- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Natural Birth
Home Birth Questions
Hi Ladies!
I need some information regarding home birth because I cannot get approved for any type of private insurance or government program. 
This is my first child, so the entire pregnancy/childbirth experience is new to me.
I'm unsure of how to go about coordinating a home birth as far as hiring medical personnel, a plan for complications should they arise, and I'm unsure of what a home birth typically costs. I'm also unsure if prenatal care/tests/ultrasounds would be a part of my care or not.
I wanted a water birth with no medical interventions or pain medications unless necessary.
Any help would be much appreciated! TIA!
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Home Birth Questions
I've looked up a couple in my area, and one has already replied with her pricing for those who are uninsured! Her price is $3000 which includes prenatal care, delivery, and postpartum appointments. She also does tub rentals, but I may just get one myself depending on what her rental price is.
What is this kit you are referring to? Is this something that you are getting through your midwife? What is in this kit?
Thank you so much for the information! I feel a lot better about the affordability of a midwife after inquiring at local places and what your midwifes rate is. I really appreciate your response!
My midwife was around $3000 for prenatal care, delivery and three postpartum visits. That also included all the blood work we did, urine test strips, etc. but not ultrasounds. I had my anatomy scan done before I transfered to a HB midwife, but if I'd wanted it done as her patient she would have sent me somewhere else - I think she said it would have been around $400. Obviously, if you have to transfer to a hospital they will have their own fees, but if you are uninsured they usually give you a decent rate and allow you to set up a payment plan if you can't cover the costs all at once. Your midwife should know which hospital she'd prefer to transfer you to (for a non-emergent situation) and which is closest in an emergency - or maybe they're the same
My midwife had two hospitals on the list for us but thankfully we didn't need to transfer.
We had two kits to get - one was a pre-fab thing online that she put together and we needed to order. That included things like chux pads (sp?) gloves, steril lube, clamp for the cord, stretchy hat for the baby, hospital-ish pads, mesh undies, etc. We also had a list of supplies to get from regular stores - I think we were able to get everything at Target and that included tea, white paper towels & a crock pot (she used it to make compresses for my ladybits while I was pushing), trash bags, plastic bins, Gatorade, flashlight w/extra batteries, tin foil, newborn outfit, receiving blankets...things like that. Oddly enough gather all that random stuff for our birth was my favorite part!
Good luck with your planning!
The lady that has emailed me back already said I'd have to get ultrasounds somewhere else (she has a list of places.) So I'm kinda worried about that, just because if it's super expensive we won't be able to get ultrasounds. I know we'll have to work something out with a hospital if I end up needing a transfer, but I'm hoping that doesn't happen.
Definitely good to know about those kits! Thanks for all of those details.
I have come up with another set of questions though...
How do I obtain a birth certificate in the case of a home birth? And how exactly do we go about getting newborn vaccinations/tests done?
I'm completely clueless in this whole pregnancy/birth process. But it's my first baby so I guess that's normal? lol.
I paid out of pocket for my anatomy scan (the place my midwife uses doesn't take insurance) and it cost about $80, I think. Under $100, for sure.
Birth certificate - My midwife files the necessary paperwork to officiallyr egister the birth with the state, although I'm responsible for ordering a copy of the actual birth certificate. I discovered this when DS was about 18 months old and we wanted to apply for his passport and realized I didn't have a birth certificate
But it was very easy to request one. This may vary from midwife to midwife, and/or from state to state.
Newborn tests - My midwife administers vitamin K and eye ointment if you want it, and does the initial newborn exam. She also does the standard newborn screening (the heel stick) at 2 days and 2 weeks. My pediatrician does all vaccines.
Mommy to DD1 (June 2007), DS (January 2010), DD2 (July 2012), and The Next One (EDD 3/31/2015)
Yep, this is what I am doing as well. My MW recommended off-site centers that are good about getting everything she needs and making sure she gets the paperwork in a timely manner. She also only requires on ultrasound at or around 20 weeks.
You really should only need the 18 week anatomy scan, unless there are other issues...and if there are other issues you might not be eligible for a home birth anyway. With my first pregnancy (hospital birth with midwives) I had 1 u/s at 18 weeks and with my second pregnancy (home birth) I had one at 9 weeks for dating and another at 18 weeks. I pretty much did the 9 week one for fun because even though I wasn't exactly sure of my dates, I had a pretty good idea of when we conceived. If I had been seeing my HB midwife already I doubt I would have had it done. Hopefully the cost won't be prohibitive, but if you're not saving already you should start. There may be unexpected costs, even with a home birth.
My midwife filled out the paperwork for DS's birth certificate and I had to bring it in to our town clerk. They filled out another paper and sent it into Boston and then I just had to wait for the "official record" to come back to our town so I could request a copy. You should be able to get the SSN at the same time as the birth certificate, DS's didn't go through for some reason (I probably forgot to check the box that said I wanted it) but to fix that we just have to go to a social security office and apply in person. It's a bit of a hassel, but really no big deal. We only need it now to get him as a deduction on our taxes
My midwife did all the newborn screening except hearing. My pedi did everything else including vaccinations. You might want to double check with your midwife, but I think most of them are able to do the newborn screening and blood test.
Thank you all again!
I will be going in to talk to some midwives I'm considering. I just wanted some idea of how basic things usually work since there are no midwives in my area. The closest ones are all an hour away. We'll be moving before the birth, so distance won't be a factor then but it is right now.
All of the information has been so helpful and I feel like a home birth will not be as complicated to coordinate as I originally thought. Thank you all!
Just some more data points for you:
Our MW's fee was $4000. That included all the prenatal appts, birth, and 3-4 PP visits. They did all the newborn exams so really we didn't have to take DS to see a pediatrician until 2 weeks old.
We got an anatomy scan ultrasound done separately (MW put in the order) and it ran around $200 (our insurance ended up covering it, a nice surprise). I called around to price out a few places first.
We filled out our own birth cert paperwork. We had to call the MN Dept of Health after the baby was born to request them to mail the paperwork to us, then we filled it in, got it notarized (i think), and mailed it in.
Our midwife did the heel stick/PKU test, but we had to order the screening card (on which they put the blood sample) ourselves in advance from the state. That cost about $110. In the end, our midwives were unable to get an adequate sample from the heel stick (our son clotted up too quickly, despite no Vit. K shot), which they have never had happen). So we had to take him in for an intravenous draw to get the sample. (the MWs were able to get our $110 refunded for the card that didn't take).
I wanted to take him to the Children's hospital for that because they do babies all the time, rather than our clinic where I was concerned they might not be as good at poking newborns. That was a big hassle to get the order in from our pediatrician's office, with DS being an out of hospital birth and not yet in their system, and my regular pedi was on maternity leave. I had to really push to get a nurse to fax the order in to Children's. That was probably the biggest hassle we faced due to birthing at home. I mean, come on--I"m just trying to get this newborn screening test done that is required by the state. Fax the dang order already!
We also scheduled the hearing test with an audiologist at the local clinic, at about 2-3 weeks old (they say to do it within 1 month old, I recall). I got asked several times why we were doing it ("did he fail the initial test at the hospital?" "no, he was born at home.") but it wasn't a big deal.
They don't really need any vaccinations at birth. Typically the Hep B is offered but we've always done that later at a pedi visit when they are older.