Pre-Pregnancy Natural Birth Consultation?
OrangeGrove
member
Did you pay for a consultation with your midwife, doula, etc. before you started services with them?
I'm TTC and have a brief window of time at work to select an insurance plan, so I asked a local natural birth practice with good reviews for their input (would love to get anything reimbursed by insurance that can be). The childbirth educator there (not a midwife or doula) recommended a consultation with her in which this and other questions I have can be addressed. I figured I would wait until I'm actually pregnant to engage someone's services and most of the logistics are covered on the practice's website. This would be my first pregnancy and I'm wondering if this pre-pregnancy consultation is necessary and/or helpful, and if charging a fee is standard. This particular person charges $50 an hour with a 2-hour minimum for a consultation.
Would love to hear your experience and input!
Re: Pre-Pregnancy Natural Birth Consultation?
If you are wanting a homebirth, I'd start interviewing now. They fill up super fast so you almost have to call them as you are POAS LOL! If you already know who you'd like to hire, then you don't have to go through the interview process as they are filling up for each month.
Doulas, I'd wait on. I'm a doula and have never had anyone call me as they are TTC. Then again, maybe one could offer some support each month.
We plan on meeting with some CPM's in he area as soon as we TTC number two. Like pp said I want to be on the phone with them as soon as we get a bfp. I want to make sure we get the midwife we want!
We talked to our CPM on the phone and went to an open house night to get to know her and ask some basic questions and see if we were a fit in terms of personality and philosophy. There was no charge.
That said, I did meet with an OB in my last pregnancy to see if he might order a few things that CPMs cannot in my state for me without otherwise providing services. I paid for that office visit. He was not a fit for us. So, I did a telephone consult with an another OB to ask those same questions and that one did not charge.
More Green For Less Green
We met with the homebirth consultant at our home over the weekend. She is an unlicensed midwife, doula and birth educator with many years experience. She was very nice and gave us lots of resources, staying well over the 2 hours paid for. My husband and I both found ourselves getting a little antsy after 2 hours though as the session seemed to focus more on the various sociocultural factors associated with our country's birthing practices more than logistics of homebirth prenatal care, pregnancy and aftercare. I appreciate that information, but it started to feel preachy after awhile.
As to be expected she praised homebirths and provided disturbing information about hospital practices and CS stats in our local area; it truly it disappointing how we as a culture have made childbirth seems like illness or something to fear and intervene with. I found the small portion of logistical information most helpful, like the how/when/who of prenatal care and the actual birth process. I was a little off-put by the all the lovey-dovey, hippy-dippy language (for example, she kept saying things, "when you two make love and your conscious sperm meets the conscious egg" - I HATE the expression 'make love' - lol!) and I could have done without the video clip of a woman having an orgasmic birth. I also didn?t appreciate her opinion that one parent should plan on staying home to care for the child until they are school-aged.
I am glad we got the consultation though. I like to have information about all options before making a major decision. The meeting confirmed for my husband and I that that the practices associated with a homebirth are inline with our own intuitions and values (e.g., being allowed to labor however mom is comfortable, minimal medical intervention, exploration of alternative pain management options, fostering contact between mom and baby immediately after birth, etc.)
Clearly, homebirth requires complete trust in your body, the process of birth, and those you employ to help you. Unfortunately, I am just not that confident and this is undoubtedly due to all those sociocultural influences our society fosters. I doubt whether I could get to that place of unwavering trust in the process, and myself as I am already anxious about pregnancy and birth. The homebirth clips she showed us compounded these feelings. I am now thinking a natural hospital or birth center birth would be best for me when the time comes. As I am not currently pregnant I have plenty of time to stew on this though. I'll start looking into these other resources next.
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