Homebirth Fund- Pregnant in Portugal in a Pandemic

Olá!✨ 

Baby Blob September 2020


As you might guess from the photo, I'm currently 26 weeks pregnant with Baby Bump #2 (due date of 21/3/21) It was a bit of a suprise but we are happy, Ivan is super excited and we're all looking forward to things to come. However, we need your help in order to welcome baby into the world! 

Thanks to the amazing NHS, 5 years ago I was lucky enough to have a textbook water birth in the LGI with twinkly lights on the ceiling, and midwives that respected my birth plan without question. Since then, I've had my heart set on a home birth with my second. Home birth is not a service offered by the public Portuguese healthcare system, but there are many reasons why we feel it's something we need to do, despite the cost. 

Boy and Bump - December 2020


Primarily, the infection control measures at place in the hospitals means that Samuel would not be allowed to be present at the birth or to visit me in the hospital, until I was ready to go home. We are also still shielding Samuels grandparents, so it makes sense to reduce contact with medical professionals as much as feasibly possible. I've also heard enough horror stories from friends here to know that a hospital birth in Portugal is dictated by some fairly outdated practices (male consultant care, stirrups, unnecessary interventions, all or nothing pain relief - never mind the language and cultural barriers!) So quite frankly, the idea of giving birth alone in such an unfamiliar situation makes me anxious, very anxious. 


Thankfully there is an alternative, but we need your help to make it possible  We have been recommended a lovely Dutch independent midwife called Els, who is super reassuring and has a deep respect for the birthing process. But she comes at a price (that we can't afford ) 


Els' midwife package is 4x prenatal vists (@€40 each) the home birth (@€1000) and 4x antenatal visits (@€40 each) = €1320 I don't resent her costs as she is fully qualified, has lots of experience, and the unpredictable nature of babies means she's can't double book herself. Plus, she lives 30km away, so even a home visit of an hour or so will take up half her day! 

When Ivan was sent to us, 'the universe' provided us with everything we could possibly need in the form of gifts and donations from family, friends and even strangers. We have kept almost all of these things, and after it's safe delivery, the baby will need very little.  


So if you're somebody that would ordinarily buy a little baby outfit to celebrate a new life coming into the world, or if you have a good deed to pay forward (or are just feeling flush!), we would so grateful if you could put a small donation in our HomeBirth pot.

We have have put the 'goal' amount as the total cost of the midwife's care. We do not expect it to reach that total but, in my experience, if you are 'asking the universe' to provide something you need to be really clear about what you are asking for. So, 'universe', it would be really nice to not have such a big bill looming over our heads, please And of course, this GoFundMe is just one potential trickle, we are also exploring the potential of government assistance, as well as Samuel plugging away trying to work as much as possible (he's already booked up with jobs well into next year!) But time is ticking on and our pot is pretty empty so far ⏳


In return for your most generous donations I/we pledge to Pay It Forward by...


-updating my profile photo to recent one (for curious folk) as my current is almost 10 years old

-add bump photos as time progresses. I don't have many so far as I'm always in DIY clothes, as we're doing a big push to try to get most physical building work out of the way before my 3rd trimester