This question is obviously open to everyone, but I'm especially interested in any birth attendants that have had to deal with this situation before.
My EDD was 2 days ago and I went to see my MW. She noticed an arrhythmia when listening to the baby's heartbeat . At first she wasn't concerned, saying that with most babies it switches right over after they are born, but after listening more, she seemed to think that it was just a little too irregular. So she sent me to L&D to be monitored by an OB that she likes.
Well, 2 NSTs and 2 ultrasounds later, we know fairly confidently that there isn't anything structurally wrong with the heart. The OB himself did a very through u/s this morning and looked at the heart for quite a while, checking out all the valves, in addition to the bloodflow out of the placenta and other things. The arrhythmia didn't seem quite as bad today as it did when I was with my m/w or when I first got into L&D, but it is still there.
Anyway, the OB basically said that most OBs are going to tell you that anytime something is a little weird with the pregnancy, you should switch to a hospital birth, but that its really a personal decision because its extremely likely that this arrhythmia is going to clear right up after birth and not be a concern--we'd probably be just fine at home. The only reason to hospital birth is to be just a little more cautious and to be somewhere where they can use u/s, fetal scalp monitors, etc. instead of just a doppler to monitor.
Anyway, my question is this: we feel fairly confident, after doing some research on fetal arrhythmias, about proceeding with the homebirth. the issue is, if the heartbeat is already a little irregular, how does one know when listening during labor whether it is the "normal irregular" or an irregular that indicates a need for transfer?
This is something that I'll be talking to my mw about this week end, but I wanted to get some other opinions as well.
Thanks.
My EDD was 2 days ago and I went to see my MW. She noticed an arrhythmia when listening to the baby's heartbeat . At first she wasn't concerned, saying that with most babies it switches right over after they are born, but after listening more, she seemed to think that it was just a little too irregular. So she sent me to L&D to be monitored by an OB that she likes.
Well, 2 NSTs and 2 ultrasounds later, we know fairly confidently that there isn't anything structurally wrong with the heart. The OB himself did a very through u/s this morning and looked at the heart for quite a while, checking out all the valves, in addition to the bloodflow out of the placenta and other things. The arrhythmia didn't seem quite as bad today as it did when I was with my m/w or when I first got into L&D, but it is still there.
Anyway, the OB basically said that most OBs are going to tell you that anytime something is a little weird with the pregnancy, you should switch to a hospital birth, but that its really a personal decision because its extremely likely that this arrhythmia is going to clear right up after birth and not be a concern--we'd probably be just fine at home. The only reason to hospital birth is to be just a little more cautious and to be somewhere where they can use u/s, fetal scalp monitors, etc. instead of just a doppler to monitor.
Anyway, my question is this: we feel fairly confident, after doing some research on fetal arrhythmias, about proceeding with the homebirth. the issue is, if the heartbeat is already a little irregular, how does one know when listening during labor whether it is the "normal irregular" or an irregular that indicates a need for transfer?
This is something that I'll be talking to my mw about this week end, but I wanted to get some other opinions as well.
Thanks.
It sounds like your baby's arrythmia is more pronounced than some (some get missed, I'd guess); it also sounds like you have sensibly done all that a cautious, informed parent can do, to ensure that you are looking at a 'normal arrythmia' and not a 'heart defect'. So, based on those 2 things, I'd say--it really doesn't sound like there is any need to give birth anywhere but home if you still want to.
-- I think you and your mw will know, if baby's heart is not standing up to labor 'normally enough'. I am not expert on this particular thing--but I'm thinking if I were dealing with this in a client, I'd be expecting the arrythmia to (possibly) be more pronounced during the more intense moments of labor--and looking for a reasonable return to baseline fairly readily when the waves back off.
