[sbm1001]

I'm currently seeing the mw who caught my last ds at home. Right now we're taking on a huge mortgage & I'm feeling SO stressed at the thought of spending a significant amount of money when I know for a fact my ins. co. won't pay a penny back of it to me. There's a few highly recommended CNM's in my area who take my ins. & I'm considering interviewing them.

My concern with having a hospital birth vs. a homebirth is at home I'm guaranteed I won't be having a c/s (not unless I'm transfered) but if I choose to birth at a hospital my chances of walking away without another c/s dwindle considerably. I'll do ANYTHING to avoid another c/s but this is putting a strain on us fianancially so I'm not sure what to do.

I guess this is a complaint more than anything. I'm just confused because I want the homebirth mainly to avoid the c/s but I want to help out with the financial burden if I can, too. Anyone been here? This sucks.

:

Shannon

 

[Fuamami]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbm1001 I'm currently seeing the mw who caught my last ds at home. Right now we're taking on a huge mortgage & I'm feeling SO stressed at the thought of spending a significant amount of money when I know for a fact my ins. co. won't pay a penny back of it to me. There's a few highly recommended CNM's in my area who take my ins. & I'm considering interviewing them. My concern with having a hospital birth vs. a homebirth is at home I'm guaranteed I won't be having a c/s (not unless I'm transfered) but if I choose to birth at a hospital my chances of walking away without another c/s dwindle considerably. I'll do ANYTHING to avoid another c/s but this is putting a strain on us fianancially so I'm not sure what to do. I guess this is a complaint more than anything. I'm just confused because I want the homebirth mainly to avoid the c/s but I want to help out with the financial burden if I can, too. Anyone been here? This sucks. : Shannon

Hey Shannon, I too live in Nevada, and I too feel I am paying an exorbitant amount to the midwife. We're self-insured, so we're paying out of pocket either way, but I'm paying the midwife a mere $500 less than I would pay both the OB and Saint Mary's (we're in Reno) if we prepaid.

Can you negotiate with the MW? Barter? Put it on a credit card? And what kind of guarantees can you get from the CNMs on no c/s? If your last birth was vaginal, it seems like you're in pretty good shape to avoid a c/s. Was it a VBAC?

 

[sbm1001]

I had one of my kids up in Reno, only at Washoe Med. That was my c/s, actually. I figure it'd cost almost as much with deductables if I end up having a repeat c/s.

I don't even want to go that route! I figure with a CNM I have a better shot at less interventions & I'll have a better chance of walking out of the hospital without having had another c/s.

I'm paying the minimum to my mw as it is. She has a sliding scale of $2200-3600. Right now I just can't wrap my mind around paying it again (we just had a homebirth with her last Sept.), knowing we won't see any of it again. I know her services are so valuable but my main reason for seeing her instead of an OB is to avoid the surgical aspect of it all.

I could put it on a CC but dh would rather pay cash. We actually have the money but my dh is the only one working & he's on 100% commission so you never know when you're going to need that extra $2200. I can't bring myself to part with it. She takes payments up until 36 weeks but I've only paid her $300 so far. I find it to be such a huge waste to pay every month for our insurance & never use it, too.

I haven't met with any of the CNM's yet. There will be no guarantee's from them, though. If they don't think I'm a good candidate for a VBAC they won't take me, though. So at least I'll know that way. My last birth was a VBAC & it went really smoothly. I'm confidant it'll be the same case if I stay at home. It's going to the hospital where they try to push every last intervention on you that worry's me. I know I can say "no" but when you're in the moment it's not as easy & my dh isn't a good advocate unless I inform him of what to do in advance, but you can't predict everything.

Maybe I'm just over-thinking this.

Thanks for being a sounding-board, anyway.

Where in Reno are you? We moved to So. NV about 3 years ago from there. We were in the southwest end of town near the Atlantis. We still have family right over there, too.

Shannon

 

[prettypixels]

Are all CNM's in NV associated with hospitals? My CNM here in MD has hospital priviledges, but focuses on doing home births...

I will be happier when women throughout this country have more real options for their births!!!!

 

[sbm1001]

All CNM's here legally cannot attend homebirth's. My current mw is a CPM & all she does is homebirth's. She's not allowed any rights in a hospital as a mw. She can come with us if we need a transfer & act as a doula but nothing more.

Shannon

 

[jamsmama]

I had to transfer to the hospital for my last birth and didn't have to have a c/s. Going to the hospital doesn't mean having to have a c/s because you HAVE choices, no matter how much they want to take them away from you. When I transferred they threatened me for 10 solid hours about a c/s and I stood my ground and had the vaginal birth that I wanted. Thankfully I had a nurse that worked with me on the "stomp, stomp, squat" exercise for 45 minutes and got that baby down! Good luck with your decision. I'm facing the same thing, but I'm going to sit down and have a heart-to-heart with my CPM and see if she can hold of on us giving her any money until we get our tax money in February.

 

[sbm1001]

I've never heard of the stomp, stomp, squat exercise before. Interesting!

I talked to my CPM during my last pg about delaying payment until a certain time & she told me she stopped allowing people to do this because 90% of the time if she hadn't been paid the full amount by the time of the birth she didn't get paid the rest.

Sucks, but I can understand her POV. Hopefully yours will be more open to it!

I know being transfered doesn't necessarily mean a c/s but I can picture them working on my dh when they can't get very far with pressuring me. If they convince him delaying a c/s is putting the baby in danger, or a number of other scare tactics they like to use, & he starts to pressure me too.....ugh!! I can really see it happening.

I just need to have a positive outlook, I think. That & a good CNM & an open-minded backup OB & a well-oiled birth plan & maybe even a doula. At least I have some time to work that all out.

Shannon