Any other "AMA" Mamas here?

[citizenfong]

I am not looking forward to dealing with the medical establishment thinking there is something wrong with my body just because I am over 35. As far as I'm concerned, as long as your body can conceive, as long as you haven't gone through menopause, you are JUST a woman of childbearing age. If my body can caneive a baby, why should they decide it is somehow "too old"??

I'm curious to see how I will be treated differently due to my age. Hopefully it will be no big deal.

Whose with me?

[goatmom]

Me too

Hi Tracy,

I am with you. I just got my BFP last weekend. Also married to a soldier. I find it is different depending on the doctor and the hospital. Is this your first? I think they make a bigger deal about it then. Also, the military sees lots of young pregnant ladies and not so many of us mommas with more life experience. I had a military doc tell me I was no "spring chicken" when I was 29! Hope this all goes well for you.

Mary

[citizenfong]

Originally Posted by goatmom

Hi Tracy,

I am with you. I just got my BFP last weekend. Also married to a soldier. I find it is different depending on the doctor and the hospital. Is this your first? I think they make a bigger deal about it then. Also, the military sees lots of young pregnant ladies and not so many of us mommas with more life experience. I had a military doc tell me I was no "spring chicken" when I was 29! Hope this all goes well for you.

Mary

Hey, Mary! Welcome to the group and CONGRATULATIONS!

No, this will be my third. So maybe they won't give me too much of a problem in refusing tests.

Yeah, I've noticed that the VAST majority of women are *way* younger then me! My dh only joined two years ago, so I definitely have a lot more life experience then most of the women I meet (though they certainly have their share, don't mean to downplay the maturity that comes from having to deal with deployments, etc.).

Well, I guess I'm going to need my sense of humor this pregnancy! I've already gotten a taste of the "system", with the automatic pregnancy test hotline...that just slays me!

[Spring Sun]

When I was pg with ds I was the only one I knew in my 20's that was pg-in this whole town. In all the prenatal classes I took I did not meet one person in their 20's. So, here, doctors are nice about being older. Honestly, I think it is all about the doctor. We know for sure that risks are higher for women over 35, especially those who have never given birth before. But it is always up to the mother whether to get tests or do anything different. If the doctor does not see that, then I would go to a different doctor.

[citizenfong]

Originally Posted by Spring Sun

When I was pg with ds I was the only one I knew in my 20's that was pg-in this whole town. In all the prenatal classes I took I did not meet one person in their 20's. So, here, doctors are nice about being older. Honestly, I think it is all about the doctor. We know for sure that risks are higher for women over 35, especially those who have never given birth before. But it is always up to the mother whether to get tests or do anything different. If the doctor does not see that, then I would go to a different doctor.

Well, I believe that the difference in risk is minimal and misleading. For instance, perhaps I have a higher probability for having a child with Down Syndrome. However, more children with Down Syndrome are born to YOUNG mothers. So what is the "real" risk vs. the perceived risk? Just one example.

I don't have the option of changing doctors. My husband is in the Army and if I want our insurance to pay for my maternity care, I have to see who they assign me to. Now, hopefully I'll have some choice within the ENORMOUS maternity clinic. But that doesn't really mean anything, if I can't choose whom I want at my birth, and if the schedulers a putting me with different providers each visit. I've heard I can push to see the same provider each time, but that it is very hard to accomplish.

NOW you see why I'm apprehensive, right?! My last birth was a UC, mostly UP. And now I am faced with the most opposite situation in the world. Where I had to get my blood drawn to prove pregnancy the day after I had an u/s confirming pregnancy, just because that's the system. If I want a referral for OB care, they have to be able to check off the box on their form that says "positive hcg blood test". There's not box for "had an u/s that confirmed pregnancy". That's just how the Army works. And even though I don't get paid by the Army, I sure do have to go by their rules an awful lot!

[gun]

I am here, and a first-timer too!

[goatmom]

Congratulations! I know they give you more scrutiny when it is your first.

Mary

[AfricanQueen99]

Meh. My OB knows I'll be 36 when the bean pops out. He doesn't consider me high risk. Now my Endocrinologist/Oncologist *do* consider pregnancy to put my health at high risk. Tomato/Tomato, yk? Screw 'em all.

[citizenfong]

Angela, you make me laugh.

So, do you consider pregnancy to put your health at risk? Or do you feel pretty confident that you can manage the illness you've already been dealing with, while pregnant? Did this condition develop since you had your dd? Or did you deal with it when pg with her, too?

Hope you don't mind the questions! Ignore if you like, or course!

[AfricanQueen99]

Originally Posted by citizenfong

So, do you consider pregnancy to put your health at risk? Or do you feel pretty confident that you can manage the illness you've already been dealing with, while pregnant? Did this condition develop since you had your dd? Or did you deal with it when pg with her, too?

I was diagnosed when my daughter just turned one. Obviously I had the cancer for a good long while - I just didn't know. And, I have to say, ignorance is freaking bliss.

Yeah, pregnancy does put my health at risk. Right now I have two tumors that they're keeping an eye on. My medications have to keep my TSH extremely suppressed (for example, an average TSH is 1-3 and mine is kept at 0.05) or the tumors grow. Pregnancy naturally makes TSH rise - in everybody, not just me. So if it rises there's a good chance these two tumors will grow and multiply. Also, if my TSH goes very high there's a great chance that the fetus will develop mental imparities.

All this is why I get my blood taken monthly - I *have* to make sure I stay suppressed or I *have* to increase my meds. I don't have an option in any of this. At least not if I want to live and have a healthy kid, yk?

Ironically, I was/am so anti-doctor. Up until this started I was the woman that *never* went to the doctor. I don't get sick. I don't do "well check-ups." I'll bet my insurance company used to love me! Now, not so much.

[citizenfong]

Geez, that sounds like a pain, for sure. You seem to have a stellar attitude about it.

There was a woman in my hometown who was super-careful with her diet--she was vegan, she breastfed for years, and she got inflammatory breast cancer. So wrong, yk?

Anyhow, surely you can get some satisfaction from making your insurance company have to pay out. :P

[Lula's Mom]

Hi! I suppose I'm advanced maternal age (37 when the baby's born). But when you hear about a 70-year-old woman giving birth in India last month... I don't think I'm so old.

[goatmom]

Seventy - No thank you!!

Mary

[AfricanQueen99]

Originally Posted by citizenfong

Anyhow, surely you can get some satisfaction from making your insurance company have to pay out. :P

Totally! My husband's company decided to go for a different plan right at the same I was diagnosed. So I went from a $10 co-pay to a $20 co-pay. I know it's still so little, but I was ticked about the extra money, yk? I'm so evil I get a little giddy when I get my sheets with what was paid...my last blood work cost 6k...and I paid none of it. Take that DH's office!!

[Dmitrizmom]

I'm here. I'll be 36 when the little arrives... and I'm overweight. I'm hoping to go at home with a CNM, but if forced to it I will UC before I go with the local OBs and their 40+% C/S rate.

I can't imagine being twice my age and doing this... crazy.

[mamamia10]

Originally Posted by citizenfong

I am not looking forward to dealing with the medical establishment thinking there is something wrong with my body just because I am over 35. As far as I'm concerned, as long as your body can conceive, as long as you haven't gone through menopause, you are JUST a woman of childbearing age. If my body can caneive a baby, why should they decide it is somehow "too old"??

I'm curious to see how I will be treated differently due to my age. Hopefully it will be no big deal.

Whose with me?

this was the whole reason I joined MDC!!! thank you thank you thank you!!
I am 36
and I am dreading the "you are an old hag speech" which I know I will get from the OB-- I did some PNC with an OB before my HB

[mamamia10]

Originally Posted by AfricanQueen99

Meh. My OB knows I'll be 36 when the bean pops out. He doesn't consider me high risk. Now my Endocrinologist/Oncologist *do* consider pregnancy to put my health at high risk. Tomato/Tomato, yk? Screw 'em all.

comforting that your OB does not consider you high risk
wish you were closer I would go there

[goatmom]

I was told that at the military hospital that AMA does not make you high risk. I haven't had my first real appointment yet, so I don't know if that is true or not. I prefer to see a midwife, so I hope so.

[citizenfong]

Originally Posted by goatmom

I was told that at the military hospital that AMA does not make you high risk. I haven't had my first real appointment yet, so I don't know if that is true or not. I prefer to see a midwife, so I hope so.

Oh, AWESOME. I hope it's the same protocol where I am.

Yk, re-reading your first post got me thinking. Maybe they'll enjoy having a patient who is already on the ball and knows what the heck she wants and is talking about. Maybe it'll be a nice change of pace? :

When do you have your first appointment? I have my intake appointment in two weeks.

[greeny]

I turned 35 last week, so I guess I'm in the AMA category now. I'll have to ask my midwife if that means anything to her tomorrow when I go for my first visit.