Cgrats on the new babies!
Ladies I am so excited and not many will understand so I have to share it here. I'm not pregnant yet but I'm once again a hopeful! I've been a hopeful since I was a teenager as where I grew up at church homebirths were the norm, almost expected, and hospital births were deemed "weird" lol. I knew who would have been my midwife and I never even entertained the idea of not having a home birth.
But then 2 years into our ttc journey we moved to Australia. Before I was pregnant I tried looking into home births but couldn't find how to find a private midwife, and learned that they're not covered by medicare. By the time I was 6 months pregnant I finally stumbled upon a midwife, but my husband had been unemployed for six months and we were in bad shape financially so paying $3-4000 for a home birth when I could have a hospital birth for free was kind of a no brainer. It did end up being a positive experience at least.
Second time around dh had at least been working for a year and a half but work was slow and inconsistent so we decided once again we'd better plan on the free option again, but I hired a doula and signed up for a student midwife so at least I'd have continuity of care. And then I ended up with a breechling and at 38 weeks when faced with a cesarean at my local hospital at 39 weeks or a three hour drive to a hospital that supported breech births we once again entertained the idea of a home birth. The IM was lovely and encouraging but not able to take me on so late, but she did out me in a great headspace, and two and a half weeks later I traveled three hours and rocked that VBB 2 hours after arriving at hospital not yet in established labour. The midwife joked (or maybe not) that it would be a home birth for me next time, and hubby agreed.
But then his work all but dried up (he was still working, but averaging maybe 10 hours a week) and then he decided to go back to school which severely limits when he's even available to work, so I once again resigned myself to the fact that I may never get a homebirth while living in a country that doesn't cover them the same as hospital births. But I've been experiencing a lot of anxiety around getting pregnant again and once again having to stand up for the birth I want (which isn't even the birth I really want).
Sorry for the essay, but I feel like sharing my history will help you better realize just how excited I am. Well yesterday I calculated that having a third child will increase the family tax benefit I receive by enough that we can make monthly payments and have the birth paid off in a year (or less if I can find a midwife registered with medicare as then I'll get a rebate for antenatal care) without infringing on our current income.
Hubby has given the OK, so now I just need to get pregnant again and I can start preparing for the home birth I've always wanted
I'm due 5th oct so a hopefull again (was transferred in with my youngest unnecessary 
. )
Joseph James was born at 00.06 in the water after a very speedy 3 hour labour!
