[doulacandice]

I don't think any of you know my birth story with my fourth child.I had planned a home birth with a midwife who I trusted and was planning a perfect water birth and then things changed and left me devastated, torn, frustrated, etc.. You name it, I felt it. I felt betrayed by my midwife. I felt abused by the OB. It took me a long time of grieving to get over that. I still had a natural birth in the hospital but it was how it all happened and how I was treated that left me feeling like I did.

So, with Logan (our newest), I was scared to go UP. I was scared that if something happened and I had to go to the hospital I would have been left in the same situation as last time, being treated the same. So that said I seeked out a midwife locally but couldn't afford 3-4,000.00 for one out of pocket. I resorted to seeing a CNM, who was fantastic. She used to be a home birth midwife in another state before moving here. She understood me and knew my plans were for a UC at the end of this. I also knew, that I would be going overdue. She shrugged it off telling me since my last one was born at 39w6d (when my previous 3 were 42 weekers) then this one probably would be "on time". I knew he wouldn't be.. I felt it. I told her he would be overdue. He was.. 43 weeks. lol Well at the end of my pregnancy I was bugged with the OB's at the practice wanting me to be induced. One said he wanted me to be induced at 40 weeks because I'm "obese". I said no, she agreed and tossed the paper.. When 42 weeks came though, she started to get worried. I refused NST"s and US's at the point but finally agreed to a US and everything was great, fluid fine and all. She still said though I could come in and she would break my water since I had been having contractions but I refused. I was fine, BP perfect, the baby's fluid perfect so I wanted to wait. That was God's plan.. I did, declined her attempts several times to help.. It was hard though. Emotionally and physically. I waited and he came. When my water broke, it was fast and furious. I was at the hospital an hour with hard labor and he was born. No one made it, the nurse caught him while I stood.. It was fantastic.. Very empowering. It showed me I don't need anyone there. If the nurse wasn't already in the room my dh could have caught him. (my water had broken the night after our heat went out at our house, it was 7 degrees the morning he was born, so it was way to cold to have him at home. I had a beautiful birth tub and all ready to go)

So, now I'm pregnant again. I don't want to mess with OB's and all that junk. I know what I want. I know what prenatal care is about. I want to go UP but I'm unsure about a few things.

So this is where I'm asking opinions. Has anyone ever had prenatal care through a birth center and then UC'ed at home? The reason why I need to seek some type of prenatal care is because 1. I have hypothyoidism. I need my levels checked, I actually need them checked right away. and 2. There are serious heart defects that run in my dh's family. His brother died of one as a child. I need a echocardiogram of the baby's heart to see how everything is growing..

That's about the only thing I need from a health care provider though. I don't want GBS testing, I don't want the AIDS/other STD testing, I don't need the GTT done. I know I can decline these at a birth center.

My only downside to it is their hospital connected to the birth center is a teaching hospital. I'm also not sure of the birht center's practices around being overdue. I just don't want that pressure, kwim?

I know I have time.. Only thing I need to do right now is get my thyroid levels checked asap.

[Solace]

I know that in some birth centers if you refuse to consent to testing they will risk you out and not provide care. Some are okay with declining tests..it is one of those your milage may vary deals. All you can do is procede forward and exercise informed consent/informed refusal. What about a family practice doctor to give you basic physical care (thyroid, etc.) and not prenatal care per se?

Whatever you decide, I wish you the best. You have time to figure out the other details..the only pressing detail for you right now is the thyroid, correct?

I also want you to consider the accuracy (or rather, inaccuracy) of ultrasound in reliably detecting heart defects prenatally. It *may* pick it up if there was a defect..or it may not. It may indicate a problem when none exists.. will your plans change if the ultrasound picks up a suspicious shadow or some other variation? Will you undergo months of agony and worry only to find out all is well AFTER the birth? Or rather, would you rest easy thinking that all is well, possibly even ignoring a premonition that something is wrong, when there could be an undetected defect? I guess my point is, I would not trust ultrasound, even a detailed ultrasound, to give me an answer to something like that. A good newborn exam could probably pick up many heart abnormalities. Do you have a pediatrician selected for the baby? A family doctor? What are your feelings on the scenerios mentioned?

Just random thoughts for you to consider. I just wanted to through some potential scenerios out there for you to consider. No right or wrong answers--only what resonates with you as the right choice. We are just here to support.

Remember, no matter who provides your prenatal care, you always have the right to informed consent and informed refusal. ((hugs)) I had parallel care with a doctor when I had my UC. I refused tests.I felt respected in my choices. Trust is important in any relationship and I would question the wisdom of having care with anyone who I couldn't be honest with and who wouldn't respect my decision to accept or decline ANYTHING...because if a variation of normal happened where you needed their expertise, you need to be able to trust their decisions where our knowledge of normal ends and their knowledge begins, (which is why people hire drs, right? Drs are for the special situations, the sick, the unwell, the variations or normal). In any case.. these are just some random, late night thoughts I have had.

[bydesign]

I agree with Jenni about any prenatal testing. You have to ask and answer the questions for yourself about how test results will affect your management of the pregnancy and birth. If you wouldn't change anything, then you are just buying worry. But if it will alter your decisions, then you need information upon which to make decisions.

Every hospital/birth center/midwife is different. Only you can determine whether the relationship will work after feeling out the situation to see whether prenatal care with them can be combined with UC. Some providers will feel that you choosing a UC turns on their duty as a mandatory reporter of child abuse/neglect. That is a scary situation and not something you want to experience. Others will be fine as long as you don't go over your "due date", and you know what that is like.

Thankfully, pregnancy is 9 months long and you can change your mind several times if you like. :flowers:

[Solace]

bydesign, on Jul 23 2009, 12:13 AM, said:

I agree with Jenni about any prenatal testing. You have to ask and answer the questions for yourself about how test results will affect your management of the pregnancy and birth. If you wouldn't change anything, then you are just buying worry. But if it will alter your decisions, then you need information upon which to make decisions.

Every hospital/birth center/midwife is different. Only you can determine whether the relationship will work after feeling out the situation to see whether prenatal care with them can be combined with UC. Some providers will feel that you choosing a UC turns on their duty as a mandatory reporter of child abuse/neglect. That is a scary situation and not something you want to experience. Others will be fine as long as you don't go over your "due date", and you know what that is like.

Thankfully, pregnancy is 9 months long and you can change your mind several times if you like. :flowers:

An excellent book is Mothers Intention, How Belief Shapes Birth by Kim Wildner. The book delves into responsibility, birthing with intention, etc. and really has changed the way I look at my decisions in pregnancy. I recommend it to everyone; it is life changing if you haven't made that paradigm shift. I read it again each pregnancy and sometimes in between..good stuff.