Weddingbee boards

My FI and I are shopping around for heath insurance, and something that was very important to us is that our coverage would cover my pregnancy and labor..(We don't plan on having a baby anytime soon, but just in case we want to be ready) We were getting super frustruated becasue we were having trouble finding plans to cover the labor and all that good stuff. Come to find out that the State of Kansas no longer has an insurance company that covers maternity!!!! WHAT??? What the heck do we do??? Our income is high enough to where we wouldn't apply for any assistance but we sure as heck don't make enough to pay for the delivery of a baby...

SOOOO...On to my real question...I thought that an in-home child birth would be way less of a financial burden than having the baby in a hospital...I started doing some research and it actually showed that if you have a low risk pregnancy it is just as safe to have it at home than in a hospital....Anyone have any experience with this???

In our state we are in the same situation, when we started looking into upgrading our insurance to include maternity covereage we were shocked that the private plans are not required to cover maternity. (we own our own business so no employer sponsored plan)  So i decided to call around to local hospitals to see how much it would cost to pay out of pocket.  We want to be able to begin saving and not be stressed. For the hospital it was around $2750 to 3500 for a normal vaginal birth (this amount however needed to be paid in full by the 7th month), If you want an epidural the cost was $500 additional, then for the OB it would be around 3900 (2,000 upfront and then monthly payments and balance must be paid by the 37th week, again for a normal vaginal delivery), then for additional lab work etc about $1,000 to 2000. Of course i am sure we will have other costs as well but we know now what we are looking at needing to save.

Home birth would not be an option due to our rural location. I would go for that option if i had it, i looked into midwives and their services seemed to be about 3,000 and of course other supplies you would need for a home birth.

Hope this info helps.

you're absolutely correct in you research: as long as a birth isn't "high risk" there are no studies that have found its safer to have the baby in the hospital. My best friend is a home-birth midwife, and my partner is in medical school (sort of two sides of the coin)- he did a ton of research and that was what he found. The American Acadamy of OBGYN (or whatever its called- sorry, its early) is the only group to say that a hospital birth is safer, and that is a political statement.

So, they choice should be yours. Consider where you feel most comfortable. Consider where YOU feel safest. Visit the hospital, meet with some midwifes, read some birth stories online. I am an "all natural" hippy kind of girl, but I am going to try to find a birthing center wherever we are living. I'd prefer to avoid the hospital, but know that I wouldn't feel as comfortable at home. Birthing Centers are sometimes extensions of the hospital, or a group of midwifes together, that can provide a comfortable, non-medicalized place to give birth.

There are pros and cons to both. If you do decide to go with a hospital, you should be very clear about what you want and don't want. The common concern with hospitals is that often control over the birth is taken out of the mother's hands and put in the medical professionals hands. I'm sure that isn't true everywhere, but its been documented in a variety of ways.

I think that some people have already shared their experiences around having a low risk birth that had complications- this is rare, but can happen. Some complications home-birth midwives are prepared to deal with, but any good midwife knows her limitations and will get you on the way to the hospital as soon as she thinks something is wrong. My best friend hemoraged during her home birth, but the midwives were able to stop it with some injected medication.

I'm not sure how you make choices for yourself- if its through hearing other people's experiences then read lots of them. I'm sure that some of the home-birth midwifes in your area would be willing to have a "consult" with you so you could ask questions and get to know them.

@MissDallasCowboy i am in texas, but private maternity insurance aka "maternity riders" for individuals is a dying policy, some people may be grandfathered in with their policy but my policy is only about 18 months old, the other maternity only plans were kind of pointless and very expensive. I was happy and suprised about how willing the hospital was to negotiate prices and pre-payments. When i worked for a company i had great coverage, but never needed it.

When i spoke with my insurance company they said, they do cover emergency c-section on a case by case basis, only if the mothers life is in danger, the child is only their customer after it is born, so if the baby is in danger it does not warrant a c-section to be covered. They simply do not cover other routine pre-natal maternity care, birth, etc. They cover some complications but only on a case by case basis, with all proper supporting documentation etc. Then after the child is born we need to call asap and pay a start premium and then well baby and other coverage for the child will begin.

I just made sure i got everything in writing so i can let my physician know all of this when the time comes, if we have to have a c-section i want to make sure we have the supporting documentation etc, becuase a c-section will probably at least double the cost.