We are in a similar position. We are also struggling financially right now. It won't be forever, but for the next few months it certainly will be. DH and I have discussed it at length, and have decided to take out our first loan for this birth. Our other options are not viable; the hospital I am zoned to is not a good option for us and how we see pregnancy and birth, and we don't drive, so we can't even get to a hospital ourselves. Not sure if that's an option for you. We're still debating whether to borrow from our bank (who will give us the loan we need, but we're dubious as we've never needed a loan before) or borrow from MIL, which would work well but would probably have repercussions as she's a bit odd. Would that be an option for you guys? It's certainly not the best option out there, but for us it's the only functional one
Just wanted to add that you can also claim the out of pocket obs fees on your next tax return. As somebody else mentioned, the Medicare rebate is capped and reduced from what it used to be, however, you can get about 20% of the remaining out of pocket expenses back at tax time.
Also, if you have an 'elect' c/s (as in, not being given a choice), it's going to make caring for twins and older siblings that much harder in the first few weeks due to the longer recovery. Just beware too, that if you get DH on board to agreeing to the costs etc and you end up having an emergency c/s for whatever reason, that he doesn't get cranky at the end of the day for spending the money and not having a vaginal delivery. We just went private so that I could try VBA2C and ended up getting pre-eclampsia at 40 weeks and a repeat c/s. Luckily DH wasn't phased about any of it, but I can see the potential for $ being an issue if you ended up having an emerg c/s. So might be worthwhile really stressing the importance of your birth wishes and not feeling like you're being pushed into something that you may not need, regardless of the outcome in the end. It's the journey and your wishes that's important throughout. Wishing you all the best!
woops. Also forgot to mention that I know a few mums that have had successful vaginal deliveries of their twins. I'm not sure where you live but one mum had hers at Bendigo Base (public hospy).
Just thought I'd mention the Medicare tax offset of 20% only applies to out of pocket costs after the first $2060. I am not sure it would apply here (unless you have other high out of pocket medical expenses).
I have 10.5month old twins and am also a student mid. My twin birth was intervention free, no continuous monitoring, no drugs, no induction, physiological thrid stage, whole labour in shower, both babies born in shower and dh caught twin 1. I fought very hard and had to refuse a lot of things to get the birth i wanted,, had the head ob fromthe whole region sitting out at the desk (which i didnt know until months later) as i was so "non-compliant". You have to remember there are hospital policies clah blah blah but in a public hospital they have no right to refuse care, its negligence, almost all hospitals say they "don't do breech birth" but legally they HAVE to do breech vaginal birth if a woman refuses a c/s. I think if you have your mw who you trust and can advise you then you could go to a public hosp and have the birth you want. I can understand firs thand every one of your worries and am more than happy to chat with you if there is anything you want to talk about.
P.S There is nothing quite like birthing a baby, experiencing that major high and then knowing its not over and you get to experence it all again!! amazing, congrats!!
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