1. WILL MY INSURANCE COVER HOME BIRTH?
Most insurances cover licensed midwives who do home birth. The
first step is to contact your insurance company and verify that they
do cover home birth. They may need to speak to the midwife so you
will want to have the address and phone # on hand to give to the
representative.
2. WHAT ARE THE PRE-NATALS LIKE AND WERE DO THEY
TAKE PLACE?
The prenatal visits consist of routine physical assessment of the mom
to be, including but not limited to, blood pressure check, urine dip
stick test, fetal heart tones, weight of the mom to be, fundal (top of
the uterus) measurement, palpation of baby to determine position.
As well as questions regarding the well being of the mom relating to
her pregnancy, for example, how is she sleeping, eating. what is she
doing for exercise. Also included in the prenatal visit is time for the
midwife and her client to get to know each other, most of my
prenatals last for 1 - 1.5 hrs, so there is ample time to cover all areas
of concern as well as develop a relationship with each other.
I encourage my clients to bring anyone from there families or friends
who may have questions or concerns about home birth to their
prenatal, so that we may erase all doubt about home birth. I also like
for the partners of the mom to be to be at the prenatal as they have a
large roll to play in this process.
The prenatal takes place in my office that I have set up in my home,
I would see you once a month until the beginning of the eighth
month, every other week during the eighth month and weekly after
that until the birth. I would make one home visit during the eighth
month and do the prenatal visit there, this way I am sure of were you
live and that I can find my way when labor starts.
3. HOW MANY BIRTHS DO YOU DO A MONTH?
I limit my practice to 2 or 3 births per month. Once I take a client on
I reserve the week before her due date and the week after her due
date as hers, I do not take any other woman due during that two
week period. This assures that I won’t have two moms go into labor
at the same time.
4. WHAT IF THERE IS A PROBLEM DURING LABOR AND OR
BIRTH?
My transport rate during labor is approximately 4 %. In the case of
an immediate emergency we would call an ambulance and go to the
closest hospital through the emergency room. In the case of the
labor changing from a normal low risk birth to a higher risk situation,
depending on what is going on, we would transport to the hospital of
the clients choice via private vehicle.
During any transport, I would accompany the client to the hospital,
and stay with her until the birth. I would act as her doula/advocate at
this point advising her on what was happening step by step.
5. WHAT ABOUT THE MESS?
My assistant and I would clean up any mess involved with the birth,
including washing and drying the sheets and towels, bagging any
trash, disposing of the afterbirth as needed. We try to leave the home
as clean if not cleaner than the way we found it.
6. HOW SOON SHOULD I BEGIN MY CARE?
The optimum time would be to contact me before you are pregnant
so that I can advise you on the proper supplements to begin, to
ensure the nutrients needed for the all important 1st trimester are in
place.
Yet this is not usually possible, life seems to run on its own schedule
not on ours. So the next best time would be as soon as you know
that you are expecting, not only does this allow for continuous
prenatal care at a very early stage, it insures that I will have a
opening for you and your baby. It also give us plenty of time to
develop a relationship so crucial in the joy that is midwife home birth.
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