​What value would you put on having the experience you want instead of the one you are forced to have due to insurance requirements and constraints.  

It's rare for insurance to cover a home birth and not everyone has the money just sitting in the bank to cover a home birth midwife's fee. How can you find the money to cover a home birth? I have a few suggestions.

• Start saving for a home birth in a regular savings account. This option is available for everyone and can be a great way to get a head start on funding a homebirth, or to supplement HSA funds if needed. You can start funding the birth before baby is more than a twinkle in your eye.
• Use your Health Savings Account if your employer provides that option for you. HSA money can be spent to cover costs related to birth including home births. 
• Use a gift certificate. Some midwives may offer gift certificates so family and friends can support you in getting the birth you want. If the midwife doesn't offer gift certificates, she may be willing to if asked.
• Add funding for the home birth to your wish list for a baby shower.  
• Let family and friends know you are working to fund a home birth and would appreciate any help they can offer including financial help.
• Declutter and have a yard sale or sell things online.
• Bartering for all or a portion of the midwifery fee may be an option if the midwife is open to barter. 

Births are life changing events, just like weddings. Couples will plan out the details, and make the investment to have the wedding they want.  Births should be no different.  

Are you interested in getting the best value for your dollar? Would you like to have individualized maternity care?  Home birth midwifery care may be just what you are looking for.

Midwives have clients, not patients. Midwives do not offer assembly line care, instead they specialize in individualized care. Midwives want their clients to be fully informed so they can make the best decisions for themselves as an individual. Midwives want clients to ask questions, to share things they have learned and to be collaborators in their care. Midwives give generously of their time. Instead of a 10-15 minute appointment, you may get an hour or more of the midwife's sole focus at each appointment. In the area of Kansas I serve, if you have your baby at the hospital, whoever is on call is the doctor that will attend the birth. If you have been seeing an obstretrician for care, this may be a doctor you have never met before. Midwives don't pop in just in time to catch the baby and then leave shortly after.  With midwifery care, the midwife you hire is the midwife who will be at the birth (barring unusual situations). Midwives may spend several hours or even days supporting a client in labor, and will stay after birth for a few hours to be sure everyone is stable and doing well. Midwives do more than just a 6 week postpartum, most midwives will do 4 or more postpartum visits with the first two or more in the client's home. Some midwives have options to provide all their care in the client's home. When was the last time your doctor offered to come to your home?

If you don't have insurance and have to pay outright for a hospital birth in Kansas, you will be paying just shy of $11,000. My fee is less than 1/3 of that.  For many people, my fee is less than the insurance deductible they would have to pay for OB care and a hospital birth. You are not locked into using only the providers covered by health insurance, you can choose to pay directly for the provider you want. Choosing a provider is a bit like buying a car. You can get the base, no frills model or you can pay more to get extra options. With a home birth midwife, the cost is actually less to have more options and care tailored to you and your unique needs and situation. Home birth midwifery is luxury care, especially when compared to the assembly line care so prevalent in American maternity care.