UP/hospital birth?

[Magali]

I am doing a mostly UP. I saw a doctor at 18 weeks to set up an ultrasound and some bloodwork that I can't do at home. I'll see her again for results. Then I am planning on continuing to UP, if all is well. I plan on seeing her again at the end to make sure my birth plan is on file. Not too worried about building a relationship with this Dr. as she is one of 6 who may be around for the birth of my baby.

Is anyone else doing something similar, or is it just too weird to UP and not UC?

[JTA Mom]

The only possible problem with UP and then giving birth in a hospital is that the lack of prenatal care will flag you, in a bad way. According to society at large, only druggie/crazy women don't get prenatal care from a 'professional', kwim?

They probably will send social services to 'check up' on you a few times at the birth/afterward, plus do drug testing. They are not friendly at all to UP. :/

Ds was in the NICU a few days after birth, he was 'low birth weight' (hmm, could be because I was induced early???) and we were low income. Thankfully, I had had regular prenatal care and it was listed as such and that there were no things found to indicate a small baby. This flagged us for having a nurse come visit and check up on ds a few times after birth. Not totally comfy, because you could tell she was looking for any 'problems' that would indicate 'issues' iykwim. She didn't find any (duh!) and left us alone after 4 visits.

Ami

[AFWife]

Yeah...I wouldn't. They probably WILL flag you in some way. Not only that but the doctor can give your baby a low score and force it into NICU. (I know a woman personally that the doc tried to do that...thankfully she was friends with the resident that assisted and he fought for her)

[Magali]

Well something to think about for sure. But I absolutely love doing my own prenatal care and I am having a hard time giving it up. It is frustrating to think that they would send whatever the authority is here in Canada, because I chose to pee in a cup at my house and take my own blood pressure instead of doing it at a clinic *rolls eyes*. This pregnancy is seriously making me realize how UAV'ed up it is that women around here have such limited choices, and sadly most of them don't even realize it.

[aslyn]

Well I am pretty much doing that now, I have been to a DR twice and had an U/S at 27 weeks and 1 more appointment scheduled for 6/11 while Im due 4 days later. I just told them flat out I don't have a car, there are no busses out here and the DR is over an hour away so getting a ride is not an easy accomplishment. Its the county hospital because we don't have insurance and nobody else will see me..sooo if they dont like it they are SOL. As for flagging you for social services or whatever. I doubt it..unless you go in there and have the baby and act like your in a bad situation, a drug addict or whatever at least at the hospital here they arent going to treat you any different.

ETA: When I had dd, there was a woman who came into the L&D while I was walking around and around..she had her baby and left with her baby. Legaly they could do nothing about it..so I think as long as you show that your not a crazy lady you will be fine

[Magali]

Yeah, the doctor/hospital that I am going to is a 40 min. drive away. With my last baby I was working and loved the prenatals cause I got out of work lol. This time around not so much. Ty for your reply aslyn.

[secondimpression]

I UPed and planned a UC but showed up at the hospital pushing. Oh dear gawd did I get flagged (although not in the way PPs have suggested). I got IV antibiotics, full STD and drug panels and DS got subjected to a lumbar puncture at 2 hours old for no reason other than that they scared the bejeezus out of my XH about GBS. None of this was done with my consent. He was beautifully healthy so no one could really say anything...I think they assumed I had an underground midwife who dumped me at the emergency room doors. I was treated extremely rudely/roughly by a couple staff members but most of them were just curious. There was also a visit from a social worker before discharge but this hospital did that to everyone...you know, to make sure you have a carseat and feed your baby.

I also want to point out that there is a HUGE difference between "some prenatal care" and "no prenatal care". If you get asked in the hospital, just say who your doctor is, it's none of their business how many prenatal visits you had. The fact that you're having one late in pregnancy should get you under the radar...although I would anticipate an ugly office visit with this doctor during that appointment. Do you know for a fact that birth plans are honored by this practice/at this hospital? If not, I'd skip it completely, save yourself some stress late in pregnancy when you most need to be at peace.

[rainbowmoon]

I too had a UP. Transferred during transition and got the best care. I did get questioned by EVERY nurse and then when I had to transfer to another hospital even more nurses. Every one was very nice though and respectful. No drama. They just were all in disbelief at the time. I must have talked to every nurse on the maternity ward. Because they all came in to ask me what the hell I was thinking. (In a nice way mind you) My dr's were very neutral and didn't really care either way if I had UPed or not. I got no flak from them. This was in southern AZ mind you not where I am now in VT.

Since you have already seen a Dr. you have that going for you as you aren't going completely unassisted.

btw, a social worker will visit you in the hospital regardless if you have a baby or not. I know when I had pancreatitis I was visited by a social worker before discharge I think it's standard procedure in most hospitals.

Be forewarned if you go UP and transfer your baby will most likely need to stay for 48 hours due to no GBS test. So I would do that one to avoid it since you are birthing in the hospital. This is pretty standard and you should know this going in so there are no surprises for you. You can check out AMA but the hospital will make a stink if you try due to the antx tx. They will push for the 48 hours of observations so if you are not going to go along with I would be prepared to fight and have a lawyer handy.

Magali- I felt just as you do last pregnancy. Until I found out I had a placenta acrreta after transferring. It has been a real wake up call processing that over the last 4.5 years. I never knew as I had no u/s and no bleeding and I felt great. (I monitored my BP, protein, sugar and all that) In hindsight it was really ignorant of me to think there would be no complications just because I was trusting my body and felt fine. I felt the greatest I have ever felt actually! but everything was not so perfect and it could have been bad news had I stayed home and not transferred. I could have potentially been in a real tragic situation had I stayed home. Luckily I did not bleed out after surgery (to remove he placenta that was growing into my uterine wall) in the hospital as the hospital nearest me doesn't have transfusion services and I would have been in trouble as it is. I had to be airlifted 70+ miles away. Anyway my point to you is not all complications can be monitored through doing your own prenatal care. A lesson I learned the hard way. At least you will have avoided this scenario though as you have already had an u/s and will be going to the hospital.

[aslyn]

Yeah, I would def say the GBS test is important. I already authorized the antibiotic use for it since I was positive with all my other kids and although they say that you can not have it later on, I knew full well that I may not be able to get back in time for the test because of ride issues. I opted out of the GD test, because they wanted to d it after I had already been there 2 hours and I didnt have time to sit and wait for another hour for them to give me the drink..I got snarky remarks from the blood drawing lab receptionist but I responded in kind that it is my right to refuse any testing and unless she was planning to drive me home (an hour away) then she should mind her own biz. I also have other kids, that I delivered at this same hospital and the same practice for prenatal. The know full well I know what to watch for and that I will go in or call if I feel something is off. I think if you just let your OB group know there may be some issues with you getting to appointments and what not they will mark your chart. I always just make the appointment and if I cant get there call and tell them I cant get there, and that I need to reschedule. they may not like it but they havent really given me crap about it either

[Magali]

The reason I am seeing a Dr. is to get my std screening's and other blood stuff that I think is important, like ultrasound. I can only do do much from home and am very aware of that. I live a 40 minute drive from the hospital and am NOT planning a UC, although I will be prepared if it happens (as any pg woman should). I plan on visiting the hospital as much as possible beforehand to get familiar with surroundings. The Dr. suggested it actually and gave me a number to call. This is a small L&D area with 3 rooms. My Dr. was excited when I mentioned that I wanted a birth plan. I have no other options of where to give birth. Well that is a lie, I could drive 2 hours away instead of 40 minutes. Oh, and there is a birth centre about 5 hours away (not gonna happen). This it it for me and I am just trying to do the best I can with what I've got to work with.

I guess I titled my thread wrong. Perhaps I should have titled it "skipping boring urine and blood pressure prenatal visits at the DR./hospital birth" I'll probably go to a few extra prenatal visits to the end just for show. LOL I never claimed to be doing a cut and dry UP. I'm getting what I need out of the visits (GBS test included). But honestly, I could have skipped the bulk of my prenatal visits when I was pg with my son.

When I go in I am not going to be some person off the street. I'm pretty sure that since all my testing will be in order, and I will have recently seen my doc, that I'm not going to have a problem.

As for a social worker... Really? I have never heard of that. No social worker visited me at my last hospital birth. Or any of my family members ever when we have had hospital stays. Maybe it is a USA thing?

Well I guess my question has been answered...not a lot of peeps doing what I am doing. Ha! What else is new?

[aslyn]

Originally Posted by Magali

But honestly, I could have skipped the bulk of my prenatal visits when I was pg with my son.

LOL thats how I feel as well, most of my visits last time were "heres a cup, pee in it..bp is ok heartbeat good, ok your gaining weight see ya next time"


When I go in I am not going to be some person off the street. I'm pretty sure that since all my testing will be in order, and I will have recently seen my doc, that I'm not going to have a problem.

I doubt you will, like I said most prenatals are nothing more than what your doing at home

As for a social worker... Really? I have never heard of that. No social worker visited me at my last hospital birth. Or any of my family members ever when we have had hospital stays. Maybe it is a USA thing?


The only social worker I remember coming in last time was pushing for me to file for child support even though I had been married for 5 yrs at that point..she got pretty offended when I told her to learn how to read because its in the chart and she never came back

Well I guess my question has been answered...not a lot of peeps doing what I am doing. Ha! What else is new?

LOL! Do your thang mamma, and enjoy your freedom!

I put my responses in purple just for fun!

[Magali]

I was scared to check back here...but your post made me chuckle ...ty for that.

[mclisa]

Those pee in a cup, blood pressure is fine, and out the door you go visits are boring,

BUT - when your blood pressure isn't fine and you need more care - then they are important.

[aslyn]

Well, my thinking is that since the beginning of time females of every species have been giving birth. Yes things can go bad, I am well aware of that I have a DD who has an Intellectual Disability from the cord being wrapped around her neck (born blue, stress during a pit induction etc) and I went to EVERY single prenatal visit, did all the tests nobody noticed anything until 39 weeks, and it was ME that was insisting that something was wrong and they did a NST and U/S to shut me up (induced 2 days later)..complications happen. Just because you pee in a cup once a month doesn't make this any less likely or more likely to happen. Life works in mysterious ways.

My point is, while our knowledge today in medicine and science is amazing it doesn't mean that mammals will not procreate or continue to exist without it.

The OP isn't suggesting that she will have no care, or if there any type of problems she would hesitate to go pee in a cup. What she is saying is that for HER the choice to partialy UP is the right one. Some people may feel they need that reassurance once a month from a pro and some may not.

[JessiFish]

I would probably skip most of those appts, too, but I like to hear the heartbeat.
Plus my Dr is less than 5 minutes away and I don't have a co-pay. I thought I was going to have to pay $25 every time and if that had been the case, I probably would have skipped a lot of visits.