Caring
A woman's pregnancy and birth experience is a never-to-be-forgotten passage that will be treasured and pondered throughout her life. Smart Pregnancy & Birth seeks to provide an experience that the new mother remembers with joy and appreciation for the care she has experienced. We are trained to help you with those comfort measures to assist in pain relief and to encourage the birth to proceed naturally in its own time frame without the need for drugs to speed it up. Midwife attended births have far less forceps or vacuum extracted babies and women avoid unnecessary Cesareans.
Respectful
Prenatal appointments are scheduled in an unhurried time frame so that the new mother can have all of her questions answered and she becomes comfortable with her care providers. By the end of pregnancy, we have become friends who are looking forward to helping your little one come into the world. We honor your birth choices and our time together becomes one in which we all work together to make your pregnancy and birth a healthy, happy time.
Experienced
The birth team is comprised of two Licensed Midwives and a labor assistant. Susan has been practicing since 1987. She is also a mother of three and has experienced home birth, birth center birth, and hospital birth. Jami licensed in 2009 and has been attending births for over 10 years as a labor assistant. Katie, our labor assistant, has served her apprenticeship and completed her academic studies in midwifery and expects to license in 2010. We are all trained and certified doulas to help the laboring woman have the best birth possible.
This means that you have a team that has experienced many different birth situations and has gathered knowledge to help you with your own special needs.
What's Included
Prenatal care covers all prenatal visits except two required physician visits. Prenatal visits take place in the mother's home. The mother may choose to birth at home or birthing center. Currently we are welcoming little ones at Carolina Waterbirth in Simpsonville ( http://www.carolinawaterbirth.com/birthcenter.html) and Labors of Love Birth Center in Spartanburg (http://www.scmidwife.com/birth-center/about-the-birth-center). Mothers may choose water birth or any variety of birth positions and are supported in their birth choices.
The birth fee is $3000 with discounts available for self pay, early pay, and ministry members (see below). The fee covers prenatal care and birth, doula / birth attendant care, and post-partum / newborn visits and evaluation. Prenatal testing, lab fees, prescriptions, two physician visits, and PKU testing are an additional fee and are paid to those practitioners. $3,500 -$3,600 (dependent on birth center) covers birthing center fee as well as midwifery fee but no discounts are available for birth center care.
Payment
Insurance, Medicaid, and self payment plans and discounts are all accepted.
With our plans, even without insurance, paying for a home birth is about the same as having insurance and delivering in the hospital where the copay amount plus deductible would be around $2,500 on an average uncomplicated hospital delivery. Sometimes, our fee is even cheaper than insurance covered hospital birth! Value and superior service!
Insurance Insurance deductibles and co-pays are to be paid by 36 weeks (1 month before due date.)
Medicaid Medicaid clients must be accepted into the Medicaid system under the "fee for service" plan. If initially enrolled into another plan, you generally have 3 months to change the plan or you must wait till the next time period to change (generally a year.)
Cash Pay/ Self-Pay We understand that young families have difficulty making ends meet. Our fee is prorated based upon income for self-pay clients that do not qualify for Medicaid. In addition, a payment schedule can be worked out with half of the fee paid before birth and the other half paid over the 6 months after birth.
Bartering is sometimes accepted as well. This special circumstance must be discussed and agreed upon before care begins and the work completed before 36 weeks.
Discounts A 10% discount is given for clients who are self - pay and an additional 10% is given to those who pay within the first 30 days of beginning care. For those who work in Christian ministry, an extra 10% discount is given. These discounts can make quite a difference in the amount you pay!
Midwifery and birth fee $3,000
Less 10% self pay ($300)
$2,700
Less 10% early pay ($300)
$2,400
Less 10% ministry service ($300)
Final Cost $2,100
Get Started on a Birth Experience You Will Remember With Joy!
Call Susan (864) 909-0042 or go to our contact page to set up your appointment!
http://smartpregnancy.net/contactus.html
Mothers are encouraged to schedule a free introductory meeting to discuss their birth choices and meet the midwife. We can meet with you and your husband at your convenience to answer any questions you have about midwifery care and discuss payment options.
Yes, It's Safe as well!
For information on the safety of home birth and / or midwifery care visit http://cfmidwifery.org/Resources/item.aspx?ID=85 for a summary of the British Medical Journal's article on the safety of births attended by Certified Professional Midwives. This study shows that out-of-hospital birth is just as safe as hospital birth for low risk mothers when looking at infant mortality statistics.
What is even more interesting, this study shows that mothers had safer outcomes with less cesareans, less forcep delivery, less vacuum extractor deliveries, and fewer episiotomies. With current cesarean rates at an all time high at nearly a third of all births, midwifery care (shown to have less than 10% in cesarean births) is a safer alternative for the mother.
|
 |
| Joyful Pregnancy! |
|
|
Doula / Labor Support Care
For couples choosing to birth in the hospital, doula care can be provided to support the woman in her birth choices. Doula care begins with a prenatal appointment to discuss the woman's birth choices, provide information on preparing a birth plan, and define the doula's role. Doulas do not provide medical oversight but instead give information, support the woman in her chosen birth choices whether medicated or natural delivery, and provide hands-on care during labor and birth in the form of massage techniques, comfort measures to ease labor discomfort, techniques to facilitate progress, and encouragement for the parents. The doula is completely committed to the parents well-being. Visit ChildbirthConnection.org, http://www.childbirthconnection.org/article.asp?ClickedLink=257&ck=10178&area=27 for more information on the importance of labor support. The doula fee is $500.
|