Comments on: What’s Really Keeping You From a Homebirth?

By: NJ_Mom

NJ_Mom — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:37:00 +0000

I agree with Amazon. I had an excellent, natural first birth in a hospital in NJ. I didn’t have to do anything extraordinary to have it that way, either. My water broke at midnight and I called my doc when my contractions were a few mins apart, hubby and I drove in, and out popped my daughter an hour later. They put me on the monitor for only 5 minutes when I arrived to check the baby’s heartbeat, and then I was up and free to do as I pleased until the doc said it was time to push. The nursing staff told me that they love moms like me! And this large medical center provides intense support for breastfeeding and free, round-the-clock access to lactation consultants. Had there been complications, I would have had the resources available, if needed. I had no fear about birth, whatsoever – until my water broke and my legs turned to jelly (OMG, this is really it!!) – and I couldn’t have ordered a better experience.

By: Ann

Ann — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 23:17:00 +0000

Totally random but it was the noise. I lived in an apartment building! I went to a stand alone birth center instead, until I got very, very sick, and so did my son. But it was in steps where I was in control for each decision. That’s what matters. But yeah, self consciousness can make a lot of women decide to go elsewhere!~

By: guest

guest — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 21:51:00 +0000

Granted I’m not in the USA, but I wanted a homebirth. I wanted one, but couldn’t find a midwife to attend me at home. Everywhere I turned, I was told it was illegal and that anyone who attended a homebirth where either the mother or baby died would be held legally responsible. Yes, I transferred responsibility from friends (who would have refused to attend me unassisted at home) to the hospital. I had to choose between having a hospital birth or going completely unassisted (and I mean completely–just me and the baby). In the end I chose the hospital, and I have an unnecessary low transverse uterine scar to prove it, too.

By: MamaV

MamaV — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:28:00 +0000

We came to this conclusion as well. Being able to birth at home with the caregiver we wanted felt like a long-term investment. It was worth every penny we would have had to shell out of pocket. We started saving (and asking family for help) as we followed through the appeals process for our insurance company. After a lot of time, phone calls, letters written, conversations, persistence, and being as annoying as we could, our insurance company covered both of our home births!

By: MamaV

MamaV — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:22:00 +0000

Our insurance company didn’t originally cover our home births either, but with persistence and time, we followed the appeals process and eventually ended up having both covered for 80% of the total cost. Our midwife was willing to drop the remaining 20% (she also charged the insurance company more than she would charge us, knowing that we wouldn’t get the full amount). Two home births: free.

I find the insurance argument to be yet another excuse for a lot of women who can afford to cover the first few payment installations until the insurance money comes in. There’s always a way if you ask questions, push, talk to the right people, write down in one place all conversations and names and dates, and persist through the appeals process. One of the only honest insurance folks we talked to even admitted to the fact that she was required at her level to automatically deny our claim but that if we continued through the appeals process (which most people usually end up giving up on), we’d get what we wanted. She was right! We proved that home birth was the best option for us and shared stats demonstrating that it was as safe (or safer) AND cheaper than a hospital birth, and it worked.

It was worth the process for us, if only to be able to set the precedent for other people (and for our future births) and as a matter of principle. We can’t let money and especially insurance companies dictate our choices.

By: Kari

Kari — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:16:12 +0000

I want to have a home birth very much. I had my first 3 in the hospital, and had made the decision to have a home birth next time. But then i had an unexpected breech birth with my 3rd, ended up with a surprise c-section, and now am facing a different circumstance.

I am so afraid that I will choose a home birth out of selfish reasons, to see if I can really “do it”, to truly experience childbirth; and I will be that small 1% that experiences a uterine rupture, and I will lose my baby, maybe even my own life. And for what? To prove something to myself? I could just get another c-section and have a safe, relatively uneventful delivery. There are some disappointments in life, and we can't have it all…would I rather miss out on the birth experience, or lose a child?

I am afraid.

By: runthegamut

runthegamut — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:39:09 +0000

I've been rejected by every midwife in the area. I could expand my circle by a couple of hours and possibly find one, but I'm not comfortable with that distance. I could travel to someone else's house and use one of these midwives, but that defeats the purpose of HOME birth to me. I have considered a traveling midwife, but I've always been suspicious of how that works. Right now, my plan is to have a monitrice at home as long as possible.

By: Erin

Erin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:15:43 +0000

I did finally choose homebirth for my third and fourth pregnancies but I will tell you why I did not choose homebirth sooner. Even after I became fully informed and had done a tremendous amount of research, I still had a hard time letting go of societal influence and accepting something that was so far against the grain. It seemed like such an uphill battle – there were no midwives in my area *legally* able to attend homebirths, it cost so much more than my completely free hospital birth, my husband was totally against the idea, and I had lost a lot of faith in my body after having a one hospital birth where I went 18 days past my due date without any dilation or effacement (100% sure of my dates) and then being induced after failing an NST/BPP and giving birth to a baby showing every sing of post maturity. I think a woman has to be very confident in her choice in order to go underground, shell out $$ all the while changing her husband's ideas as well. I felt that I could have my 'homebirth in a hospital' by educating myself, hiring a doula and making different choices within the hospital system. I did it. I had my natural hospital birth complete with no IV, not even a heplock, pushed my baby out on all fours….but I learned the hard way that there really is no such thing as a homebirth in a hospital. It really took realizing that to gain the strength within to do what was best for my future babies by giving birth at home.

By: enjoybirth

enjoybirth — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 03:09:12 +0000

Thank you for talking about this. I agree, I think that you are right, it is fear that is holding women back from so many things in their births. You ask some great questions to get moms thinking about what they may be afraid of and anything else that may be holding them back.

I just did a post on some other ideas to help moms move past their fears. http://enjoybirth.com/blog/2010/08/05/does-moth...

It may be helpful for moms who want to make choices based on information and intuition instead of fears.

By: Tara

Tara — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 17:49:29 +0000

Lack of access to a midwife. They are illegal in my state.