Home Birth Question

[EmmaUK]

It's interesting to hear about insurance being a factor. How does it work? Is it all or nothing, are you say covered for a vaginal birth but not an epidural, or covered for everything but a caeserian?

Obviously it's not an issue here with the NHS so I've not thought about it before. I imagine some fundamental families don't have insurance.

[Linnea]

It's interesting to hear about insurance being a factor. How does it work? Is it all or nothing, are you say covered for a vaginal birth but not an epidural, or covered for everything but a caeserian?

It's more likely an issue of not having any insurance at all, or having to change insurance plans during a pregnancy. Many Americans have health insurance through their employers, and if you (or your spouse) change jobs, you change insurance policies. Then the insurance company tells you that they don't cover "pre-existing conditions" - IOW, if you are pregnant when you sign up for the plan, they won't cover it.

Truly, it sucks.

[ZTwist]

My two were born in a free-standing birthing center with midwives. No interventions at all, no meds, by my choice.

Delivered my son on my hands and knees, no stirrups. This was 25 years ago (in US). And my husband is an MD, he was fully behind my decision.

[liltwinstar]

Usually, insurance works so that you pay either a flat fee (called a co-pay) for hosptializations/birth, or you pay a percentage.

If you have a copay, you'll pay $300 or $1000 or whatever the copay is for your procedure/hospitalizaion (determined by your insurance contract) and all costs above and beyond that amount are covered by the insurance company.

A really common percentage plan is called an 80/20 - meaning that your insurance picks up 80% of the cost of your procedure, hospitalization, etc and you are responsible for the other 20%. This is (partly) where things can get expensive -after all, 20% of a $100,000 is $20,000 - which is a lot of money!! So, if you have a high-risk pregnancy and/or an expensive birth, the amounts can add up quickly, depending on what you need to have done.

And yes, if you don't have insurance and don't qualify for the low-income state options, you're pretty much screwed. I think that's why some fundie families go for the home birth - midwives can be cheaper than hospitals.

[little zoo]

I finally created an account to give my answer to your question.

I'm neither a fundie or a hippie, though my religious parents think I'm pretty close to a hippie. I have 4 kids. My first 2 were born at hospitals, both induced. The doctor decided to induce, in both cases. I was told when to arrive at the hospital. I was told I had no choice about anything. When I said I didn't want certain medical interventions, they were done anyway. Both ended up with pitocin, epidural, flat pushing on my back, and episiotomy. This led me to question the birth system in the town where I lived.

When my family moved while I was pregnant with #3, I looked into alternative care providers. I met great midwives and gave birth in a birth center with that child. It wasn't a blind faith issue, trusting midwives over OBs. It was more that my experiences had been so negative that I wanted to see if something else would work better. I was very low risk, so midwives were an excellent choice for me. By the time I was pregnant with #4, I was more comfortable with midwifery, and decided to give birth at home. It ended up being a great idea, since my baby was born 2 hours after my first contraction. My midwife arrived 15 minutes before he was born! If I have any more children, I would like to have another home birth, provided that I am still in good health and that the pregnancy is low risk.

I think the problem arises when anyone decides that one style of birth (home birth) is the solution for everyone. It is a great solution for those who are low risk, but can be life threatening for people with certain health issues.

[emmiedahl]

It's interesting to hear about insurance being a factor. How does it work? Is it all or nothing, are you say covered for a vaginal birth but not an epidural, or covered for everything but a caeserian?

Obviously it's not an issue here with the NHS so I've not thought about it before. I imagine some fundamental families don't have insurance.

In the US, most pregnant women can sign up for free state insurance that covers everything. My family qualified when my husband and I were both employed and making roughly double the average household income in the US. Many fundamentalists are opposed to these types of programs and thus choose not to partake of them.

[Funky Chicken]

That Wife has written multiple ghastly diatribes about how ill-treated she was by doctors when she told them she had T1 at home (which I think might have been partly a

Money-related decision). She also froths and raves about evil hospitals and doctors and how they "control" pregnant women...

She dressed it all up as "this is my choice, you make the choice that's right for you," but the subtext was, "I'm right about everything and if you disagree you're an idiot."

She actually got sacked by an OB/Gyn (she went to get an OCP script) because of her attitude....

[duplessis3]

My first birth was flat on back, in stirrups with fucking pitocin - but I refused the epidural. This was in 97 in Boston, where I unluckily had the wrong ob for me. If I had had virtually anyone else, I doubt I would have been induced. The birth sucked in a lot of ways.

My second was at home in NV, in a portable water trough. There is no way I would have given birth in a hospital here - we went on a tour, and there was blood on a warmer. And the hospital had a MANDATORY 3 hour observation period of the newborn separated from his mother. (this was in '01) There is a 35% upward c section rate here. Home seemed safer to me, and my husband and I didn't want to be in the position of having to consider hitting the doc if shetried to do an episotomy on me. (I am a rape survivor and that was the ONLY thing on my birth plan. I told her at every single visit NO EPISOTOMY, let me tear. She had the scissors out and was ready to cut, but my son, god bless him, was born in three pushes. She had to drop the scissors to grab him - when I say "out" I mean push one he crowned, push two, out to the waist, push three all the way out.)

[genericJname]

Its definitely not only a fundy thing. Personally I am planning to do an out of hospital birth with my next child. I have spent way to much time in the hospital to want to be there for a birth unless I absolutely have to. I'm sort of a natural birth geek and its my other internet fascination besides QF snark :)

Really its a pretty diverse group of people that are into this stuff on the internet. There are some that are into it because they are having 10 kids and don't want to risk needing a Csection. On the other end, there are also those that view maternal health issues as an extension of pro-choice because they see some of the interventions in hospitals as violations of women's autonomy. Also there are women that end up feeling "forced" to birth at home because of VBAC bans. In certain areas of the country there are no facilities that allow for a planned VBAC, so women that are not comfortable with consenting to the risks of a planned repeat Csection stay home. (Another option that some try is to show up at an Emergency Dept. very far along in labor and just insist "I refuse a C section" )

I think that it can be an appealing option for the fundy crowd for many reasons. They may want to "trust in god" rather than trusting in medicine. There is the financial aspect, if you do not have any kind of medical insurance. Also, the Csection rate for planned out of hospital birth is much lower (usually a good thing, but can be a bad thing when a necessary Csection is delayed) which is a good to avoid for women who are going to have lots of future pregnancies. There is also the dynamic of fearing the hospital institution/ government having "control" of the baby.

My feelings are mixed on the homebirth and fundy thing. I absolutely think that women should have autonomy for their body throughout pregnancy and birth, including the choice of birth setting. I would worry, though with the patriarchy dynamic if these choices are coerced upon women by their husbands/religion.