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For Parents

Birth Planning Options
Use the links below to learn more about your birth options:

  • First Trimester
    • Pregnancy Issues
    • Pain Management and Comfort Measures
    • Birth Plans
    • Celebrate Your Second Trimester!
  • Second Trimester
    • Pregnancy Issues
    • Pain Management Plan
    • Birth Plan
    • Celebrate Your Continuing Pregnanc
  • Third Trimester
    • Breastfeeding
    • Infant Health
    • Postpartum Plan
    • Celebrate Your Nearly-Over Pregnancy!
  • Postpartum
    • Bonding
    • Loss and Grief
    • Postpartum Depression
    • Parenting Resources

Birth Planner

parents

Preconception and Birth Planning

Health
This is a great time to do a realistic evaluation of your lifestyle. Some questions to ask yourself include:

  • Are you eating in a healthful manner?
  • What kind of diet and lifestyle changes do you want to make before a baby arrives?
  • What kind of physical condition are you in?
  • Will you have the stamina to endure hours of labor?
  • Are there emotional issues you should address?
  • What about the home environment? Llook for unnecessary exposure to toxins and remove them.

This is a great time to start connecting with your body through exercise or bodywork. Meeting with a bodywork practitioner can help identify issues worth addressing. Additionally building up strength and stamina now will serve you well in later months.

Fertility
If you've been trying to conceive for at least a year with no results you may have started to consider your fertility level. There are many factors that may inhibit fertility including environmental toxins and the ages of the parents and when approaching this concern it is best to start with the least interventive techniques first. There are many types of providers that can help with fertility issues. When dealing with fertility in this country it is very important to keep in mind not just the desired results but also the financial, emotional and and physical demands placed on parents who get involved with this industry.

Creating Your Birth Team

Where You Can Give Birth
If you are planning a hospital birth your insurance company will most likely dictate where you'll go. You may have few options but keep in mind that in Illinois babies can also be legally born at home, in a hospital birth center or an alternative birthing center.

Some hospitals are now offering birth centers with beautifully decorated suites. What you need to evaluate is the quality of care. In the throes of labor the wallpaper won't be your first concern but you will care about how fully staffed they are. Consider some of these questions:

  • What are the c-section rates of the hospital.
  • Are they intervention-oriented?
  • Will they have labor delivery recovery (LDR) in the same room or will you be shuttled around?
  • Will they respect your wishes with regard to the baby? These issues can include requests for no bottles or pacifiers and complete rooming in.
  • Do they allow for the option of water birth?
  • Will they support natural childbirth?
  • How many hours will they let you labor before requiring interventions?

Alternative birthing centers (ABC) require you to commit to having a natural birth. It is important that you find out if you qualify to use the ABC. You need to be aware of why you may need to be moved out of the ABC during labor. This is called risking out. All practitioners and staff will support you in your decision to have a natural birth and will do everything they can to help realize this goal. This choice is available to low-risk mothers and there are two of them in the Chicagoland area. They are the West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park and Illinois Masonic in Chicago.

Your primary care provider will have to work within the rules or protocols of the facility in which they practice. The provider, whether midwife or doctor, will be your interface between you and the hospital. They sometimes have the ability to bend the rules based on their own comfort levels and their standing in the institution. It's useful to remember that they will often not be there until the final stage of labor so you will be dealing with the nursing staff for most of the time you're there.

Money and Insurance Issues
You must have adequate insurance coverage whether you elect to have a home, birth center or hospital birth. If you are considering a home birth check with both your insurance company and potential providers to see if they will cover this choice. Keep in mind that you are a health care consumer and you have the option of more than one carrier. Any company or practitioner you hire can also be fired-- they are working for you and if it doesn't feel that way that may be worth solving.

Choosing the circumstances around the birth you want is integral to creating the birth experience you want. If you're considering home birth be advised that getting insurance to cover ranges from difficult to impossible. Many parents are are electing to pay out of pocket which works it's still necessary to have medical insurance in the event of the need for transport to a hospital. Some HMOs will grant coverage for midwives, it varies with providers. If you are willing to find out what your rights are and exercise them it's possible to get coverage for the services you choose.

Here are some suggestions about where to start in dealing with your insurance company:

  1. Inquire whether or not the services you're seeking are available to you. Be sure you are speaking with someone qualified to answer your questions who understands your concerns. If you're are dealing with a situation that could cost a great deal of money get the name of the person you're dealing with and get the agreement you reach in writing.
  2. If your choices aren't covered find out how much they would cost out of pocket. There are often payment plans available, too.
  3. Find out if the hospital costs would be covered so you would only have to pay your practitioner out of pocket.
  4. Fully explore your options before giving up. The decisions you make now are going to be critical to the process later.
  5. If you plan ahead you will have more time and therefore many more options to choose from.
  6. Find out when the latest date you can change primary care would be just in case you decide to change. Some insurances will not allow a change past the second trimester.

If you choose a Midwife be advised that they are often invisible to insurance companies as they can often bill under a physician listing. If your insurance company tells you they don't cover midwives you can do several things including:

  1. Find out what hospital your insurance will require you to use.
  2. Check our list of midwives to see where they have privileges.
  3. Call and see if they'll take your insurance.

OR

  1. Call the labor and delivery department of your chosen hospital and ask if they have any midwives with hospital privileges
  2. Get their contact information and see if they take your insurance.

When you're dealing with cost remember that this is both your child's birth and your bridge into parenthood (or further parenthood). People often spend more time researching what kind of car or computer system to buy than what kind of birth they want to have.

 

Go to First Trimester page next >>

 
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