FEBRUARY HEARTS Due in February 2015 , open group all welcome!

[SurpriseBub]

I am doing the glucose test on Friday. Not looking forward to it, as I feel nauseous if I don't eat when I wake up... So, I expect to turn up feeling ill already! For me, I think it is worthwhile. The risks of GD can be pretty bad, so I prefer to do the screening, as the potential benefits way outweigh the drawbacks- especially as many people seem to have no symptoms of GD, and are able to make changes early on by finding out via the test.

How seriously are you thinKing about a home birth, Megan? I am sure it is no secret on here that I am the worrying anxious type, so take what I say with that in mind... But I think a home birth- particularly for a first baby isn't a good idea. we had dinner with some of my husband's colleagues on Saturday. They have two little boys, and she talked us through her experiences (which was particularly interesting as she had one baby in Australia and the second In the US). She had an emergency c section the first time around, and in Australia they scan your pelvis after birth (at least they did for her). Turns out she has a small pelvis, and vaginal births are never going to be possible for her. There was no way for her to know that without the experience of one labour under her belt. That sort of highlighted for me how much you cannot know before having gone through labour and birth. And with that in mind, I think it is much more sensible to be in a hospital setting. My best friend is also a paramedic, and she has a couple of horrific stories (which I won't detail) about botched home births. If you do need an emergency c section, they can have the baby out in 10 minutes at hospital, whereas if something goes wrong and you need to call an ambulance to your home, you introduce a whole new set of problems that they and the attending dr will need to try and overcome. It is also much more difficult for an ob gyn to give you good care if you come in already in distress. I know that some people are passionate believers in home birth (Feronia for one ), but I would do a lot of research before making that choice. For me, the risks are definitely not worth the benefits of being at home.

I have a pediatrician friend who wanted a home birth for baby number two, but she never found a midwife she was comfortable with, so she stuck with the hospital option. What she did do, though, was labour a lot at home. Perhaps that might be a compromise? If you have your doula there, you would have support but do the actual birth in hospital. I would think that would help you stick to the birth plan?

Sorry if I sound alarmist or offend anyone planning a home birth. I can recognize the appeal of it, but in my mind cannot justify the risks.

 

[RaspberryK]

Ugh what a pain in the arse that you are in that position with your insurances and such!
Sure makes me grateful for living in the UK and the NHS, despite it's faults.
Xx

 

[ttc126]

Hi everyone!

I have a lot of catching up so please excuse me for not replying to everything just yet

I had my appointment this morning and got sent to l&d for monitoring again. I got discharged from there with a 24 hour urine collection. Hopefully it comes back fine...

Preeclampsia tests looked fine today so hopefully everything is fine with the 24hr test.

Thinking of you all!

 

[Feronia]

Here it goes, don't get me started on home births!

Home births are PERFECTLY safe for low-risk women, and there is no reason not to try one for a first birth if that is within your level of comfort. There was just a major study published this year that looked at 17,000 low-risk women who had planned home births with CPMs in the US. The results showed that they were actually safer for low-risk women with fewer interventions. A trained midwife knows when to transfer, and they do so with enough time, and you're registered at a hospital anyway. The vast majority of transfers occur for pain relief, not for emergency situations. In the event that an emergency does occur, they call the hospital as they're transferring you so that a c-section is prepped and ready right when you get there. It takes time to set up anyway.

Here's a link to the study. My midwife was one of the leads. She also publishes an annotated guide to the literature on home birth here.

Of course I respect the right for everyone to choose a setting that is best for themselves personally, but there are a lot of misconceptions out there about home birth, particularly in regard to safety!

 

[SurpriseBub]

I knew that you would disagree, feronia and I completely respect your point of view.

 

[Feronia]

haha, it's no problem. I just had to get that out there.
Unfortunately, bad outcomes do happen, but they happen in both settings. High risk women should absolutely be in a hospital and under the care of a specialist, but for low-risk women who *plan* a home birth with a trained midwife, it is not riskier to give birth at home.

 

[RaspberryK]

I completely agree with feronia on the home birth , I'm still gutted 3 years later that I didn't end up having ds at home, however I'm grateful that I did spend the first 25 hours at home because no doubt we'd have been talked into all kinds of interventions and probably I'd have had pain relief which could have caused other problems.

I'm really hoping that I don't stay "high risk" and that I make it to 36 weeks for my home birth.
I'll be talking to my midwife on the 12th about what she thinks of me not seeing the consultant as much or maybe swapping to someone else as I don't like how I was made to feel last Wednesday when nothing had actually changed but I was panicked and pressured into those shots etc.
Xx

 

[MellyH]

There are horror stories at hospital as well as at home, and hopefully no-one here has one either way! I am still really hoping to go into labour naturally (although a long time from now, please, twins!) and spend as much of labour at home as possible.

Given that I've rushed to hospital twice so far at the first sign of things being different to what I expected, I'm not sure how I'll go though.

 

[SurpriseBub]

Agreed- fingers crossed everything goes to plan for all of us

It is all just so scary, and there are so many things to consider. It would be nice to know how things were going to go, and be able to plan with that knowledge vs. trying to plan and accommodate so many unknowns.

As an aside- sorry that your insurance is so inflexible, megan ours have been pretty good. We have to choose in network, but pretty much every doctor/hospital anywhere close to us are. I think I am going to call and double check now though, just to be sure!!

Also sorry that you don't like your consultant, raspberry. some doctors can be so arrogant. I guess if you do see him again, at least you know what happened last time, and can be prepared vs. Being as on the spot as you were last time.

 

[SurpriseBub]

Don't kick yourself about going to hospital, melly! In both cases you had cause to worry, and you really can't be too careful

 

[NickieMcG]

Hey Ladies, Can't believe we've made it this far!!! Such a wonderful feeling to book my mat leave today Still can't quite believe how fast this is going!!! They will all be here before we know it :-D

 

[Megamegan]

Thank you for the helpful replies! My plan is basically to labor at home with my doula until the last possible moment, then head to the hospital we live right next to- however, that's not the hospital I'm registered at. So I'll have to go in through the ER and use weather or emergency as an "excuse" to get my insurance to cover it. It's ridiculous. I'm meeting a midwife on Friday who I hope I will be able to call when that day comes, so I at least know who will be at my birth even if she doesn't do my prenatal care. I'll just have to have all my documents with me and hope for the best. Even this plan makes me nervous because I don't want to face my OB after the fact and have to explain to her why I didn't end up going to her hospital... even though I don't think she'll care much.

And as for home birth- for me, insurance covers 100% of the cost of hospital birth, with no copay. The caveat is they won't let me plan to give birth where I want to. So a home birth is basically out of the question because I'd have to pay out of pocket, anywhere from 4-6k. Two of my friends at work did it for their second babies and one of them said she paid about 4,500. Remember everything is more expensive in NY. I have been reading all day long about how to make hospital births more homey, and I think just having a really good plan and packed bag with things that will make me comfortable will go a long way. It's more the fact that I can't predict which hospital I'm going to, that's bothering me- if I planned a home birth at least I'd know where I will be. Oh well. I guess I just have to live with this uncertainty.

 

[swanxxsong]

Uncertainty is such a common theme with US insurance lol.

Things have changed since I had my daughter and even if I wanted to birth at the same hospital I did with her (I think I paid 3k to have her?) if I delivered my son there I would have to pay triple that. Triple!

Money wasn't the reason I chose the center, as I knew I wanted it way before I researched prices -- but when I saw that my jaw dropped!

So if I end up needing a hospital transfer I can't go to the one I know unless I pay a lot more. So we found two backup plan hospitals that are in the 2-3k range, which is the same cost as the center.

But I still wish I had a guarantee of where I could deliver LOL. I am praying to not risk out of the center!

 

[SurpriseBub]

I find the US system so hugely confusing and needlessly complicated. I also find that the dr office staff aren't very good at explaining things to me about how insurance here works... I think that they are so familiar with it, that they don't understand how confusing it is! (Hopefully that makes sense!)

 

[MellyH]

Yeah one of the reasons I chose Kaiser is that it's not very complicated (especially coming from Australia, so the US system is labyrinthine to me already!). The copay for the entire pregnancy is $200, their nearest hospitals had the lowest c-section rates (so in the 20-something percent instead of the 30-something percent, sigh) and the highest successful breastfeeding rates, there's no 'in-network' or 'out-of-network' confusion because Kaiser has its own hospitals and medical centres, and almost everything is available/doable online (appointments, emailing my doctors quick questions, test results, etc).

 

[dcm_mw12]

I have been trying to read through all the pages but omg it's so much but it's good to see that you ladies are still doing great ! & I can't believe how far we have come since the beginning 😉😊☺

 

[Megamegan]

Unfortunately I have zero choice in my insurance carrier because I am active duty military. If I was a military spouse, I would have more of a choice, but the insurance for active duty soldiers is pretty strict... yet on the other hand they cover 100% of everything when I visit other hospitals through the ER. Hence my plan to enter the hospital through the ER. Because that's what my OB told me to do: if the weather doesn't allow me to drive to my assigned hospital, then I go to the nearest other hospital. The weather is GOING TO BE BAD. Lol. Come on, NY, when has it not been snowing 1-2 feet in February? Let's make this happen.

 

[Captain]

Finished painting this morning, woohoo!
Just little bits to finish in the nursery now but thankfully, the rest of the boat can go back to normal, phew!

Hubby had a letter from his employer this morning to say he'd been laid off! Quite the surprise as he's been off work since August after surgery from a work injury! He's flying back to Calgary in 10 days for a meeting with his surgeon, his knee is way better but one busy day and he'll be awake all night in pain with it, so no way is he ready to go back to 10 hour shifts yet. Fingers crossed he will be staying off work until the baby's here!

 

[huckleberrry]

Megan - I can totally relate to how the book made you feel about hospital births! I joked to my OH that I was going to labour away in the car and pop into the hospital at the last moment! And last week I saw my OB and asked if I could eat or drink while in labour, and she didn't know!!! (I'm using Ina May's strategy of smuggling food in. ) I'm going to get a doula as you mentioned (house stuff has been taking up so much time) and spend as much time in labour at home.

Secondtime - hope you're doing ok.

Shells - congrats on babies being head down.

 

[huckleberrry]

And Captain - I think you are excited about your OH being laid off? If yes, congrats! (And if I have completely read that wrong, so sorry!)