What does a birth center offer that a hospital doesn’t?
At Holly No. 7, we offer personalized care, informed choice, freedom to move and eat during labor, laboring in water, water birth, many different positions for giving birth, long appointments and overall individualized and respectful care, while following the standards of midwifery care.
How long are appointments?
Appointments generally last 50 minutes, allowing us plenty of time to not only focus on the pregnancy but to get to know each other.
Do you offer labs and ultrasounds?
Yes, we draw them in house and can bill this portion to your insurance. There are several recommended labs that we like to have our clients do at the beginning of pregnancy. They include: Complete Blood Count, Hepatitis screening, HIV, Rubella, Blood Type and Screen, A1C, Chlamydia, and Gonorrhea screening. Midway through the pregnancy around 28 wks we’ll have to do a test for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and around 37 weeks we offer Group B Strep screening. We offer ultrasounds but do not require it unless we need one for a specific diagnostic purpose.
Can babies in your care receive erythromycin and vitamin K at delivery if desired by parents?
Yes. We have erythromycin ointment and injectable and oral vitamin K available.
Do you carry rhogam for RH- carriers?
Yes
Who can I bring to my birth?
Anyone that you would like to have at your birth is welcome to be there. This is a welcome conversation between clients and midwives throughout a pregnancy.
Different things can factor into who you would like to be there. Is this a person that you would like to have there or is this a person that wants to be there? How does this person feel about a community-based birth? Sometimes, having a few to large number of people at a birth can be distracting to the laboring process. This is something we are sensitive to as labor proceeds.
How much does it cost?
Our cash price/flat fee is a package price that covers a range of scenarios and is deeply discounted because it does not require the use of a medical biller.
Midwifery services are $5800 for home or birth center births. The birth center fee is an additional $1200. We require payment in full from all of our clients by 36 weeks, regardless of insurance status. We ask for a $500 deposit to put you on our birth calendar and offer a payment plan for the remainder of the fee. We are able to personalize payment plans when needed.
Do you take insurance?
We use a third party insurance biller, Birth Professional Billing, a billing service that will work with you to obtain any potential reimbursement. When you choose to utilize insurance, your care is billed for services rendered vs the discounted self-pay rate. This means the amount billed to your insurance is often higher than the cash price/flat fee, although it can sometimes be lower.
When using insurance, the cash price/flat fee becomes a retainer toward your patient responsibility (deductible, coinsurance, etc.). If your patient responsibility is less than the cash price/flat fee, you will be reimbursed the difference, minus a 10% billing fee.
Do you provide an itemized receipt or superbill? Our practice operates on a cash basis and we are unable to provide anything beyond a receipt for our cash price. The receipt we provide is not coded for insurance purposes. Since we do not have an in-house biller/coder like other healthcare providers, we work with a third-party company, BirthProfessional Billing, to submit your claims to your insurance.
How long should I expect to stay at the birth center?
We don’t have a strict policy that dictates the length of stay required. For the most part, discharge time is flexible. It depends on how/when the mother and baby are stable, what time the baby is born, and how far away you live from the birth center. The shortest amount of time has been two hours (!) and the longest was eight.
Do you offer VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean section)?
Yes! Our licensing rules allow us to care for folks who have had one prior Caesarean section that was at least 18 months prior to the current pregnancy’s due date. For more information about VBAC with midwives in Maine, click here.
What percentage of patients need to be transferred to a higher level of care?
The last time we did the numbers it was about 15%. This included those transferred during the prenatal period, labor, immediate postpartum, and infants.
What if I need to be transferred?
In the event that you needed to be transferred during labor or postpartum, we go with you and be your doulas/allies. We follow up with the the the same postpartum care plan for you and baby once you return home. Holly No. 7 is conveniently located just a mile and a half from Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center.
Is a birth center right for me?
The best way to know is to come to the birth center and meet us or yourself/yourselves. We encourage you to bring a list of questions, tour the birthing suites/facilities, and have a conversation about the kind of care you you’re hoping for during your pregnancy and postpartum period. We offer free consultations to clients interested in working with us for the first time. At this visit, potential clients and their families have the opportunity to meet with the midwives and learn about the care we provide. Want to schedule a free consultation? Click here.
Do you recommend having a doula? Where can I find one?
A doula can be a great addition to the birth team in providing support, information, and guidance. It is a personal decision that you get to make about what is right for you and your family. If you’d like to have a doula at your birth or available for postpartum support, let us know and we can provide recommendations.
How do I prepare for birth?
Holly No. 7 offers childbirth classes. We also have a lending library of books which can be very useful in preparing for labor. Some of our favorites are: The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin, Active Birth by Janet Balaskas, and The Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth by Robert A. Bradley. We encourage you to bring any questions or fears about labor to your prenatal appointments, where we can spend time talking about them and helping to develop solutions that are right for you.