Homebirth General Discussion #11

Freya: another option is to only begin seeing your IM a bit later in the pregnancy. I know many many people that have successfully done the bulk of pathology and scans etc through their BC or hospital and then after the 26 week bloods transferred the care to the IM. this can help reduce some of the fees (obviously not the big fees of the on call or birth fee).

Mirimum: oh crap :( what a horrid situation to be in :hug: i am hoping :pray: that there is a quick resolution for you, it is just so unjust to be facing such pressures and limitations xx

Thats what I was thinking Cassius, just starting my appointments with her from mid 2nd trimester (so 26w or 30w-34-36-38-40-birth). I think that would be enough time to build a rapport and be comfortable to birth under her care. I just feel really rude suggesting it :redface:

Are you able to pay the fees off after the birth?
We used our baby bonus payments to pay our midwife fees but they are half that much down here

Im not fussed on paying $5000 - hubby is a bit of a miser with money though. I think he would be cool with paying $3000 but not $5000. Being a single income family with what will be 4 children I can understand his worry, just puts me between a rock and a hard place.

ETA - so I bit the bullet and emailed them. One of their 3 fee structures is a min of 4 ante natal appointments at x amount of dollars each plus the birth at a reasonable cost plus x amount of dollars per post natal visit. Bit more doable for us so I asked if thats an option.

I'm trying to work out how we can still afford this HB after recent events :( I don't know how we can. Maybe a loan. I don't know. Already have payment plan but it's not enough, and plus the baby bonus is DH's time off of work :(

oh no PZ :( I know that DH and I were considering a loan for DD2s birth. In the end we were lucky to have a few things to ebay and managed to just scrape payments through. I really hope that there will be a way forward for you guys xx

Thanks babe. We've never been in debt before, always paid for everything in cash etc, so it's all unknown, but worth it for us if that's what it comes to.

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Freya: another option is to only begin seeing your IM a bit later in the pregnancy. I know many many people that have successfully done the bulk of pathology and scans etc through their BC or hospital and then after the 26 week bloods transferred the care to the IM. this can help reduce some of the fees (obviously not the big fees of the on call or birth fee).

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As I won't be back in Townsville until December the majority of my antenatal care would be done down here in Brissy so I thought I wouldn't have to pay too much either.

I got the same speel about rapport etc which I totally understand. I was told a similar thing (ie min of 4 antenatal app with the IM).

My plan was to have antenatal and postnatal care done through the hut and hire a midwife for birth care. I was intending on doing the last few weeks or care with the midwife however it's the birth fee's which are the killer!

It's $2000 for the first midwife and $1000 for the second which they prefer that a second midwife be present.

So for me it would work out to be around $3400 for 4 antenatal apps and birth support.

My DP has also refused to pay such high fees given that the midwife I was intending on havin for Reid was only going to cost about $1800 for the same type of care.

I totally get that it's a business and they have supplies to buy etc but I mean really, fee's such as these limit the options for women. I'm feeling really angry that money is now in the way of me being able to birth at home.

So I'm now in the same boat as Freya. I've also booked into the birth centre and it looks pretty good that I have a spot however I'm still going to plan to have the babe at home. I'll continue this until I'm absolutely sure that this is no longer an option.

I get that for some the money can be an issue, but it's not the MW we should get annoyed at for their fees it's the government for not covering it you know. Because when you think about it the time they are on call for your birth is a lot. Not speaking to anyone in particular just talking in general.

I mean we don't have a lot of money but I'd sell a leg to be able to birth at home because thats how important it is/was to me

Oh yes I totally understand that. I think we'd all agree that Homebirth should be a free option just as hospital and birth centre care is. But in the same token, I don't believe it should come at an almost unaffordable cost.

In this particular situation its not the
Midwife I'm annoyed at at all more the circumstances. Is there really a need to have a second midwife attend in all cases?

$1000 for an extra midwife is a lot of money when your already paying $2000 for the first mw as well as antenatal and postnatal appointments.

I guess I'm more annoyed at the fact that I'm in this situation where I've always said that I would birth the rest of my babies at home and now it seems I won't be able to. It's a frustrating situation to be in.

But as I said, I've got 21 weeks left to work something out. I'm not ready to give in that easy. :)

I find it sad that you don't have access to the program I do. I must admit SA home birth programs seem to be some of the best and most available and they are public.

Of course they have requirements which are understandable. 30min from hospital, not high risk etc but I don't have to pay anything for mine.

Sara: woah. that is a really high fee. i reckon the fact that HB does cost so much is one of the many reasons why the HB rate here in Oz is so low.

PZ: yeah for us it would of had to of been a loan if we couldnt of scraped through; my PTSD after DD1s birth ensured that lol. but like you, we had never taken out a loan and it was soo scary to think about.

I was just thinking the same thing Cassius, that if homebirth were more accessible financially it might become a viable option for alot of people.

I know our health insurance covers some homebirth but Im not entirely sure about the legalities of it. So I guess Id better call and sus it out. $3400 would be doable for us and I think hubby wouldn't really balk at that esp if our PHI covered some of it.

Although Im also not sure why there needs to be a second midwife if everything looks to be going ok; the second midwife barely made it to my last birth and she pretty much just took photo's for us.

I think they like to have one for the baby and one for the mum. So if you both need assistance after birth they don't have to choose.

As an aside my first birth cost $800 and my partner was horrified. Second was $1000 and third was $2000 so it's gone up each time.
This time our midwife is waiving her fees as I've hired a private ob to try and ensure a vb with twins and my midwife will be my support.
The ob is costing us way more than hb and we have no phi but I want the continuity to try and make sure I get the birth I'm after

My fees were $5k, an extra $500 on normal so I could have all home visits, not just the third tri ones. PHI covers $3k.

I think the 2nd m/w is important, but it didn't cost extra in our case (1st m/w must put some of our fee to her).

It's a shame it isn't more affordable, but with so few (relatively) m/ws available and no govt support it's hardly surprising. Although, our first birth (c/s in private hospital with private ob six years ago) I think still left us out of pocket more than the HB, despite PHI. Once you add the $500 hospital excess, the $350ish for surgical assistant and then I think about $1k for the ob, whatever was the gap for the anaesthetist (sure I've forgotten something), you're on a par. With a much less desirable outcome!!

Private m/w for home is a similar cost comparison to private ob in hospital. You're paying for that extra level of care (supposedly!). What we need are more home birth services through our public health care system. With less rules IMHO. Women should be able to choose whichever they want and then it's up to the care providers to accept them or not, based on their expertise and comfort in the so-called risks.

None of us VBAC mummas would be able to access a hospital HB program. And VBAC risks are lower than repeat c/s, which is about 85% likely to happen in hospital.

Plus, none of the HB m/ws I know are driving around Mercs, living in waterfront mansions or sending their kids to private schools. ;)

My hb cost $4000. All home visits pre and post natal included. I could have had 2nd midwife too, but I elected not to. I worked the census during my pregnancy and that paid for a chunk of my bill. We paid some off during pregnancy and finished it off after when I sold my car. Completely worth it. My midwife only just made the birth, but her expertise during the pregnancy and after ds was born were invaluable.
I don't know if dh would haveappreciated the benefits of hb and my im during the pregnancy but I reckon he would understand the costs were justified if you asked him now.

I was never in any doubt that it was worth the cost.