Natural Birth and Baby Care.com

Is Using a Midwife More Cost-Effective Than Going to a Hospital?

by Felicia
(Colorado)

I am not pregnant yet, but I am planning and deciding what methods I would like to use. I really love your stories and have always wanted to try home birth, I love the natural feeling of it rather than a hospital.

But we are on a budget and I didn't know if having a midwife is more expensive than going to a hospital. Any other details about the difference between the two that you know of would be helpful, or a midwife you could refer me to to ask questions. Thank you.

Felicia (Future mom) =)

Answer:

Hi Felicia,

You asked a great question, but the answer is "it depends."

In general a midwife is less expensive than a hospital birth. But this is complicated by things like insurance.

If you have insurance and it's going to cover most of a hospital birth and none of a home birth (like mine), a midwife attended home birth will cost more than a hospital birth will.

If you're going to depend on Medicaid to pay for prenatal care and your baby's birth, you need to check into your state. Some states allow Medicaid to cover home birth, and others don't. Most don't.

When my first baby was born my family made less than $10,000 a year. I found a midwife who believed in me and in my dream to have a home birth, and who was willing to work out a payment plan with me. I paid slightly less than her normal fee. And I worked hard to have my home birth.

With my second child I sold quite a few things to pay for his homebirth. I sold my drum set (yep, I was a drummer :p), a couple of collections, and two collector's dolls I'd had since I was a child. To me having him at home was more important than those things.

Even a simple yard sale might help raise the money to pay for a birth.

In my opinion a home birth is worth the sacrifice and having to pay more for it than a hospital birth. Not all women feel the same way I do - but I think it's important.

In general, the midwife model of care is far different than that of an obstetrician. The prenatal appointments are very different. You'll see an OB for around 5 or 10 minutes. There are exceptions but this is pretty normal.


An appointment with your midwife will often last 30 minutes to an hour and she'll discuss not just how the baby is doing - but how you're doing (physically, mentally, and emotionally). She'll probably pay a lot more attention to the importance of nutrition during your pregnancy. Again there are exceptions - but this is pretty normal.

During the birth your midwife is much more likely to stay with you than an OB would (often a midwife attending in the hospital will stay with you, too.)

At home you can do what you want - eat what you want, drink what you want, stand when you want, sit when you want, pee when you want... you get the picture. You can even go outside and hang from a tree, if you want to. You can set up a birth tub (though some hospitals may have a tub you can labor in).

Basically you're free to listen to your body and do what you want to as you're birthing your baby.

In a hospital you're going to have to work within the regulations and procedures of the hospital - and what they say that you can and can't do.

There are a lot of differences. If you've read any of the birth stories here on the site, though, you've seen that women can have good natural births even in the hospital. I really admire those women because I think they're very strong!

For me personally, though, a home birth was worth having to save extra and even sacrifice for :)

You said you've read a lot of the site but you may want to take a look at the pregnancy section - it goes into some of the differences between the midwifery model of care and care with an OB/GYN.

I also write about the difference in birthing places choosing to give birth.

And be sure to read the birth stories.

Let me know if you have other questions or if I wasn't clear enough!