Scans?

[KiwiMOM]

Did anyone here not have any scans?

My midwife is a home birth advocate and encourages her clients to get the bare minimum scans.. they made sure things were cooking well at my 12 week scan and so now coming up to my 20 week scan she's asking me if I'd consider not getting the scan.. some people are outraged by this but there aren't really any restrictions on home birth or anything in New Zealand. I've decided I'd like to get the scan any way, not because I want to have a "visit" with my baby but because I want to make sure things "appear" (as nothing is ever certain) all clear for my home birth. If they discover something that would need monitoring after birth than I'd rather know now so I can start planning for a hospital birth IYKWIM.

But I've run into some home-birther's who didn't have a single scan.. was wondering if any of you chose not to have them, and why?

 

[flyingduster]

ohhhhh, I'm not much help really cos I had all my scans (12 weeks, 20 weeks and 32 weeks, plus another last week cos I'm post-date and probably another tomorrow or fri for the same reason....) but had to say HI!!!!!! Where in NZ are you?? I'm in Dunedin.


It is your choice totally, and if you will regret not getting checked/wished you'd got a scan done; then get it done! I know there are some thoughts about possible side effects of having a lot of scans, so I do totally agree with not having a ton of them if you don't need them, but I was (obviously) personally happy with the three standard ones offered and the peace of mind it gave me to know baby was healthy and happy. Especially as I didn't feel any movement until several weeks after the second scan! Once I was feeling regular movement I wasn't as worried about baby and could have easily skipped the third scan, except hubby wanted it and had promised his parents they could come to it! lol.

 

[mummymarsh]

i dont gt whyshe would advise you not too... i find that appaling.... the 20 week scan is the most important.... and it was 20 week scan where i found out m baby was seriously ill..... if i hadnt had the scan i would have been oblivious and either gone full term to a stillborn baby completely unaware.... or i would have gone into early labour to a still born baby again oblivios to problems OR i would hve given birth to a severely disabled little boy who was unlikely to make it......

turns out my baby boy was stillborn at 24+3 weeks and i was fully aware of the outcome due to my care an support from ealth professional and they helped me get th most out of spending time wih him..

 

[mummymarsh]

sorry my keyboard is playing up.. grrrr

 

[KiwiMOM]

ohhhhh, I'm not much help really cos I had all my scans (12 weeks, 20 weeks and 32 weeks, plus another last week cos I'm post-date and probably another tomorrow or fri for the same reason....) but had to say HI!!!!!! Where in NZ are you?? I'm in Dunedin.


It is your choice totally, and if you will regret not getting checked/wished you'd got a scan done; then get it done! I know there are some thoughts about possible side effects of having a lot of scans, so I do totally agree with not having a ton of them if you don't need them, but I was (obviously) personally happy with the three standard ones offered and the peace of mind it gave me to know baby was healthy and happy. Especially as I didn't feel any movement until several weeks after the second scan! Once I was feeling regular movement I wasn't as worried about baby and could have easily skipped the third scan, except hubby wanted it and had promised his parents they could come to it! lol.

I'm from Hamilton, not so exciting, but I love finding other New Zealanders on here

& to the PP it appals(?) most people from over seas, but to the 'extreme home birthers' I've met its totally normal! I see how it could go horribly wrong, which is why I'm having mine done, I'd rather be in the hospital if there was a high chance some kind of medical intervention would be needed to help my baby.. but these woman all have perfectly healthy babies and refused to go into hospital even when their labours went a bit hairy

I personally don't think I could do it, and I find it a bit scary how comfortable these ladies were with the idea

 

[lynnikins]

my mother had no scans with my brother or youngest sister at all and had natural homebirths with them.

I opted for scans, 1 caus i wanted to be sure baby was ok, 2 caus i wanted to know if baby was a boy or girl and 3 caus ive had 2 large babies i wanted to know an esitmate of how big this one was likely to get lol

 

[NaturalMomma]

I had a homebirth with ds2 and I had 1 scan at 19 weeks. I had the one scan because I wanted to make sure there were no fetal complications (heart defect) that would make a homebirth with him to be dangerous.

 

[KiwiMOM]

I had a homebirth with ds2 and I had 1 scan at 19 weeks. I had the one scan because I wanted to make sure there were no fetal complications (heart defect) that would make a homebirth with him to be dangerous.

That's the main thing I want to make sure is all right, nobody gave me the option to opt out of 12 week scan, and as I was young they thought I might be considering my options/wanted to make sure everything was in place I had a scan at 6 weeks.

 

[flyingduster]

There is always the option to opt out of anything here in NZ; don't let anyone pressure you in to what you don't want!
You can switch your midwife at any point if you're not happy with her too, and you don't have to get any of the blood tests done if you don't want to, nor the glucose tests etc etc. I've gone for all the standard stuff personally, though I did miss one of my blood tests cos I forgot to go get it done! lol. But it was only a general check-up one so no biggie.

Good luck!

 

[wigglywoo]

I had both of mine for peace of mind more than anything. Had I been offered a growth scan I would have declined as they are not very accurate from what I've read, but if I was only going to have one, I would choose the 20 week anomaly scan as I think it's the most important.

 

[kellyb]

I only did one scan, at 20 weeks, just to check for anomalies, heart issues, etc. It seemed like the most important one. Since all looked good, I felt good! I wouldn't be too concerned about it though, considering many of our moms had no scans, and all went well. I just don't like the idea of getting too many for no real reason--there aren't any long term studies out on ultrasounds yet, so for me, one was good enough!

 

[Nikki_d72]

Hiya, I'm in NZ too, near Wanaka. The midwifery system is great here, isn't it? We're so lucky.

I too know a lot of homebirth advocates here who haven't scanned and won't use dopplers, usually if they have read Sarah Buckley as she raises some questions about the safety of modern ultrasound scanners and dopplers.

I was also planning to homebirth, and after reading that book and talking with my fairly hard-line neighbour I decided just on the one scan, at 20wks as I didn't want the nuchal and was told that was the only reason for the 12 week one (by my 1st MW, I switched). Unfortunatley I didn't make it to my 20wk scan as my waters broke suddenly two days before it was scheduled. I beat myself up every day now about not going to that scan. Who knows whether it would have made any difference or not to the outcome, but at least I would have known for sure I was carrying twins and could at least have celebrated them before they were in trouble. There's always something you will find to beat yourself up about when a loss occurs but I can't help but wonder if I'd known it was twins then I'd have made myself more aware of the symptoms of dilation and early labour and something could have been done before it got to that stage and they could have been saved.

Sorry to mention my loss here, I don't usually and don't wish to scare but felt it was relevant. I think my point is don't be overly influenced by the hardliners if it's not the way you want to do things, and don't be made feel guilty for scanning if that's what you want. Go with your own gut, it's important.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[flyingduster]

oooh, hi to another kiwi! I'm so sorry for your loss.... I can't even imagine...

We tend to go on a camping trip over to arrowtown most years so spend some time in wanaka while we're over that way; have always loved it over there!

 

[Nikki_d72]

Thanks, I'm not actually a Kiwi, I'm Scottish but DH is and am permanently here now. Yes, It's nice down here but hard to get work at the moment.

I see you've not got long to go to meet your baby, how exciting! Are you getting much strife about being post-dates to get induced etc?

GLxxx

 

[flyingduster]

I'm getting more strife online than anything! So many people can't quite fathom it. lol! I do get a lot of comments from clients at work (yes, I'm still working. lol) saying "how long will they let you go!?" but they don't question me about it as much as those who like the anonymity of being online.

My midwife is supportive, as long as I'm kept under close monitoring (CTG monitors every day or two, and weekly scans) and my family are too, so that's all I really care about. I'd never risk my baby if there was any doubt about being this far over, but there so far has been absolutely no signs of needing anything to worry about that except the days are passing by! lol. Doctors at the hospital would have had me induced a week ago if they had their way, but my midwife has kept them at bay for me, so long as everything keeps checking out ok.

I had an impressive bloody show this morning though, so lets hope things are kicking into gear soon!

 

[Nikki_d72]

That's great, it sounds like you've got a good midwife! There's one set here that tend to push for induction from only one week overdue but the one I went with last time, and would again is much less conservative. It's just so great to have choices like that here. From all I've read on here in the UK you just get who's on shift on the day and don't get to choose an inependant MW unless you fund it yourself, I'm so grateful that I can choose my own and not get charged. It looks even more restrictive in the US depending on which state you are in.

That's good your family are onboard, my lot would throw their hands up in horror if thay had any clue what I'd been planning.

Good luck, that show sounds really promising, hope it all goes the way you want it and you get your dream homebirth. xxx

 

[KiwiMOM]

That's great, it sounds like you've got a good midwife! There's one set here that tend to push for induction from only one week overdue but the one I went with last time, and would again is much less conservative. It's just so great to have choices like that here. From all I've read on here in the UK you just get who's on shift on the day and don't get to choose an inependant MW unless you fund it yourself, I'm so grateful that I can choose my own and not get charged. It looks even more restrictive in the US depending on which state you are in.

That's good your family are onboard, my lot would throw their hands up in horror if thay had any clue what I'd been planning.

Good luck, that show sounds really promising, hope it all goes the way you want it and you get your dream homebirth. xxx

Thanks

I've got to say I'm pretty thankful to be having my baby in NZ (I'm Canadian) but just from hearing what others have said about the care they receive abroad over here sounds like the best fit for me personally I feel like the care here is a little more individualised, not better or worse than anywhere else though

 

[vikirose]

I chose not to have scans with my first 2 pregnancys 6+8 yrs ago as I had read the negative effects of ultrasound and decided to trust in my instincts. I live near a very large womens hospital and with both babies had MW's who had only expeirienced a mother turning them down once or twice before or never in some of the mw's cases. They wern't excactly keen on the idea but I knew that if I felt worried in anyway i could go straight in for a scan.
I'm pregnant now with a different partner and decided to have scans with this one and I must say it has lead onto more worries than before. I have to have another scan at 34 wks as my placenta is low (though not covering my cervix) I would say go with your instincts. If everything feels ok and you feel pregnant you may choose not to have one. You could ask for a very short one without all the fluffy bits of pointing everything out to you?

 

[pea-in-pod]

Hi kiwi mom! Sorry for stupid iPad auto correct in advance!
I had a great home birth with my seven month old, and would def consider myself a granola mama in terms of wanting everything very natural for her. BUT one reason you should consider getting at least one scan after 20 weeks is to ensure you don't have either placenta previa or low lying placenta. These are both complications that would be very serious for a home birther, but can easily be taken care of in the hospital.
Good luck! Hope you get to have the grea home birth that you want
Ps it looks like u r a Canadian living in nz, and I am a kiwi living in Canada!

 

[KiwiMOM]

Hi kiwi mom! Sorry for stupid iPad auto correct in advance!
I had a great home birth with my seven month old, and would def consider myself a granola mama in terms of wanting everything very natural for her. BUT one reason you should consider getting at least one scan after 20 weeks is to ensure you don't have either placenta previa or low lying placenta. These are both complications that would be very serious for a home birther, but can easily be taken care of in the hospital.
Good luck! Hope you get to have the grea home birth that you want
Ps it looks like u r a Canadian living in nz, and I am a kiwi living in Canada!

Thanks, I'm trying to keep it as natural as possible but I'm now set on getting this scan I do want to know the gender so I'm hoping they can see from the 20 week scan as I won't be getting another one if they can't.
It's funny how many people we've met here who are Canadian and people there who are kiwi's. People say the transition is easy because in areas they are very similar but I think they're pretty different Both amazing in their own way though

I'm now thinking about Dopplers, which have the same risks. People buy their own and use them lots so most people think they're harmless.. but they might not be! I'm going to use that wooden horn thing I think.. and use the doppler if it is really needed for some reason and probably during my birth as I don't want to get out of the water