This summer, my children and I went to a sleep-away camp in the beautiful Poconos of Pennsylvania.  What a neat way to get back to nature!  My kids spent most of their days outside!  They swam in the lake, went horseback riding, did arts & crafts, and more.  This was an experience that I was able to provide them with because of my background in education.  While they were playing with friends, I was checking on campers,  supervising counselors, and communicating with parents.  Sure, it was hard work, but I got to spend my summer with fabulous kids in a place that was completely different from Orlando.  For the most part, the weather was beautiful, and like my kids, I got to spend most of my time outdoors!  I know it makes me sound like I’m 12, but I made some really good friends at camp, too.  What a neat experience! We were in PA for 9 weeks.

When I started this blog many years ago, I planned to get new posts up weekly, and for a while, I did exactly that.   My goal was to write about every new “green” business in Orlando, along with covering local events that would interest CFGG readers.  I also wanted to see our site have great content that relates to green living and holistic health.  Therefore, I recruited a number of individuals (mostly moms) who were interested in blogging about such topics on a regular basis.

Writers have come and gone, contributing what they could when they could–leaving when they could no longer make time for blogging or to start blogs of their own.  My life has changed dramatically over the years, and this has resulted in inconsistent writing on my part.  Having started this blog as a full-time parent, I found it hard to keep up when I returned to my teaching  job in 2008.  I’m home with my children again, but now I’m working towards another degree in education at the University of Central Florida.   I spend my weeks with my children and my weekends doing homework, so blogging regularly about natural living has been a bit of a challenge.

We’ve been back from PA about a month now, and we’re having fun reconnecting with family and friends.  Now that the kids and I have found our homeschool groove, I’m looking for ways to get more focused on green living. One idea that interests me has to do with my 4th grader, David.  I’m thinking about helping him write some articles for the Green Guide. This would be a great way to integrate language arts and science.  I might be able to involve my 1st grader as well! We’ve never had a kid’s perspective here at the GG!

We’re visiting Our Vital Earth (a worm farm) next week with our homeschool group.  I’m ashamed to admit that we have not been composting. It’s been on my “to do” list for years.   I need to just go ahead and get started.  I’ve also been talking about a rain barrel for too long.  What else?  We moved to a new home and need to look into water filtration again.  I’ve been so out of touch–I don’t even know what’s out there.

Oh, and if you’ve been wondering, the site’s name change was not intentional.  This website is designed for those living in Orlando and the surrounding areas.

The Orlando Green Guide is a labor of love.  If contributing appeals to you, please email me to get signed up AFTER reading the Guidelines for Writers.  This is a non-profit site, but you will be allowed to add your link in exchange for monthly contributions.  Do you have a child who would like to submit an article that relates to a green topic?  What about a book review?    We’d love to hear from you!

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Creatively Financing Your Dream Home Birth

For many parents money is an important factor when paying for prenatal care and the birth of their baby. Home birth can be a great option for the safe, affordable care of yourself and your unborn baby. This option is less expensive than hospital birth, yet has been proven very safe for low risk mothers.  Financing this option, however, can be a stumbling block for many who do not have insurance, or whose insurance company will not cover home birth. Over the years, I have seen many ways of creatively financing a home birth.

One of the first and foremost options for financing a home birth is to pre-plan your pregnancy and its costs. Seeking out and speaking with home birth midwives will give you a solid foundation of numbers to work with. Most midwives offer self pay packages that are reasonable and even discounted! When you pre-plan and save a little each month, you can easily have the basis for your down payments and/or deductibles and co-pays. For Example, if you saved $200.00 a month for 1 year, you would have $2400.00 saved for your care.  If you continued to pay $200.00 a month to your midwife during your pregnancy, you would have most of your fee covered in full! Many maternity riders for insurance policies cost much more than this monthly. This “baby fund” can even be started via a wedding gift, or Christmas present. Instead of gifts for the next year, request deposits to your fund!

When talking about insurance, shopping around ahead of time can go along way. In this case you will need to know what insurance your midwife takes and whether she is in network or out of network with that company. Even if she is out of network, it may be financially better to pay 40% of the fee, rather than 100%. Most midwives actively encourage interviews with them prior to your pregnancy to help you plan ahead.

Many parents find themselves in the unfamiliar territory of a pregnancy that was unplanned, or finances that change, such as lost insurance coverage. You may not have the luxury to pre-plan your finances around having a baby. In those circumstances, the financing needs to be creative to pay for your dream birth. Family and friends can be a good source, but this avenue has a rocky road of pitfalls associated with it. The next few tips are not ideal, but can offer a different way to help cover the cost of the home birth.

Something to consider is a low or zero interest credit card. Those introductory offers for credit cards can be enticing. Used responsibly this can be a great way to finance a home birth, even if your preferred midwife does not take credit cards.

This can be used to make your payments or pay your midwife in full earlier in the pregnancy for a discount.  You could use the cash advance feature of most credit cards (although at a higher interest rate), or simply pay others bills with your credit card, up to the amount of your monthly payments to your midwife. For instance, start making your car payment with your credit card, and take the cash you would normally pay your car payment to pay your midwife, if you she doesn’t take credit cards.

When using this type of creative financing, you will usually have time before any interest starts to accrue on the account. If you pay off the balance before then you have basically gotten an interest free loan!

The trick is to cut it up after that, or simply tuck it away as a medical fund only, should you need it. If you decide to make less payments on the balance, and take it out longer than the introductory period, then paying off a good portion of the balance prior to the interest rate spike, may still leave you in the green. You will have only a small chunk that will collect interest, as opposed to a full balance, and the cash discount given by your midwife for early payment may offset even that interest!

Another tactic would be a home equity loan. These can be easy, convenient and may possibly have tax benefits! The same principle applies, to use a lump sum payment to your midwife to achieve a cash discount and then pay your balance off as your comfortable, aiming at paying of your loan within the 1^st year, to save the most money.

Most home birth midwives are also willing to consider a bartering agreement for all or at least part of your bill. Bartering can be a powerful tool. It never hurts to ask. Readjusting your budget can also help. Think about swapping in your car for one with a lower monthly payment, or taking a year off of some of the luxuries, like dinners out, premium cable channels or selling items gathering dust in your garage. It all adds up.

Here is the bottom line: Home birth is worth the money. Your dream birth is worth the effort. Consider this: Many young girls spend their childhood dreaming and fantasizing about the perfect wedding. The place. The dress. The flowers. The ring. All these images float in our dreams. So what is the average American wedding tab? According to the “American Weddings” study conducted by The Fairchild Bridal Group in 2005, it was $26,327with an average planning time of 1 year.  So much goes into planning this one very special wedding day, but when we become pregnant, all of a sudden we are okay with paying our $15.00 co-pay and take what we are handed at the hospital without question. Many do not even spend time choosing their doctors, opting to go with their old stand by GYN, or pick randomly from an insurance provider list to save money.

This day is very, very special.  This event, like your wedding is irreplaceable. While you might be lucky enough to get a “do over” with your next birth, this baby’s birth can’t be done again. The outcome of this birth may affect all of your future births as well. Having an unnecessary c-section could affect your plans for years to come. Why is your birth experience any less important than any other special event in your life? As much as we are lead to believe that birth is solely a medical procedure, it isn’t. You DESERVE to be spoiled, pampered and well taken care. Even if that means coming out of pocket for that wonderful home water birth you have thought so much about.

I’m hopeful that in the coming years, insurance coverage for home birth will be the norm and those choices between the birth you want and the one you have to settle for are far in the past. Until then, parents will have to continue find creative ways to cover the expenses of their perfect birth. – Robyn Mattox LM, CPM http://www.inspirationmidwifery.com

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