Now I know why dual care is not good and I'm firing my CNM

[Mama Poot]

I've finally seen the light and handing over all of my prenatal care to my hb midwife. I've only been seeing my CNM for a few months and I'm ditching her. I'm supposed to go there tommorrow for a second ultrasound ( and I'm only 10 weeks!) to "check" the status of my corpus luteum cyst, and now to "get a better idea" of how far along I really am. I know the EXACT day, hour, minute, moment this baby was conceived because I know exactly when I ovulated. But because I do not recall the exact date of my LMP, this woman refuses to go by my last ovulation and is basically treating me like I don't know my own body. I feel like she keeps coming up with excuses for tests, ultrasounds, medications, its just WAY too involved and interventionist. So I'm outta there. :

[njbeachgirl]

Good for you

Why were you doing dual care, if you don't mind me asking? I hear it a lot on these forums and I am just wondering about it. Is it for higher risk mamas?

[Olerica]

Good for you.

[GentleBirth]

Originally Posted by Olerica

Good for you.

Ditto!

[LaurieG]

Go Mama Poot! Good for you.

I wish I had been as smart as you! My dual care ended with an induction a month early which was "justified" because of data that ended up being inaccurate.

To answer the question re: why have dual care - the reasoning I had at the time was that I live in a state where there is no legal option for assistance during homebirth so essentially no formal system for meeting needs outside the scope of care my mw provided. I also had decided on hb rather late in my pregnancy and already had a relationship with my OB who had worked with me thru my other 2 pregnancies and I liked and respected her and found it convenient to have her as a resource for things like completing my FMLA paperwork which needed an MD's signature, signing an order for physical therapy to address my low back pain, getting my insurance to pay for any tests that I did want done such as H/H, group B strep, etc, calling in orders for allergy medications during ragweed season. I'm sure there are other ways to deal with all of these things but given that I already had her involved it was easier (I thought) to keep working with my OB than to try to figure out another way to address each of these issues. Unfortunately, I didn't really anticipate how much of a conflict it could and would become.

[dinahx]

Good for you. Invasive early ultrasounds are ridiculous IMO. Remember even if you are only seeing an OB/CNM you can say "hell no!" to these invasive and unnesecary tests.

[rubyeta]

Good for you!
i have dual care for the off chance that i do end up in the hospital i will be treated respectfully. and by someone that i have a relationship with.

[Romana]

Originally Posted by rubyeta

Good for you!
i have dual care for the off chance that i do end up in the hospital i will be treated respectfully. and by someone that i have a relationship with.

That's how I feel about dual care, too. This time my hb midwife is a CNM, though, so dual care is unnecessary. If my dual care provider was causing a lot of trouble, I probably wouldn't keep him/her because I can't imagine that person would be a good advocate in the event of a transfer anyway.

[DoomaYula]

I didn't do dual care because I can't abide the medical model of pregnancy and birth. I did end up transferring for a 3rd stage hemorrhage, and I told them that I'd had a planned unassisted hb and I'd seen a provider in a different state (we're minutes from the border) and I told a bunch of fibs and all was well. I actually really like the provider I saw at the hospital; once we established that I'm not a lunatic, she was very kind.

I had a client who had had dual care and then transferred and she was actually treated TERRIBLY at the hospital. So, after witnessing that, I didn't see the point in dual care.

[mom2tillie]

I really like my midwife and I wish I could just see her. I wish I could ditch the dual care too but in this state midwifes aren't legally allowed to attend VBAC's and I was grossly uninformed for my first which ended in an unplanned, unnecessary cesarean.

[njbeachgirl]

Thanks I was wondering about that.

Not to threadjack but is dual care common? I never considered seeing anyone besides my hb mw for this pregnancy.

[texaspeach]

good for you. btw, you could always fudge your LMP by adding 14 days to your known ovulation date. that would give you the text book ovulation smack int he middle of a perfect 28 day cycle.

[SublimeBirthGirl]

Good for you. I absolutely believe that dual care can undermind a homebirth experience. I think moms are more likely to transfer if they've had shadow care-that medical mindset leaks into your mind. It's hard to get away from when you have the constant barrage from a medwife or OB.

[Mama Poot]

I did dual care last time around, but I had a very unique practice I attended. They had regular CNM's and OB's but they actually listened to me, knew I was having a home birth with Henri and supported that, never did needless tests. I just went in, got weighed, poas, and that was that. I do like the aspect of having modern care incorporated into my experience, and I did want to know the gender of this baby at the 20wk ultrasound, but my health and baby's health is more important. Not only that but all this buzz about the unknown effects of ultrasound has made me think more about it. I guess I kept hoping I could find a practice with a provider that was like my hb midwife, but alas it does not exist. This will be a little more than inconvenient for both my midwife and me because we now live 50 minutes from each other. I will go to her place for some visits, and others she will come to my house. Oh well. Oh and I called yesterday, cancelled that ultrasound at the last minute and simply said "I don't think I will be coming back. I don't think T is the right doctor for me." Simple as that. I feel better now.

[Mama Poot]

Originally Posted by texaspeach

good for you. btw, you could always fudge your LMP by adding 14 days to your known ovulation date. that would give you the text book ovulation smack int he middle of a perfect 28 day cycle.

Her whole attitude was just ridiculous. She kept freaking out about me having a MILD case of BV and saying "you could have premature labor, miscarriage, your baby could DIE". BOTH of my boys were born ONE DAY before their EDD's and I've never had a miscarriage. I have NO reason to believe this pregnancy and birth will be any different. I cured the BV with garlic cloves, btw. She didn't like that.

[dinahx]

Originally Posted by texaspeach

good for you. btw, you could always fudge your LMP by adding 14 days to your known ovulation date. that would give you the text book ovulation smack int he middle of a perfect 28 day cycle.

But why lie? Someone who doesn't trust a woman who says they *know* when they ovulated and instead wants to perform an invasive technological guesstimate and trust that instead is not someone to even give even one more moment to, IMO.

Sorry you couldn't find a more like-minded dual-care provider.

[ecstaticmama24]

Good for you!! I'm trying to decide now if I should ditch my GP. My midwife lives in the States and I'm in Canada, so she's just coming for my birth, and the odd prenatal if she happens to be around. I've only been to the dr. twice and I'm 6 1/2 months, but I still am uneasy visiting the dr's office knowing fullwell I don't intent to have him attend my birth.