Homebirth General Discussion #12

Congrats Cricket!!! Another little bug on its way.

(Although I must admit I am now at the stage where AF is a relief each month... :hide:)

I'll just hang around and see if the same bug catches us in a couple of years, if you don't mind. ;)

DD2 had her birthday party on the weekend and had a ball. It's fun having a one year old around again. Makes me look forward to all the things I know are coming in the next couple of years that we enjoyed so much with DD1.

Must get to work now, the holidays are pretty much over for me!

Yay 2 hb pg announcements for 2013 and we are only one week in!
Huge congratulations to WM and cricket, hoping for happy healthy pregnancies for you both :D

LBF I haven't had a lot of experience with heartburn but other than just bicarb you can get eno which is actually just bicarb, sodium carbonate and citric acid but has a lemony flavour so its kinda easier to drink than just plain bicarb ;)

Cassius thanks for thinking of me sweet. I'm doing alright, somedays I get a little down and worry about her quite a bit but I'm definitely trying to do all I can to help things along. Have ultrasound booked for Thursday week so i guess ill know at least a little more by then. On the plus side I can definitely feel a lot more movement now so she's strong enough to kick through and around anterior placenta now, that eases some worry usually :)

Sara hope you're feeling well and more relaxed about things as each day passes.

Jennifer hang around as long as you want (in my opinion!) your experience encouragement and insight are bound to keep helping women in here!

wahoo! :dance: another baby for our group!!

I TOTALLY love how our 2013 list is growing all big and strong already!!! how amazing!

Cricket: congrats again! wishing you a beautiful, joyous pregnancy!

HMS: the kicking has to be a good thing! she's getting stronger and bigger, no matter what! goodluck for the upcoming scan :goodluck:

Thanks for the congrats ladies. :) This was a bit of a shock to us - we were hoping for a LITTLE more time in between babies, but I am healthy and strong, back below my pre-pregnant weight (it's been a 10 year battle, interrupted by pregnancy... Finally at a healthy weight now!) and starting to wrap my mind around the news. Doing a little online shopping/looking at all the cute maternity stuff available this season. I'm hoping for an early dating scan, and if all is well there, then we might go ahead an announce this bean to friends and family. Trying to hide morning sickness while caring for 6 small people is going to be tough!

WM - Congratulations to you too! Glad to have a HB belly buddy. :)

Just joining in here! I've been in contact with three different IMs to start the homebirth process, and I'm getting very excited! I'm hoping one just really stands out as perfect so it won't make the decision hard, but I don't know how I'll say no to the others, I'm no good at that stuff lol.

Welcome, sepata! What month are you due?

Hi sepata, welcome. Lovely to see another person planning to hb in September. We can share stories and questions.

Congrats cricket and sepata!

Thanks! Due in September :)

Hi Sepata! Congratulations! Another belly buddy - September is filling up fast! :)

I called my midwives and they said "They'd try to fit me in." Gulp. Here's hoping they try hard! They are figuring on an August 30 due date right now though, since that's what my LMP says, but I'm pretty sure I'm due somewhere in early to mid-September. That should help them find me a spot, I think. We really could use some more midwives around here! I have a message from the hospital also to book my dating scan, so I'll call them back as soon as they open this morning.

Hope everyone is feeling well. The news tells me that it's been blazing hot in AUS lately, and that the wildfires are crazy. (It's a cold snowy winter here in Canada) I hope you all are safe!

welcome to the new home birthers!!!

as for me chugging along slowly.. 27 weeks now. Have this feeling that I prob wont end up a home birth due to previous pg issues such as high BP etc, and Im ok with that. This may sound weird seeing as I am planning a home birth but it has always been a back up plan for me if everything goes right with the pg LOL and as its baby #4 and I havent had a non induced birth yet(besides my first one and that was about to be induced) and unfort we have had one BP reading which was high already at 24 weeks and my base number is creeping up again.
By back up I mean since my labors are pretty fast, if I do go into labor at home I am not getting in the car and I want to have the supplies stored at my house JIC

Hope this doesnt bother any HB, im pretty laid back and just want baby to be here healthy and safe. I trust my body and my midwives so I trust if they suggest anything thatat they wouldnt be saying it for the sake of it, and while its a hospital home birth program these particular midwives (used the same one with all 3 pg before) are awesome and very low intervention even with inductions!!

Beatrix, have you tried any natural remedies for lowering your BP? Apparently, calcium, magnesium, vit E and B, omega 3 and some herbs can help. Hopefully, your pg stays healthy and your birth, wherever it occurs, is the way you hope.

Welcome Cricket and Sepata!!

Looking forward to sharing this journey with you both :)

Beatrix - I agree with HSM, have you thought about alternative therapies? It's good that your at peace with where you're at though. Flow is a good attitude when it comes to pregnancy and birth I think.

I take my pg vitamins every day and I also have to take megafol 5mg daily as well due the having the MTHFR gene.. but havent tried any other ways. Will do a bit of research and see what I can find out. My next app is about 10 days away so will be interesting to see what my BP is then.

This may sound crazy, but since I have never gone into labor while being at home, sometimes the thought of it scares the poo out of me, like how will I know and what if I leave it to late to call my midwives and they dont make it etc... where as inductions well you can kinda plan around them.. DH, the kids, a baby sitter

Beatrix don't feel bad about being 'relaxed' about birthing that's the way its meant to be! And I am sure all of us will support you no matter what outcome you get, most of us as had some sort of so called or actual complication in one or more births also. But for what its worth seeing as you want to look into things google Dr brewer diet maybe? I recently heard of it because of my issue but have been telling everyone since lol

Welcome sepata and congrats on #2! PS September is a great month to birth- dd2 is evidence haha :D

Oh and I have my repeat scan booked for Thursday week (i don't think I said that yet sorry if I did my brains a little awol atm!)

I'm tired of TTC. So I'm putting together a list of HB midwives to call/email when I manage to get pregnant again :p By the time I actually get pregnant, I'll probably have everything organised - midwife, name, first outfit, everything :lol:

Hope to be joining you all soon!

Teni hope you will be able to join us soon. Oh well if you have everything organised now you can relax a bit more during your pregnancy as it'll all be organised :)

Haha, I doubt I'll be relaxed. If both previous pregnancies (and TTC :lol:) have taught me anything, it's that I get very bored when I run out of things to organise :p I'm setting myself up for 40 weeks of stir-craziness :rofl:

At least you won't be frantically finding a midwife at 17 weeks like me! :rofl: Can recommend you some awesome ones ;)

Please do :) There may be a couple I've missed. I think I have all the "big names" that service Melbourne...

You could have an EDD of 1 Jan like I did and end up with no choice of midwife. Best plan for all eventualities. Found a good birth pool yet? I even spotted one on Gumtree! DP was all, no, you can't have it. Atm I'm still letting him think he will get his way in only having two kids. ;)

I've just asked someone to be my birth partner. So excited, they said yes. Now to talk to dh about hb more and convince him. I will be having a hb if all goes well lol. And also find the mw I would like.

WM, sit down and watch some homebirth docos with hubby. I find if men aren't already open to the idea of HB, watching something like The Business of Being Born opens their eyes a lot.

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WM, sit down and watch some homebirth docos with hubby. I find if men aren't already open to the idea of HB, watching something like The Business of Being Born opens their eyes a lot.

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I ordered The Face of Birth last night :D WM, you can borrow if you like? We're local to each other aren't we? I forget with some people :redface:

DH is so sweet, he's already started planning little ways we could afford a HB and is very disappointed in himself for not getting the level of PHI where we'd be covered. I should be stressing more about the financial side, I suppose, but at the moment I'm a bit too mellow about it :-/

I believe so tenibear, hotI might have that too as we went to seminar together. Gotta read my water birth book now hehe. Getting excited reading all these beautiful home birth stories.

Am I right in thinking I need a GP to sign off on a homebirth? I was reading some of the sites and that's what I've gathered...

If I do, how do I make sure the GP won't say no? Should I just ask for recommendations here, or do I just go along and say "I'm doing this, I need you to sign this..."?

You need a GP to sign off on it if you want to have a medicare eligable midwife. With my midwife, she gave me the name of the GP/OB she collaborates with, we went to him, got the referral to Nic, then we were good to go :)

You don't need a GP to sign off, but you'll probably need a couple of prescriptions from one. Your midwife will probably know one if yours is unwilling. My GP read my midwife's letter, was delighted to see I wasn't using a private ob and did exactly as the letter asked. ;)

Some IMs can prescribe. A couple in my midwife's practice are able to now (had to complete a course and I think also have practicing rights at a hospital, from memory).

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You need a GP to sign off on it if you want to have a medicare eligable midwife.

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That's what we'll probably aim for, it's always money money money around here :lol: I know nothing about Medicare though, just to clarify - We pay everything and then go to Medicare and get the extra back? I think that's what we did when I was charged for a blood test... I'm so not qualified to operate in the adult world :lol: I know NOTHING.

Some mws are Medicare eligible and some are not. I don't think it is because of the GP. Mine had to register, but honestly, the rebate only applies to a very small portion of the fee, pre and post natal visits only. Not the birth.

Yeah, so I'm pretty sure (someone correct me if I'm wrong) to be a Medicare eligible midwife in Aus, you need to have a collaborative agreement with an OB or GP (who perhaps is an OB, dunno!). For my midwife, the relationship only goes as far as him writing a brief letter saying basically yep, this midwife is good to go lol. So you have your antenatal visits and pay, then you're given an invoice for Medicare, you go in and get that back. Our visits were at home, $110 a visit, I believe it was $45 back from Medicare (haven't actually gone in and done this yet haha) and antenatal visits it's $75 back which is huge. There are no rebates available for birth fees, so for us there was an $800 on call fee per midwife and a $900 birth fee per midwife.

I found this online (so it may or may not be correct, but it does sound like what I was told):

What the Medicare changes mean
From November 1 2010, midwives and nurse practitioners are able to receive payment for providing services outside the public health system. These nurses and midwives are also able to prescribe a range of medicines that fall under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Midwives in private practice will need to be registered and hold a Medicare provider number and a PBS prescriber number.
Which midwives are eligible for Medicare rebates?
To be eligible for rebates, midwives need to be registered either under the National Registration Accreditation Scheme or with a state or territory board. Under the new scheme, specific private midwives who qualify will be able to provide ante-natal care, delivery and post-birth services under Medicare. This means if you find a participating midwife you can experience continuity of pregnancy care under a midwife of your choice.


Pretty sure no collaborative arrangement is required. Only one of the mws I know in Sydney does have a collaborative arrangement/practicing rights at a hospital, but I've heard even this is a moving feast and atm it's based on hospital staffing levels as well.

You don't need anybody to sign off anything for you to homebirth - you just have to stay home until your baby is born:D

The others have covered off on the medicare side of things, but i have heard that some midwives have raised their fees along with their medicare eligibility and so the final costs may be similar between two midwives even if one is medicare eligible and the other is not. I know costs can be worrisome, i did all sorts of things in order to raise the money to pay my midwife, but how you connect with the midwife is seriously the most important thing.

Another mate had a baby, another forceps job, it is just crazy how broken our bodies are when we go to hospital.

Hey guys, haven't been online much lately, but I'm guessing I will be a little more now as we've just had a surprise bfp. Scary! But yay for another homebirth! Due September sometime.

September 2013 is getting busy!!!!

:babyneutral: Babies Arrived :homebirth:

Jennifer13- Baby GIRL born at home 4th January 2012

Bella29- Baby GIRL born at home 10th January

HotI - Baby BOY born at home 21st January

*Ash*- Baby BOY born at home 14th February

loulabelle - Baby BOY born at home 24th February

Cricket - Baby GIRL born at home 15th May

chocorama - May

...Em - Baby BOY born at home 7th June

BellyBelly - Baby GIRL born 11th August

Tanya - Baby BOY born at home 16th August

phynna - Baby GIRL born at home 8th September

lady_neon - Baby BOY born 27th September

Ambersky - Baby BOY born at home 3rd October

Cassius - Baby GIRL born at home 4th November

Ice cream - September

mirriumu - November

Pumpkinzulu - Baby GIRL born at home 12th December

:pregnant: Babies On Their Way :bellyrubs:




turtlejane - January

Sara - February

Ree*Ree - March

Aimz - March

Bellany - March

Beatrix - April

Rubyshoes - April

HomeStyleMumma - May

Dollyroux - June

ladybirdflies - June

sepata - September

WilliamsMummy - September

Cricket - September

Loulabelle - September

I'm on the list twice, for born and due! I must be crazy.

Nah - I'm right there beside you Loulabelle. :) And mine are closer than yours. Also a bit of a surprise there. Don't worry - it will be just fine. #4 and #5 were only 13 months apart for me, and I was scared to bits that it was going to be awful, but it was no big deal. Congratulations on your BFP - look forward to being belly buddies with you!

Hehe I just noticed, cricket! Congratulations!

That better not be a pattern for 2012 hb bubbas... ;)

Watch out, Jen!