Partial UC?

[courtney1986]

Has anyone done a partial unassisted pregnancy, saw a midwife for some appointments and had a midwife there for the birth?  We're moving 5 hours away from my midwife and she said she'd come to us for the birth.  I can make some appointments back at her house but towards the end of my pregnancy theres no way I could make the drive once a week.  I was thinking I could do my own prenatal care for half the time, keep a record and see her the other half.  Make sense?  

We've thrown around the idea of a UC, but I'm just not comfortable with it.  And now that my midwife has offered this awesome service it just feels right to me.  I would obviously talk to her about this at my next appointment, and I know she thinks UC's are awesome so I have a feeling this would be okay with her.  

I guess I'm just kind of dipping my toes in the water here, and wanted to post and maybe get some help with practical things like dopplers, urine dip sticks, ect.  

This is baby #4, pregnancy #5.  First one was an early mc, I have a 5 yo, 3 yo, 18 mo and am 23ish weeks.  My pregnancies have all been pretty easy, my first was induced at 37 weeks due to pre e, which was very minor.  Second was induced due to me being 42 weeks and OB not "letting" me go any further.  3rd I used this midwife and at 41.5 weeks baby was found, by ultrasound, to be IUGR so to avoid a hospital induction I used castor oil and some herbs to get labor going.  We ended up transfering due to heartrate issues but baby was great, just small for me 6.15.  

[bannanachild]

What you said,
I was thinking I could do my own prenatal care for half the time, keep a record and see her the other half.

Sounds more like being responsible for your own healthcare than an UC. I think everyone should be involved and take care of their own healthcare, even with Regular trips to the doctor!

And if your midwife is happy with that, go for it!

I got my urine dip sticks off of Amazon. Rapid response. They were around $13 for 100, although they only last 30 days. I use them because they are the same thing my midwife used with baby #1.

I wanted to avoid using a Doppler, so I bought a fetal stethescope for much cheaper. That wasn't a good idea. Apparently you really have to be trained to hear a baby with them, and most midwives who do use them use a doppler during actual labor anyway, so it was a useless purchase. Next time I'll splurge on a Doppler.

Look around your local pharmacy or Walmart for one of those blood pressure machines. They aren't very accurate, but it's a drastic change you are looking for, so they do just fine on that front.

Can I ask a question? By 42 weeks you mean from LMP, right? Not DOC? Please say yes. I Don't want to know that it's possible to go that long. (I'm 36 weeks from DOC right now and I don't want to think I could go another 6 weeks!)

[zapzipzee]

I think that sounds like a great plan.  I actually asked my midwife (DH is wishy washy on having one or not), WHY I now have to have appts. every two weeks.  She just said to make sure baby continues to grow... in the 3rd trimester, things happen a little more quickly.

So, have her show you how to measure your fundal height, use the fetoscope (super easy!), palpate where the baby is (check out spinning babies too), and give you some urinalysis sticks (you'll need an air tight container to store them in, maybe a ziplock baggie?).  You can have any other testing done, if desired, when you see her.  Make sure you're continuing to eat healthily, and doing your exercises.  I would also take an infant CPR class, read up on some of the more common variations of normal (to know how to handle them or when to go to the hospital - if she's driving, she may not be able to answer her phone when you need her) and get some Shepherds Purse Tincture, just in case she ins't able to make the 5hr drive in time for the birth.

Good luck!  sounds like an awesome midwife!

[courtney1986]

Thanks for your replies, the more I think about it the more it feels right for us!  

Bananachild I do believe it's from LMP, although we've gone off of early ultrasounds since I got pregnant with a young nursling and had only had 2 cycles so I wanted to be sure of my dates.  Since I know I'll go over my edd I like to get as much time as I can, and the last 2 times it has given me an extra week added onto my edd. 

My midwife IS awesome, I feel so fortunate to have her in our life!

Another option I was thinking about is going to a clinic, the town we're moving to has a midwife run low income clinic I believe, and have them do my checks if there's anything we feel needs to be watched a little more.  

[lindsayncadence]

My midwife actually  recommended we UC as our last birth was unexpected UC anyways but she is doing appts with me I really only will see her a total of 4 times for my pregnancy with self care in between, shes gong to come after birth to assist with weighing, assessing myself and baby and to help with the birth certificate :) I love this plan :)

[A2JC4life]

I think that sounds like a good plan.  I'd skip the Doppler, though, myself.  Doppler is ultrasound, and overuse of ultrasound has been called into question as damaging to brain development.  And I can hear my baby via fetoscope with no trouble.  (You just can only hear a baby's heartbeat via fetoscope after a certain point.  I'd say after 20 weeks-ish, I could consistently find/hear it.)