One of the first major decisions after choosing your healthcare provider is where will you give birth? If you’re lucky, then your insurance and health provider will give you several options to choose from.
Don’t be afraid to explore the choices for birth or even to allow your birth choice to decide your healthcare provider. There is not a whole lot you can typically do about your healthcare coverage; however, if you are given options before pregnancy, try to see what birth options they do cover before finally choosing an insurance plan. It would help you to know that birth choices are one of the most common decisions that pregnant women and their spouses/partners face.
If you chose an obstetrician to be your healthcare provider during your entire pregnancy, then chances are you have chosen a medical professional that is associated with one or more hospitals. You could also be choosing an obstetrician if you are having a complicated or high-risk pregnancy.
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Women with normal and healthy pregnancies choose to be under the medical supervision of an ob-gyne – a gynecologist who has been caring for her female needs but is also a licensed obstetrician to continue caring for her pregnancy needs. More often than not, birthing options with obstetricians are situated in a hospital setting or a birthing center that is associated with a hospital.
Family physicians are medical practitioners who can undergo training in various fields of medicine that focus on the different family members in the practice, which may include obstetrics. The different birthing options are also based on the hospital setting or a birthing center that is associated with a hospital.
Midwives are healthcare providers that have a wide range of training and are becoming more popular. Some midwives are even associated with hospitals.
Certified nurse-midwives receive a nursing degree plus additional midwifery training. A certified professional midwife is a person that has had extensive midwifery training but without the nursing degree.
Midwives typically offer flexible birthing choices with an emphasis on minimal medical intervention unless it is necessary for the health of the baby or the mother. They normally specialize in low-risk pregnancies and rarely accept high-risk pregnancies.
You typically have a wide choice of birthing options such as home birth, birthing center, or hospital birth.
Home births are nothing new and have actually been the center of healthy births for centuries. Women feel more comfortable in the home environment instead of being out in the public eye.
Women and couples who choose home birthing method should be well-educated on the birthing process and chose the doctor or midwife carefully for the delivery.
Hospital births is the setting for most women in the modern-world particularly those who are considered as high-risk or experiencing complicated pregnancies or multiples.
Most insurance policies with regards to deliveries are specific to the setting in which they will cover the charges for delivery and a hospital setting is the popular choice for most insurance companies. On the other hand, more and more insurance companies are becoming more liberal to include birthing centers.
Birthing centers are normally free standing but some are associated with hospitals. Most birthing centers only have midwives while others have obstetricians. Typically, a birthing center has fewer restriction and guidelines with regards to birthing, and normally the birthing process are less invasive and try to be more natural. Birthing centers are generally not recommended for high-risk pregnancies.
When making your birthing choice, be sure that you discuss all the aspects of your pregnancy and birthing wish with the person who will be delivering the baby. It pays to be serious in interviewing the healthcare provider as well as the place where you choose to give birth.
Take into consideration that as your pregnancy progresses your birthing choice might need to be changed in case you progress from a low-risk to a high-risk pregnancy – both for your safety and the safety of your baby. Your birthing choice is a major decision in your pregnancy and one that women make in different ways depending on their special circumstances.
Some women choose to give birth in traditional birthing settings because that is the way they do it in their family or culture while others make their choice based on the available insurance option. There are pregnant women who wish to undergo a certain type of birth (for example c-section, natural or water) and this in turn will dictate the final birth setting.
Each pregnancy is different and a woman who experienced a traditional hospital birth for one baby may choose to have a home-birth or be brought to a birthing center with a midwife as the birthing assistant.
However, there have been cases where an emergency occurs and the birthing choice that was previously made will automatically be discarded in order to save both the mother and the baby.
Tagged with: child birthing • giving birth
Filed under: Pregnancy