I am trying to prepare myself for the decisions that will be coming in my pregnancy. I am around 12 weeks pregnant with my 6th child (9th pregnancy) and I have just been diagnosed with thyroid issues... namely Hashimoto's. I have had one hospital birth (my oldest child who is now 12), and four homebirths, two of which were unattended. Our 4th child was supposed to be a midwife attended birth but he beat her to the party. Our youngest who is now 4.5yo was a hospital transfer of an unattended (planned that way) and he stayed in the NICU for 13 days, his life was not in danger but they were pretty happy to have us and wouldn't let us go for that long. I am a very pro- homebirther, in almost any other circumstance than the one I am in I would not even really consider the hospital. I am trying to figure out what our plans will be for the birth, we are currently seeing a CNM who is very supportive of hb, she does not attend the birth but is happily the backup for any issues that may come up or transport to the local (very small not very high tech hospital).
This is our issue, I have a pretty serious medical issue going on right now, my Hashimoto's has me in hyperthyroid right now and even if we get it under control there will be the risk of thyroid storm during labor, my mw and my primary care doc ( a homeopath who is very laid back, in 10 years I have never seen him stress, not even when our son was in the NICU) are both worried about the risk to me if I have a storm. I am concerned about the risk to me (and the baby) if I were to have a thyroid storm, though I am coming to terms that I would be more worried about me, this is selfish but I have 5 other kids and a husband with whom I would love to grow old with.
I am about 10 to 15 minutes from the small, not so great hospital where my back-up mw works and I am pretty sure that this would not be a best choice for care in a thyroid storm. I am about 30 to 40 minutes from a few very good hospitals (one of which has a level 3 NICU) that I feel would be much better equipped with dealing with a thyroid storm. The problem is that I have very fast labors and births, the longest was 5 hours and that was my first, with pit. The shortest was about an hour or so and that was the last one who was 35 weeks, they are pretty sure that his earliness was due to an undiagnosed thyroid issue and that it is possible that this pregnancy may be pre-term as well. I am trying to decide what will be safer for us both. I feel that homebirth would be our ideal, though I do not think there are any mw who would attend due to the danger of thyroid storm. I could be unattended and at the first signs of trouble transfer in to the closest hospital which is 10 or so minutes away, though they may not be well equipped. I could unattended and plan to drive over the state line to call the EMS and transport to the high level hospital that would be better with the possibility of thyroid storm. OR I could listen to my mother and sit in the parking lot of the hospital 40 minutes from home starting at 32 weeks in case I go into labor (she was serious about this)
I am just trying to work it out and be at peace with my decision..... thanks for your support!
~laura
This is our issue, I have a pretty serious medical issue going on right now, my Hashimoto's has me in hyperthyroid right now and even if we get it under control there will be the risk of thyroid storm during labor, my mw and my primary care doc ( a homeopath who is very laid back, in 10 years I have never seen him stress, not even when our son was in the NICU) are both worried about the risk to me if I have a storm. I am concerned about the risk to me (and the baby) if I were to have a thyroid storm, though I am coming to terms that I would be more worried about me, this is selfish but I have 5 other kids and a husband with whom I would love to grow old with.
I am about 10 to 15 minutes from the small, not so great hospital where my back-up mw works and I am pretty sure that this would not be a best choice for care in a thyroid storm. I am about 30 to 40 minutes from a few very good hospitals (one of which has a level 3 NICU) that I feel would be much better equipped with dealing with a thyroid storm. The problem is that I have very fast labors and births, the longest was 5 hours and that was my first, with pit. The shortest was about an hour or so and that was the last one who was 35 weeks, they are pretty sure that his earliness was due to an undiagnosed thyroid issue and that it is possible that this pregnancy may be pre-term as well. I am trying to decide what will be safer for us both. I feel that homebirth would be our ideal, though I do not think there are any mw who would attend due to the danger of thyroid storm. I could be unattended and at the first signs of trouble transfer in to the closest hospital which is 10 or so minutes away, though they may not be well equipped. I could unattended and plan to drive over the state line to call the EMS and transport to the high level hospital that would be better with the possibility of thyroid storm. OR I could listen to my mother and sit in the parking lot of the hospital 40 minutes from home starting at 32 weeks in case I go into labor (she was serious about this)
I am just trying to work it out and be at peace with my decision..... thanks for your support!
~laura
