Hello, welcome! Yes, Jenna is joining us today.
The reason why is because of the topic and it kind of needed both of us involved
because a lot of the issues are related to her too.
So today we are talking about home birth.
Yes... I don't think we really discussed it too much before.
I think I'm one of my pregnancy updates I mentioned that we were considering a home birth
and that we would discuss why we decided not
and why it wouldn't work for us and it's for multiple reasons.
But I wanted to discuss that issue in general too
because it's a big deal and a lot of people don't know about it.
So first we'll explain the reasons we wanted a home birth.
Well first of all, I wanted a home birth ever since before even our first baby.
I wanted a home birth for our first one as well, but back then nobody...
and I mean nobody agreed with me. She did not want a home birth.
our family definitely didn't want one and it just didn't work out.
Then after we had our experience at with the hospital birth, she changed her mind.
Do you want to explain why?
Well, I changed my mind because of the experience that we went through at the hospital.
It was very stressful and there was a lot of intervention by the doctors.
Some I agree with, but it's more of the way they approached it.
It just wasn't a good approach and caused more stress on her that she did not need.
Also we experienced going to the NICU. Mikko was actually fine.
Looking back it was totally unnecessary. But they overreacted
and just automatically put him into the NICU. Put him on medication and all these things
and we did not get any support whatsoever. Like they should have been you know knowledgeable
that... it's a stressful experience for us. We were scared. We didn't have any support whatsoever.
So really just the overall experience was really stressful and that was by the doctors.
The nurses were fine. They were good, but it was the doctors that just...
I don't know, we had such a negative experience.
So that's the reason. Plus already we already went through a hospital experience once.
We have a little bit more confidence concerning a home birth.
Maybe we kind of know what to expect... you know, what to kind of look for,
how things work. So I felt a little bit more okay with it
and we wanted to experience that.
So, with the previous pregnancy we were under the care of an OB.
With this pregnancy, so far we were with a midwife or a midwifery group.
Anyways, the reason that we decided on home birth.
Well we decided we wanted one is because our former doula had gotten in contact
and said "hey are you guys still considering a home birth?"
Oh yeah we're still considering and that was maybe a month or two months ago?
Somewhere around two months ago and she had mentioned they have what's called a home birth circle.
So pretty much it's a group of people that get together and talk about you know...
some that are pregnant now, some are doulas, or whatever.
Just our experience in general with home birth and I said yeah why not go.
We can discuss with some other people. Kind of see what's going on.
Luckily they were able to get an interpreter to volunteer for us.
Which is really nice. It was actually a friend. So that was nice because she's a good interpreter.
But we went. We brought Mikko and it was really fun.
A lot of people to discuss about their experiences and you know everything was sounding pretty good.
I thought yeah, this is something that we definitely want to do.
We asked a lot of questions about you know how do we transition
from our current midwifery group to another midwifery group.
Because you can't necessarily have a home birth unless that specific group has home birth available.
Which not many do, but our doula said that she knew some people
and we could get in contact with them blah, blah, blah.
I said I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't gonna be issues with the interpreters.
Cause obviously she comes to almost every single appointment.
Really, unless there's an emergency at work she comes.
So I want to make sure she can have interpreter there.
What do we do about the birth?
Because we had already researched previously and got in contact with my insurance
saying we're considering a home birth which they said they did cover but they didn't cover interpreters.
So I wasn't sure how that was gonna work.
We talked about it and it seemed like everything was going to work out.
So the next step was to get in contact with that specific midwifery group
and kind of see you know what their procedures are.
So then we called...
Okay so I called and I left a message cause no one answered
and then of course the next day we actually were going to our current midwife
and we got a call while we're at the appointment.
I said "hey it's bad timing, can you call me back in five minutes?" and she was too busy.
I was like okay fine. So I called her back, left a message.
She didn't call me back until the next day. I think almost like five o'clock.
I was actually just arriving at work and luckily I don't work til 5:30pm.
(I had) about 30 minutes left.
So we talked on the phone and at first it sounded... she sounded really nice
and you know explained... explained about my placenta previa.
Which is not an issue now, but anyways.
We talked about that and she said you know what the next thing to do is.
Is called like a meet and greet. So we would meet with at least one
or maybe more of the midwives of that group.
Kind of talk about what our plan is. If they think we're good candidates for home birth
and she had mentioned that the doula said you need an interpreter.
I said "yes we need to make sure we have an interpreter for that".
You know, "when can you get one ?"
Because sometimes you can't just go like the next day cause an interpreter is not available.
She said "oh well you know yeah we can't really provide an interpreter for that."
I was like mm.... okay and also she had mentioned previously that they
cannot provide interpreters for the appointments ... probably not...
they definitely could not provide interpreters for the birth.
The insurance company said the only way that they would pay for interpreters
is if the midwife group... I guess you know hired the interpreters or ordered them.
Then they have to get reimbursed through their own insurance.
So the midwife group has to do it, not us.
So I was like oh... and they were saying that no they can't do it.
You know, apparently they said the insurance does not
reimburse them enough money to actually cover the cost.
So then after that you know she said "oh well you know maybe you could interpret for your wife
or bring a friend or you know something like that...at least for the meet-and-greet."
Then I was like "okay well let me talk about that with her and I will let you."
Explain your thoughts about that.
Well of course the fact that she said you know why doesn't Jill interpret for me,
you know like duh no! Jill: Well that's the appointment
Jenna: But still you know, it doesn't look good for the future.
You know maybe later they say "oh well you know why don't you...
can you just do it?" You know that sort of thing.
I didn't want that to lead to us being like okay okay, okay, and just accept it.
So that kind of drew the line. I said no and...
I guess like, just the fact that
you know if you want to run a good business, especially here in Rochester,
you know there's a huge deaf community. Which means if you want to get
the Deaf clients and you spread that you have good services,
that's good business sense you know to provide interpreters and regardless.
Especially if insurance reimburses you. I know there's a cost upfront,
but then you know if you have enough employees, then that should work out.
You should be able to do that and you know you can put it on your taxes too.
So there's a lot of benefits.. yeah.
Well I just want to say it's not that we're trying to say something bad about the midwifery group.
Because I did do my research and if they provide interpreters...
yes interpreters are expensive. I am expensive. I am worth it.
But you know if they pay for the interpreters and then if the insurance
doesn't reimburse them the proper amount... and I understand you know it's too much.
They are a very small place and that's one of the things.
Yes it's not good business to not provide interpreters but again you have to understand
if it's a small place and the insurance companies... that's my issue right there.
They are not willing to pay for the interpreters the proper amount,
then I understand why the midwifery group can't.
Because then they would be in you know the red and you can't provide services that way.
So you know our current midwifery group, if they said no, that would not be okay.
But that's you know that's kind of one of the big issues.
I don't want any... no I understand the midwifery groups doing what they can,
but you know that was kind of our experience. But still we just decided you know
if they're not gonna be able to or they can't provide interpreters, then it probably wouldn't work out.
Then we told our doula we said "hey you know it's it's not gonna work out". She found out too
and so she and the one friend who volunteered to interpret previously for that circle
are really sweet and they said you know the doula is going to provide her doula services
plus um we would hire the other person as an interpreter. So they would work together
and then they would split the cost of what just the regular doula services are.
So instead of paying for both of them, you just pay and they share that cost.
Which is really, really nice, however...
it's not gonna work out for the best.
Because that interpreter themselves, they do have a family and it's kind of difficult
I guess... you know let's say she goes into labor and we have to you know
on call get her. You know that person themselves, you know they have another job
and so that means their availability is limited. They're not available not 24/7.
But you know what I mean ,like they can't just show up at any time last-minute.
Oh I'm ready, you know. Whereas in a hospital they have a team of interpreters that are all on-call.
Whoever's available can come in. They can switch out.
You know, they have a whole system set up that's ready to go.
Which is a really nice benefit. Whereas in this, it's just one person. Can we trust them 100%
they're gonna be reliable? Probably not... and also it's not fair to them as well.
You know they have a life. Jill: Yeah you can't interpret for 24, 30 hours maybe. Hopefully I'm not in labor
that long this time. Jenna: But Mikko was 29 hours, so that's quite a long time to stay.
It's just it's not feasible. It just isn't.
Right and so it was really nice
of the two of them to do that. We're very thankful for that offer, but to just rely on one interpreter...
no matter how good they are. Even if they don't have family, that's still you know,
literally you know.... unless they had no job or anything, it's still not gonna work.
I just I don't want to have to rely on one interpreter. What if they get sick?
What if they have an emergency? They break a leg... I don't know.
I mean anything could happen and like she mentioned you know,
if we have to go to the hospital, which is not ideal, but we have to go to the hospital,
they have a whole bunch interpreters available. So if one's sick, one can switch out.
You know that sort of thing. They could switch out with each other and you know freshen themselves.
Because you know even though I'm giving birth, she's doing a lot of work too
and I don't want an interpreter that becomes tired or you know
they're gonna have to eventually go to sleep. You can't interpret for 24 hours you know.
No matter even if there's not a lot of interpreting. So unfortunately that just isn't gonna work out.
Again, we kind of made a decision that homebirth just isn't gonna work
and one of the things I wanted to make a point in this video is
home birth is great, however the accessibility is another issue.
Cause we forgot to mention as well the cost. Jenna: Yeah it's expensive.
Right, you know you would think you know insurance says they cover it right.
Well yes, however we have you know you have to pay specific... I think they're called tiers
for you know your insurance. So if it's in network, like a tier, like we have now,
there's a specific amount. Then I think the next one I can't remember what it's actually called
but it's still considered in network, but there's... I don't remember.
You pay a different level but then you have what's out of network.
So something that's not in your network and understandably all home birth midwife groups are out of network.
So that means that we have to pay... gosh, do you remember how much?
I will put a number somewhere over her face, but that's the amount we have to pay
and you know with our insurance now, I think like if we're doing like the hospital birth,
I think it's maybe $500 or $475... something like that.
But you know that's... there's other costa involved too.
but you know we're paying and I think one is its $2500...
but the number's gonna be over here.
But that means we have to pay that amount. We have to pay for... I don't know whatever other stuff on top of that.
We have to pay for the doula/interpreter. You know which is $900 and again
for a doula you know that's not bad, just FYI.
But you know we have to pay all of these costs and so it becomes really expensive.
There's no home birth people within network. I'm pretty sure that's countrywide.
I don't know if you have one, but we don't. So the cost itself just makes it not accessible
and it's almost impossible to get interpreters, unless you have volunteers or you pay for them yourselves.
You have to pay all of these costs. You know it's just...
Again I'm not blaming the midwives. I'm not blaming the doulas, any of that.
I'm blaming the insurance companies to be honest. Jenna: It's a system.
It's a medical system that almost forces you especially...
you know if you don't have a lot of money,
because we don't have a lot of money. You know we can't really afford that.
You know we're trying to save because I don't have...
well I only have part of a paid time off and then we have other medical expenses.
Like we're paying a lot of money for our cat's treatment....things like that.
So there's a lot of things happening. That is unfortunate. If you know you're poor, so to speak,
then I don't know how you would be able to afford a home birth.
Like it... just... I don't know. I mean it's like if you speak another language, you're Deaf,
if you need a sign language interpreter, whatever, that's almost impossible to do.
So I don't know, like I said you might have had a different experience
but I think I just wanted to mostly talk about in this video is what our plan was.
But also talk about just the issues with home birth and accessibility in general you know.
Again, it's mostly the insurance companies. They just need to improve.
It's really unfortunate cause we've wanted a home birth and
now you know since my placenta's moved enough, I mean we probably could have it
But we can't and we're most likely going to be switching back to the hospital
that we previously gave birth and we don't like.
So it's just really... it made me really sad and I cried about it
and I got really upset, but there is nothing we can do.
Well.. and it's kind of just ridiculous because for many what... thousands of years
(they had) home birth without any sort of medical interventions.
Like yes, there was a high mortality rate, but at the same time
the concept is you could do it that was a normal thing back then for a very, very long time.
It wasn't until maybe recently... I'd say within 100... 50 to 100 years,
that you know it's definitely swung into the hospital and that's become more affordable.
Whereas now home birth has kind of become a luxury and honestly you know
it's just kind of ironic Jill: Right, I don't... I don't think...
I mean obviously if you have an accidental home birth,
that's a whole other story, but if you have a planned home birth
where you're trying to do everything, it is kind of luxury.
I never realized that. You know, I never thought that.
You know my insurance does it covers.. it so great,
but then I didn't think about oh there's tiers and getting interpreters and all of those sort of things.
So I just wanted to make sure that if it's something you're considering....
you know sort of considering home birth and you're not deaf,
you might not have problems, but there is a lot to consider
You know if you want to have a home birth... you've had one... great I'm super jealous of you.
But I just want to kind of to bring up awareness on this issue because a lot of people don't think about it.
It's really unfortunate. I wanted a home birth and I want it to become more normal
and easier... accessibility for everyone.
I want the midwife groups to be able to provide home births and not have to
worry about their business shutting down because they can't afford it
because the insurance companies don't pay them properly.
It's just absolutely ridiculous. I'm sorry this has been going on for so long.
Um like I said, I just want to... I know I said we were gonna mention it
and I want to know what your experience is.
One, have you had a home birth? How did it go?
Did you have any issues like we had? Like paying more money?
Accessibility issues? You know maybe you're considering a home birth
and you can't because of the same issues we're having
or you know maybe you're a midwife or a doula
and you provide home birth services. What is your experience?
I'm really curious like what the midwive's experience in the business part is.
So if anyone's watching I wants to leave a comment below please go ahead.
Yeah that would be really great!
Okay, so thank you so much for watching.
Again if you have any more questions related to the home birth, leave a comment down below
and we will try to answer them if we can, or if you want another video
talking about things, let me know. We will see you in the next one. Bye!