arrhythmia? Help! Advice?

[paradoxia13]

I had my 38 week midwife appointment today and while listening to the hearbeat something just sounded...off. Like woosh woosh woosh.....and then a pause every now and again, and back to a regular heartbeat. Her heart would speed up and slow down with movement as usual, and was moving around fine, but the pauses were odd.

So, my midwife had me go to my backup (Kaiser) and get monitored. After an afternoon of monitoring, and ultrasound, and lots of waiting around it was determined she has an arrhythmia. Nobody seemed overly concerned, but, they do have me scheduled for 2x weekly NSTs. The doctor I saw said that 99% of the time it goes away at birth, no big deal.

But, of course I am freaking out. The fact that nobody at Kaiser was lecturing me and telling me how awful and horrible homebirth is, and that I have to give up the idea now of course has me encouraged, but still, a heart issue is scary.

Anyone been there/done that? Any experience with this? I'll call my midwifes first thing in the morning and get their advice and opinions, but for now I'd love any advice or words of wisdom. Am I crazy to think homebirth is still a good idea?

~heather

[DawnaRose]

I dont have any advice but wanted to offer a

Thinking good thoughts that everything will be fine and you will get the home birth you want!

[babyjelly]

my selene has the same thing, and it's really no big deal. it was observed in utero, and i was told it would probably resolve spontaneously at birth. it was observed after birth, so she had an ekg and an echo done. structurally normal, so just avoid giving her any stimulants (caffeine, some otc medicines, etc), and if it can be observed at her 12 month check up, come back to cardiology for a recheck. it was, we went into cardiology, and did a 24-hour ekg- pretty cool, she wore a little monitor in a tiny backpack. it's still just a tiny electrical misfire in her heart. keep avoiding stimulants and only come back if other symptoms attributable to cardiac illnesses are observed.
she's 28 months now, and hasn't had any problems whatsoever- she's just a normal, super-active two year old!
so that was my long way of saying, the doctor's attitude of "no big deal" is spot on, and there is zero reason to reconsider your home birth. hth!

[robertandenith]

they grow out of it!!! One good friend of mine had a baby girl with exactly that and she grew out of it. I don't think you should worry....