@clare I definitely wish it was that way here. Home birth and midwife are officially out for me. My insurance changed and their requirements for a midwife are what my state doesn’t have at all and the home birth would have to be billed with the midwife. I’m bummed. If birthing centres were an option here then I would go for it.

I hope all of you ladies can have a wonderful birth experience. I’m hoping with the doctor change and hospital change it will be better for me. ❤️

Wow @c.r.a im from New Zealand and its almost the prefered method to birth at home. Its really only high risk women who go to the hospital amazing how much it can differ between countries. Yet women have been giving birth since the dawn of time

Gigglez they sound awesome!!! But the hospital where im at now isn't small, they're just old and outdated. I so wish I could've stayed at my old hospital bc they were amazing!!!!! The staff just eventually got worse so I had to leave. I'm prob just going to have to suck it up and stay where im at

I had a suite in a major hospital with my first. Top hospital and number one NICU in the state(luckily I didn't need) . Now I'm 36 weeks with my second and moved to a small town. Only 5 doctors that deliver in town and one small hospital. They looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for a tour but happily showed me around anyway. There are 4 L&D rooms and 4 pp rooms. Total! The nursery is smaller than my bedroom and holds up to 6 babies. And there isn't always someone there.its so small they send the nurses other places on the hospital till needed. It was terrifying ! And if i go into labor at night the 2 people that do epidural live 15 mins away from the hospital. Yup. But on the bright side the care I get when o am there is amazing! I fell down the stairs and they insisted I stayed on the moniters for 5 hours so nothing happend once i left. And I had a kidney stone they held me overnight in the l&d room. Had amazing bedside service ,made sure I didn't hurt , even made me a pb&j because they cleared me for solid food after the cafeteria closed. Those smaller places can have an up side for sure

I didn't know you could switch that late. What made you switch if you don't mind me asking?

I'm high risk and just switched hospitals at 37 weeks went the opposite the new smaller hospital doesn't even have a nicu or step in showers just tubs... so I went to the bigger older hospital since I'll be csection

That really sucks. I hope you get to find something that'll work. I looked doulas up in my area, and I saw one for $28/an hour. And another one for $1000. Neither of which I can afford

I don’t know if there are any local doulas. I have to also see what my new insurance covers. My last one wouldn’t cover a doula at all and covered less with a midwife.

Oh wow!! So what will you do? Can you at least have a doula?

Alabama. For whatever reason the law here is they cannot attend home birth. A bill was passed to allow midwives in the future, but I don’t know when it’ll start. We don’t even have birthing centres here as far as I’m aware.

Thank you!! What state are you in and why can't you have a dr or midwife?

The only thing I’m scared about with a home birth is I am not legally allowed to have a doctor or midwife present for it. My state is ignorant with this. Completely legal for me to do it alone though. I’ve had two vaginal births, but I’m worried why if a complication happened. I’m frankly sick of hospitals so I wish I had more options.

I hope you have your VBAC though! My fingers are crossed for you! ❤️

Yeah I think it's a comfort thing too. I wish I could have a home birth but since I'm going for a vbac and could possibly have complications, that option is out the window. I'll def put some serious thought into it after I talk to my drs

I understand your reasoning completely. The hospital I birthed at for my first two kids didn’t give me the best experience. More so with my second. So I have been seriously contemplating having the baby at home or going to a different hospital. I would weigh it all out and decide what is best for yourself and the baby

I think I'm just spoiled with the birthing suites. I had my first baby at a place were they had birthing suites and it was amazing. Now my baby had to be taken to the NICU shortly after birth (she was born at 33 weeks) but the time that I was in the rooms, I loved it. The hospital I'm at now, they seem really unhelpful and everyone always have an attitude or act like they don't want to be at work. I just want to be in a positive environment when trying to have this baby. I don't want to completely switch care this late, just hospitals.

I'm not high risk. The hospital I just trasfered to becuz we moved 3 hours away from the one I us to go to. Just started seeing a new ob and he said the hospital didn't do tours but it was easy l&d is on 4th floor I would have no problem. And they had really good one on one nurse. And it's a vary high tech and could handle anything if something went wrong and I'm ok with the no tour becuz I don't think it will be hard to find ware to go

Yes sorry. I am high risk. Although at this office, they haven't done anything extra that makes me feel like they're treating me as a high risk patient. I have an appt next week where I'll ask them and see what they say. I figured since it is the same just different hospital locations then that wouldn't be a problem?? But again I'll ask and see

I’m assuming you are high risk?

It would also depend on if the doctor or midwife you use delivers at that hospital.

I would consider speaking to your doctor/midwife.