Case load - home births via Southern Health?

Hi girls,

Was just speaking to a doctor on the phone and told her I wanted to homebirth my first baby and she told me to apply for Case load at Casey Hospital. She said that through Case load I can opt for a homebirth which will be free and I get the midwife care throughout the pregnancy as well as post natal care with unlimited midwife house visits up to 7 weeks after birth.
Just wondering what you guys think? Is it the same as/better than/not better than going through a private independent midwife?
I have been considering calling Andrea from Narre Warren for my home birth but now I'm thinking if I can get great care for free then why not just go through with Southern Health?

im part of a midwifery led birth centre/ home birth program through the local hospital. So far I love it and the midwives- im in sydney so it may be different but I have one main midwife and one backup- which I think is the same as if you had a private midwife..... I'd definitely give it a go as it is free and I cant at this stage, fault the care at all

The case load programs have many requirements that you have to meet to be accepted. There are conditions that an independent midwife will be happy to manage at home, that a midwife working through a caseload program may be obliged to advocate you to transfer to hospital. Have a read of the homebirth general discussion thread, there are women going through both hospital homebirth programs and homebirths with independent midwives or other supports.

For me, it was worth paying the costs of an independent midwife because i did not want to transfer unneccessarily. There were things that came up in my pregnancy and labour that would have gone differently had i been with a hospital program, and i am so grateful that i had my experienced midwife with me.

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The case load programs have many requirements that you have to meet to be accepted. There are conditions that an independent midwife will be happy to manage at home, that a midwife working through a caseload program may be obliged to advocate you to transfer to hospital. Have a read of the homebirth general discussion thread, there are women going through both hospital homebirth programs and homebirths with independent midwives or other supports.

For me, it was worth paying the costs of an independent midwife because i did not want to transfer unneccessarily. There were things that came up in my pregnancy and labour that would have gone differently had i been with a hospital program, and i am so grateful that i had my experienced midwife with me.

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Yes to all this!

Although I think that it is wonderful that FINALLY there are homebirth programs running here, they do tend to have strict guidelines that are in place to suit/reflect the policies of the hospital. This can lead to unnecessary transfer of care and/or labour into the hospital system. I am hoping that with new 'all risk' programs starting up in WA and the NT that Victoria can soon follow suit.

If it were me and were able to get the cash together and/or work out a payment plan for an independent midwife, then i would opt for that hands down. there is nothing like having an IM by your side. she/he is there only and exclusively for you and baby. not also for the hospital.

BUT, if the program was the only way to achieve your HB then totally totally go for it. there is nothing quite like bringing baby into the world in the loving supportive environment of your own home :)

and come along and join us in the HB general discussion thread! love to have you in there!

Agreed that policy is super strict - it's a great program but I guess they really don't want to do anything to jeopardise the program so they seem a bit nervous when it comes to policy. You really will need to be super low risk.

When are you due? They fill up pretty fast, so my advice would be to have your booking in appt, ask lots of questions about the homebirth program, and then decide from there if it happens to be offered to you. For what it's worth, if I could afford it I'd probably choose private over public, just for (as the others have said), someone who works for you, and not the hospital.
All the best with deciding (and congratulations).

I've done both, a HB program through a hospital and a HB with an IM. I had to transfer in labour with DD1 for policy reasons, which really sucked. Casey especially is very very strict. I considered it briefly for my last pregnancy but decided against it. We're still paying our midwives off, but the cost is so well worth it.

I'm probably a bit late here, but here's my 2 cents worth. I'm currently going through the caseload program at Casey, although I have opted for a hospital birth. I did the same thing with DD 2 years ago and had no problems. Although I have opted for a hospital birth, my midwife has said that I can still change my mind if I want to (DH is not interested though!). So, once you're in the caseload program, you don't need to decide straight away. I guess if you decided that the rules were too much, or you didn't click with the midwife you were allocated, you could always change your mind and go with the IM.

I have heard that caseload is not offered unless you ask for it though, and it does fill up quickly.