UT: Economy leading more women to midwives

The slumping economy is becoming a factor in where some Utah women decide to give birth.

Licensed home-based midwives say they’ve seen a slight increase in business in part because their service tends to be less expensive than giving birth in a hospital.

“The fact (that) people are having a lot of financial troubles is causing people to look for alternatives,” said Suzanne Smith, a midwife who said she is taking more calls from people who are uninsured or have high deductibles.

Consulting appointments are also up at BellaNatal, a one-room birth suite in Orem run by Smith.

At the Birth and Family Place, a birth center in Holladay, the number of women touring the center who say they’re attracted by the price has risen to about one-third, according to medical director Rebecca McInnis.

“I don’t think it’s been that high before,” McInnis said.

A hospital-based birth can cost about $8,300, including about $6,000 on average for the hospital charge, according to 2006 estimates by the state health department. Deliveries at home or at a birthing center can be substantially less expensive.

Still, midwives said, cost is rarely the only factor in deciding to give birth at home or at a center. It typically only makes sense for women with low-risk pregnancies and for those willing to forgo epidurals and Caesarean sections. Women have to weigh the risks and benefits of giving birth outside of a hospital, they said.

“You really should be where you feel safe, where you feel good,” Smith said. “Nobody’s going to go to the cheapest place when it comes to the life of their baby.”

Paula Williams of Provo said she wanted to give birth at home with her second child. She said she was dissatisfied with the hospital birth of her first child. Cost was also a factor in considering the birth of her second. Williams, who doesn’t have insurance, delivered her son in a bathtub at her parents’ house in November and was glad she did.

“It was a lot better experience. I got to do it my way,” she said. “I will be doing it again, not just because of the money.”

December 28, 2008 | Filed Under Birth Centers, Home Birth, In the News, Midwives/Midwifery