I am so freaked out....can't stop crying. Can anyone offer me reassurance?

[momtoS]

Okay so I am 37.5 weeks pregnant. I had low hemoglobin (88...which I believe is 8.8 in the USA). I took supplements etc. and got retested last week (after three weeks). NO CHANGE. AT ALL>

Now I am denied a homebirth.

I have to do stool samples for three days to see if I am bleeding out of my bowels.

Then I may have to drive 4 hours to the closest hemotologist.

And more tests to come.

So far everyone looks at me like I have two heads when I tell them my level.

SO>>>>>>IS MY BIRTH GOING TO BE TRAUMATIC.....?????am I going to need blood tranfusions and stuff? Why is this so horrible.

I am so freaked out.

[ChristyMarie]

(((Massive Hugs)))

Maybe post on the pregnancy board?  Those ladies might have more knowledge.  Good luck to you.

[HollyBearsMom]

Breathe, mama, breathe.......

I second to see out the home birth and pregnancy forums.  You might find a mom who has BTDT and can offer you good advice and reassurances....

[womenswisdom]

Don't freak out, you are not likely to have a traumatic birth because of this.  It does mean that they will probably be more aggressively managing your third stage (placental delivery) in order to attempt to minimize your bleeding.  It doesn't mean you're going to bleed more, it just means that if you do bleed, you may be more impacted than someone who doesn't.  So they're probably going to want to give you pitocin immediately after birth and keep a close eye on how much you bleed.  The reason you've been risked out of a homebirth is because what would be a "normal" amount of blood loss might be too much for you.  You might (emphasis on might) need more interventions after birth if you do bleed and the best place for that would be in a hospital.  I'm sorry that your birth plans have changed so dramatically.

[ellemenope]

Just an anecdote, but here's go...

I had horrible morning sickness that I just let go way too far.  I was just not eating for months except some fruit here and there.  I lost all my fat and a lot of muscle and of course my hemoglobin levels came back in the basement.  I rememeber my hematocrit being 25, 26, 27, and my hemoglobin being 7,8, around there.  This was pretty early on in the pregnancy. I felt like death. The doctor prescribed an iron supplememt that did nothing.  I ended up birthing at those levels, AND NOBODY CARED.  I kept mentioning how low it was and how it wasn't going up, and they would agree it was low, but said it happens all the time.  It is just pregnancy induced. That I had all this extra blood running through me.  But, that if I wasn't pregnant and came in to the ER with those levels I would be getting a transfusion.   My levels returned to normal almost immediatley after I gave birth with no problems.

I even suffered a pretty serious PPH 11 weeks PP (yes, 11 weeks PP!  I bled that long and longer).  I gushed and gushed (TMI) and passed a softball size clot and was rushed to the emergency room for interventions for retained parts from conception.  I survived.

I did sometimes wonder if my doctors were straight up negligent.

[nixnux]

Don't freak out, you are not likely to have a traumatic birth because of this.  It does mean that they will probably be more aggressively managing your third stage (placental delivery) in order to attempt to minimize your bleeding.  It doesn't mean you're going to bleed more, it just means that if you do bleed, you may be more impacted than someone who doesn't.  So they're probably going to want to give you pitocin immediately after birth and keep a close eye on how much you bleed.  The reason you've been risked out of a homebirth is because what would be a "normal" amount of blood loss might be too much for you.  You might (emphasis on might) need more interventions after birth if you do bleed and the best place for that would be in a hospital.  I'm sorry that your birth plans have changed so dramatically.

Yes, this.  I had a low hemoglobin as well and when the doctor retested it had not changed, which was actually good that it hadn't dropped.  There is a specific disease where the hemoglobin keeps dropping to dangerously low levels.  Mine stayed low but didn't go lower.  My doctor said I would just need extra monitoring after the birth and piticon after the birth just in case.  I did end up bleeding more than the doctor was comfortable with and did have several fist sized clots but other than that the low hemoglobin wasn't a problem.

[Amylcd]

I had a csection with a hemoglobin level of 6.2 and a ferritin level of 2 ... I was fine.  In fact, I've gone though 3 csections and 2 other surgeries with hemoglobin levels under 8 and have never had any issues with blood loss.    Having low iron does not mean that you are guaranteed to have problems during birth.

(My iron has always been low, and is currently right around a hemoglobin of 7.) 

[Adaline'sMama]

Oh, I am so sorry to hear your news of being denied a homebirth. I know when you have your heart set on the way your birth is going to happen, it is hard to re think things and realize that things may be different than you had hoped. Remember, no matter how your birth happens, what is important is that you and your baby are alright. I know every single thing about our birth experiences are planned and we all hope for the best, intervention free, happy births. Its hard to realize you might not get what you want.

One book that may be helpful to you is Homebirth in the Hospital, by Stacy Marie Kerr, MD. It is full of successful hospital births that were not intervention free. The author was trained with Ina May Gaskin. I found it really helpful. Here is the site:

http://www.homebirthinthehospital.com/ 

Good luck!

[katroshka]

I was a little anemic at the end of my first two pregnancies. I was giving birth in a hospital anyway, and there were no interventions, not even pitocin for the afterbirth. After my first daughter was born I was bleeding pretty heavily for maybe 15 minutes (hard to say, just a rough estimate), my midwife was concerned and started talking about maybe cauterizing, I freaked out and refused. She said, "well, go urinate and see if that stops it. Sometimes if your bladder is full it prevents your uterus from contracting properly." I went and peed and sure enough I stopped bleeding heavily within a few minutes. After my second daughter was born nothing went wrong at all.

Happy, healthy births can definitely happen at a hospital, and low hemoglobin shouldn't make a difference. They almost certainly just want you to have quick access to blood transfusions in the unlikely event that you do have a problem. That's a good thing, so even though I know you are giving up your ideal birth and you will need to grieve, I think you should try to look objectively at it: many women used to die after birth because of things like bleeding, nowadays we can stop that, your caregivers just want to protect your health.

You almost certainly will be just fine and not need any kind of intervention, but you can rest assured that if you do you will be in the right place to get it.

[momtoS]

Thanks everyone. I bawled for two days straight.

But today I had to go for more tests.

And after I went to Winners and bought some new onsies and a *going home from the hospital outfit* I picked something cute. Then I bought some sample sized stuff for myself. (lotion, toothpaste etc). It wasn't what I planned and although my birth isn't going to be what I wanted......I am trying to focus more on the cute, happy, healthy baby. I haven't cried as much today either.

THANKS!