Weddings are a big life event. We dream about our wedding day. And when the time finally comes, we plan for months!
We make big decisions like where we’re going to get married, who is going to cater the reception, and who is going photograph our wedding. And we make the tiniest detailed decision too like who is going to sit at table 7, cupcakes or cake, and how many pictures your sister’s new boyfriend should be in. We interview and research multiple djs, florists, and wedding planners. We try on multiple dresses followed by multiple dress fittings. The list goes on and on. The average wedding price tag nationally is $25k.
Imagine if we paid for our weddings using a wedding insurance plan. We paid into it for years and when it was time for our wedding, the insurance paid for it.
When it came time to start planning, our insurance chose the venue. They chose the dress. They chose the menu (but said the bride couldn’t eat, because she’d be too busy getting married). What if they also got to choose the officiant and the guest list?
Weddings would be a very different experience.
Birth is arguably the biggest life event. Even bigger than a wedding. And more memorable.
We buy insurance to cover medical expenses and in our culture birth counts as a medical event. When it comes to birth, our insurance often determines where we can birth, who can attend our birth, what we wear, and what we can (or can’t) eat.
And we usually don’t bat an eye.
Maybe because we forget that we are paying for our birth support. Insurance coverage may make maternity services feel “free”.
Hiring Your Birth Team
When we are expecting a baby, we hire a team – just as we do when planning our wedding. We hire our medical care provider – OB, midwife, or family doctor; our venue – home, hospital, or birth center; our photographer – if we are interested in having this event documented; our doula. As the boss of this team and our body, we can ultimately make decisions about our care – insisting on more time for our pregnancy, choosing to wear our own clothes, eating and drinking as we feel comfortable, inviting who we feel comfortable having in our birth space, and dis-inviting anyone we don’t feel comfortable with at any time during pregnancy or birth, and more!
Once in a Lifetime
Just like a wedding – birth of this baby is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This baby, this birth benefits with as much planning, forethought, and support as a wedding – if not more! Because at the end of the day, you should leave feeling empowered and ready for the next chapter of your parenting journey – no matter the details of your birth story.