s, so if I did go with her, there would always be a woman from the practice on call (unless she was busy and I got stuck with Dr. Random).<br><br>
But I just can't even picture mysefl being relaxed and birthing a baby in a hospital. I can picture being delivered of a baby, but actively birthing a baby in front of all those people--no way. I'll just get tense and shut down. I *know* that unless I could, by some miracle, find a way to be comfortable in the hospital, if will be dangerous for me and the baby to be in a hospital.<br><br>
So i dunno what to do.....<br>
Sorry this is so long and ranty. I'm so upset about the whole thing.
Between insurance premiums and homebirth we'll be spending like a quarter of DH's gross income on healthcare. I thought about cheap insurance, but then if I do need to transport I'll be stuck iwth not only the midwife fees but also like a 5k deductible. No way in heck can we we afford $7400 for the birth!<br><br>
But every time I even try to think about a hospital birth I end up in tears. I can't even imagine being in labor in a hospital. It's just so public and so cold and so ick. Dh and the midwives keep trying to assure me that I'm worth it, but y'know I'm worth full-time staying at home with babe and having a nice house--we can't afford it. I wonder if this mightn't be one of the times it can't be about what I'm worth and itneeds to be about what we can realistically afford.<br><br>
But ick, a hospital birth? With strangers and who knows whhat weird stuff.<br><br>
MY old doctor is an osteopath though who works out of an all osteopahtic hospital. I tried to call the doctor today to set up a consult just to talk and ended up talking to an L&D nurse at the hosptial instead (stupid insurance directories!), and she talke dto me for like half an hour and was really nice and got very heated about how frustrating it is to see these women who insist on repeat c-sections bc it's easier; I mentioned how my mom has always had problems from havign so many (unnecessary) sections and she totally into it and talking about how frustrating it is when celebs get elective c-sections and how she likes the osteopathic hospital bc they don't do things like you consent to epi in advance.<br><br>
But she also said that their section rate is about 25%, although half at least are elective repeats (I didn't ask about v-bac policies, but I got the impression that they tend to encourage v-bac there). I mean, if i'm gonna go to a hospital, this is definitely the hosptial to go to.<br><br>
And just to put the icing on the cake I found that my dr and the otehr woman in the practice split off from the three old school interventionist men in the practice and hired to more female D.O.'s, so if I did go with her, there would always be a woman from the practice on call (unless she was busy and I got stuck with Dr. Random).<br><br>
But I just can't even picture mysefl being relaxed and birthing a baby in a hospital. I can picture being delivered of a baby, but actively birthing a baby in front of all those people--no way. I'll just get tense and shut down. I *know* that unless I could, by some miracle, find a way to be comfortable in the hospital, if will be dangerous for me and the baby to be in a hospital.<br><br>
So i dunno what to do.....<br>
Sorry this is so long and ranty. I'm so upset about the whole thing.
