This issue is truly about commitment and responsibility, and about women reclaiming their own power... it's truly a frightening thing to stand on your own feet, make your own decisions, and accept the outcome as being of your own creation. I think that's the heart of the matter...some people are really just not ready to stop allowing other people to tell them what to do, or what's happening with their bodies that they are apparently not choosing to fully live in.
I can say with certainty that choosing to pay our midwives out of pocket rather than using insurance 'coverage' was the right choice for my family both times I gave birth...this despite the fact that both times I had babies I found myself living truly on the barest minimum--we even had to sell one of our automobiles when we had our second baby. Even the money part of my relationship with my midwives became a sacred responsibility... and I will never, ever forget the night (3 nights after the glorious birth of my first son) that my milk came in voluminously (and painfully) and I was crying, my baby was crying, and YOU [Kim] came just as soon as I called you, a shining angel with your long hair in braids and ready to stay the whole night with my family!!!
Nothing else can match the level of service and commitment of a devoted midwife. The money stuff was squared away a long time ago... but my soul debt to you and Margie and my Oklahoma midwives can only be repaid by paying such kindness forward every day in every way I can. That's the kind of debt I like to have and it has been worth every dollar that I paid... even when I had no idea where it would come from. ~ Annabel Jenkins, December 10, 2009