Today I wrote about my doctor dilemma over at Babble.
In a nutshell, Craig and I have some decisions to make:
Hospital birth V.S. Home birth V.S. Birthing Center
Doctor V.S. Doula V.S. Midwife
I have an appointment at both the doctor’s office and a birthing center today, so we’ll see how it goes. There are just so many factors to take into consideration. So far we’ve only been to see a doctor and it was an absolutely horrible experience, so I’m very skeptical of the hospital model now in general. *Sigh*.
Hope you’re all having a great day and wish me luck!
And if you have any experiences with doctor’s V.S. midwives feel free to share!
xo
Lauren
happy to hear you’re going research as far as where and how you’re having your baby! Hope all goes well with your appointments.
I don’t have any experience, nor am I even pregnant now, but it is something I’ve thought about. If my wife and I ever have a baby, I’ve thought of each one. A hospital is wonderful if, god forbid, there are any complications. But on the other hand, I like the idea of a Douala or midwife as it just seems more personal. I also really want a female doctor, I don’t know why – I just think I’d be a lot more comfortable!
I’m sure that’s a tough decision to make. Just remember there’s no wrong choice. Do what feels right for you and Craig!
Oh how difficult, I didn’t even think about that part of the decision process!
Hi Lauren,
You don’t know me personally, but I follow your blog and enjoy it! Congratulations on your little one! I just wanted to share with you my birth story while you’re researching. I had a hospital birth with a midwife. I was induced, yet delivered pain-med free. It was great! I also didn’t like the doctors, but most of my experiences with midwives went really well (I saw a different midwife every time). Anyways, you may not care about it, but just in case, here’s my birth story from my blog: http://abifasciano.blogspot.com/search/label/birth
Good luck, sweetie!!
I don’t have experience with a doctor, as we’ve been with a midwife practice throughout our whole pregnancy. But I absolutely love them! They make me feel so comfortable and never make us feel like our questions are dumb or that we’re taking up their time by asking! They genuinely want us to feel as comfortable as we can throughout the pregnancy, and I’m just so grateful that we have such an amazing group of ladies to help us! Their practice is out of a hospital, so we’ll still be birthing there (which makes me feel good in case something were to happen), but their birthing rooms are private and have everything we want for a water birth!
Good luck making your decision! It’s so much pressure, but just take your time and you’ll know who’s right for you when you meet them!
Oh I feel your pain this is such a hard decision. We really struggled with it. We originally thought we wanted to go with a midwife in the birth center next to the hospital. Our insurance only covers that or the hospital. But after meeting with the birth center we realized we couldn’t have one midwife we would see whoever was on call at each appointment. We really did not like this option. We really can’t afford to go outside our insurance and my husband was really uncomfortable with home birth since both hospitals in our area are 45-50 minutes from our house. Also we just weren’t sure about having the baby at home. We started to feel really discouraged until we stumbled accross an OB who was a midwife before going to medical school. She has been the perfect fit. She is really laid back and relaxed about things. She lets us make decisions and doesn’t presure us. Other’s have said she is really patient with labor and waits a lot longer before interventions. So we will have the baby in the hospital but as naturally as possible. Good luck with your search! I’m sure you will find the right fit.
I still can’t believe we have had such a different experience, not just with the same coverage, but with the same nurse practitioner. I really feel like I have been given enough information to always know what is coming next, but not so much that I feel overwhelmed. The whole process has been pretty seamless for me and I was very pleasantly surprised by that.
I’m going to check out the hospital in a couple of weeks and get the whole birth plan sorted through. Hopefully I don’t have any unexpected surprises there. All of my friends who have given birth there have had really positive experiences so that’s a good sign.
Anyway, I hope you can figure out today what is going to be best for you guys! Good luck 🙂
You may want to talk to Monica of Handmade by Monica I remember reading about her birth story – finding the right doctor is so important… http://homemadebymonica.blogspot.com/2011/03/our-birth-story.html
Hi Lauren – Keep looking for a new doctor. I am pregnant with our second and we go to a doctor/midwife group practice (east coast). They have both and they are both there when you deliver the baby. Also, since it’s a group practice, if I don’t like one doctor/midwife I just see someone else from then on. I love the midwife thing but they can’t do everything. Your best bet is to make sure that you and Craig are completely prepared and aware of how you want to handle the birth experience. This time around I plan on reading Hypnobirthing (they have classes too) and maybe it will help us.
P.S. Having babies can be really expensive so I say go with what your insurance provides. My hospital billed me $40k for my stay (long and complicated which I will not elaborate on). The insurance provider knocked it down to $23k – still a bit out of my budget so luckily it was all covered.
Well in Denmark you don’t have much choice… you will go with the midwife, they only bring in the doctor if something goes wrong… so I would say go with the midwife:)
Oh girl, what a hard decision! There seem to be benefits to both options, which makes it even harder! I’m sure you’ll find the right fit!
I love that you’re making an informed decision about this!
I am so behind on my internetting (yes, that made it a verb)but congrats on the baby! I saw a baby born this weekend and it was, well, mindblasting.
oh, i can recommend an incredible midwife here in portland if you’re leaning that way… might be worth a consultation at least! 🙂
I had a home labor (with a doula) and a natural hospital birth with a midwife… although my baby was delivered by nurses because we barely made it there in time! You can read my birth story in this post (http://acollectionofpassions.blogspot.com/2011/01/big-blog-about-tiny-baby.html) I have had friends in Portland use midwives for a homebirth and had great experiences. I spent a few days at St. V’s when I went into preterm labor. Did not like that hospital! At Legacy you have the option of a waterbirth with midwives. Let me know if you want more info and I’ll send it to you.
Watch The Business of Being Born… very informative. Birthing from Within is a great book.
Kacie
http://www.acollectionofpassions.blogspot.com/
kacieblogs@yahoo.com
I’m not a mama, but it seems like most people go with Dr their first time, and then from there they go with a midwife and a birthing center or home birth. I think both of them sound pretty good. That is a really big decision to make!
good luck! glad to see you’re researching all of it. i had a homebirth my first round and lost my baby during the delivery. that’s not to frighten you. homebirths are amazing experiences and i can see why they are an attractive option but being low risk and young didn’t prepare any of us for what could have happened, i had no idea what the 5 minute drive to the hospital meant for my baby. i say, here in portland, there is a great option up at ohsu that incorporates all attractive birthing principles and has emergency medicine on hand. i would also be happy to get more information for you….and for the record, not trying to frighten anyone as i fully believe birth and labor should overcome fear. it would just feel like i was doing you a disservice if i didn’t share my perspective.
good luck with your decision making! happy pregnancy and labor!
Just a head’s up, I’m not sure how much your co-pay might be with insurance through the hospital BUT my fiance’s sister in law delivered in hospital and their out of pocket cost was $3500 anyway. And that’s with zero interventions and no complications. I imagine the co-pay would have been higher had there been any additions to the general care. Plus they were definitely harassed about epidurals and threatened with the vacuum.
I recently discovered I am pregnant and we’ve chosen to go with a midwife homebirth, out of pocket cost being around $4000. NOT much of a difference.
So, depending on what ever option you feel most comfortable with it’s likely that out of pocket cost will likely be the same or close to it. Definitely go with what makes you feel the most safe and comfortable so you can have a great birthing experience. 🙂 Good luck in your research!
I had my son (first pregnancy) at home with a midwife. I started out at the doctors and I felt exactly the same way you felt at your dr’s appt and had a horrible, painful experience at the first prenatal appointment. We were able to get the insurance company to cover the midwife as out of network luckily but even if you pay out of pocket, I really do think it’s worth the type of care midwives provide. It’s personalized, you get to know the person who will have at your birth, it’s about you and your baby first and foremost–not time or convenience for the doctors.
It really does depend on your comfort level though. I had a low risk pregnancy and I was healthy all the way throughout and I was very confident that my body could birth naturally without interventions and I would be the most comfortable at home. I prepared by educating myself by reading books and whatever else I could about birthing/home birth as well. (I guess it also helped my husband feel better that we’re only 5 minutes away from the nearest hospital.)
I hope your birth center visit went well. 🙂
I’m leaving a link to my birth story if you’d like to read…
http://hanamik.blogspot.com/2011/03/lukes-birth-story.html