Planning a Homebirth - have a few questions

[Vixxen]

Hey mamas,

For those of you that had a homebirth with a midwife, did you continue having prenatal care with an OB also? I'm playing around with the idea of staying with my OB until I'm about 20 weeks so I can get my ultrasound and have my insurance cover it. I doubt that I will stay past that point b/c I don't want to go through the horrible gestational diabetes testing. I guess if I was to continue to go to my OB until I had the baby then I would be able to call him if I had to transfer, but I feel like that's almost setting myself up for a failed homebirth attempt and I definitely don't want to do that.

[alegna]

Nope, no OB here. I had no need of a surgeon.

-Angela

[wendy1221]

I thought about doing that, too, but once I talked w/ my midwife about it, she had some VERY good reasons not to do it. Like the things that Dr's expect you to do while pg that aren't necessary, like all the blood tests and vag exams, and u/s's that aren't necessary. I always measure way ahead and my 2nd pregnancy, my OB pretty much forced me to have several u/s's. I was given the do what I say or we will no longer be your doctors ultimatum and they were the only docs w/in an hour drive covered by my insurance at the time.I also had several arguments w/ them about the blood tests/amnio/etc. The doc even made a comment something about wow, 2 chemists who don't want to do tests. Uh, yeah. Just because we're scientists and do a lot of testing at our jobs doesn't mean we want to do unecessary testing on everything.

I decided to stick w/ just the midwife. And I did have an u/s and it was covered by my insurance. My mw called a doc in Indy (an hour away) who is willing to give her patients referrals when needed and just like that I had an appt. My mw did have to give a reason for the referral, but like I said, I always measure way ahead, so that was easy. I was measuring 4weeks ahead, but the baby measured right on at the u/s. If you want an u/s to find out the sex, there are places where you can have it done if you don't mind paying around $150. If you really want your insurance to cover it, you should just ask your mw if she can get a referral and appt for you so your insurance covers it. Most mw's have a doctor somewhere who is willing to do stuff like that for them, even if that doc isn't nearby and their "backup doctor."

[Music-mommy]

My guess is that an OB will not want to follow you if you have a HB. Also, can your mw not get an ultrasound for you?I didn't have an OB at all. I went to a walk in clinic so that I could get my blood tests done, and that's it.

But then again, my opinion is that doctors shouldn't have anything to do with pregnant/birthing women... Except the extremly high risk ones.

You should do what you feel comfortable with. You'd have to ask your Ob if he would be there if you ended up with an emergency in the hospital, I don't think you could assume that. He may not want anything to do with you if you're having a hb, for liability reasons, and because you wouldn't be following his advice regarding induction and all that stuff.

[candiland]

Ultrasounds aren't necessary in most cases. Midwives know by the fundal height of the uterus, heart tones, movements of baby, etc. if there is anything to be concerned about. Otherwise, the ultrasound is just (yet another) totally unnecessary and intrusive test that obstetricians can make megabucks doing for no other reason than just to do them.

I didn't have any ultrasounds or ob. backup with either of my pregnancies. If I would have needed something like that, I would've inquired about midwife-friendly practitioners in the area and went with that. As far as emergencies go, if it's that major you'd go straight to the nearest ER and probably wouldn't see your own ob., anyway.

[alegna]

:

I wouldn't have gotten an ultrasound even if I was with an OB unless there was a major medical reason for it. I also declined doppler and had them use a fetascope instead.

-Angela

[Vixxen]

Well, in my case I really feel that an ultrasound is necessary. I have to take medicine for seizures (haven't had one in about 9 years, but EEG's still show activity). I'm on a really low dose, but there is a small possibility that it could cause spina bifida. So I really want to know ahead of time if that is something that we are dealing with.

[camprunner]

my midwife suggested it but we talked and after my hospital midwives went out of practice suddenly early in my pregnancy we decided it wasn't necessary. I haven't had the baby yet.

[alegna]

That makes sense for an u/s in that case, but I would see if the MW could get it for me or if I could get it on my own. I don't trust drs. and how they try to control things.

-Angela

[MamaMonica]

My midwife had a back-up OB available whom she consulted (he was supportive of homebirth) so I saw only my midwife for prenatal care. If there was an emergency, the OB was on call for a few local midwives.

I had an ultrasound with dd at 42 weeks because it was the only way I could go forth with the homebirth once I passed the 42 week mark. My midwife just sent me to an ultrasound place she worked with.

If you need an US- maybe your midwife will refer you out for it.

[sarahwebb]

I live in an alegal state where lay midwives work underground. With my first pregnancy, I was planning to birth in a hospital but couldn't go through with it. I found a midwife at 32 weeks but didn't tell my OB. I continued to see him for the rest of my pregnancy but refused some of the tests and over half of the internals. I wanted someone I knew to be at the hospital if I had to transfer. Emergencies are rare, but they do happen.

With my second, the nurse practioner provided most of my prenatal care again which was very helpful because my midwife was three hours away. I told her that I was having a homebirth, and didn't mind not having a backup OB. She found someone who would back me up. He was an attending physician at the local teaching clinic, and he was wonderful.

I liked having paralell care and knowing that if I had to transfer, I would be supported and attended by people I knew.

Sarah

[pickle it]

Drema: I did what you are asking about- I went to an OB for very early prenatal care, got some testing done for some high risk conditions, paid for by my insurance, then just stopped going and went to the midwife (after I finally found her) for the rest of my prenatal care. Just because you start out with a doctor doesn't obligate you to stick with them.

My insurance doesn't recognize midwife care and wouldn't pay for anything through her -wouldn't pay her, either, I had to pay her out of pocket. I had her request my medical records from the ob after I started seeing her, I signed the request form and all, but they completely ignored it.

[Vixxen]

Thanks so much for all of your replies! My inclination is to stay with my OB until I'm about 20 weeks and then just see my midwife.