Hello mamas out there.
My husband and I are trying to conceive. My mom had her fourth child at home and loved it. I have been doing research and would love to do the same with my first. I know that I still want the prenatal visits at a doctor's office mainly for the ultra sounds. I really want to see the baby progress. I don't necessarily want any of the testing done and I will not want vaccines for me nor my baby. What are your thoughts and experiences? Any advice would help. Thank you all in advance for reading this and responding!
If you are just wanting u/s. There are studios that do them without drs note. That is what I have done with my last 3 and plan to with this one.
Also, if you plan to have a midwife, they can do all of the stuff you want typically without the stuff you don't. I don't know about other areas, but around here drs are not big on doing prenatals for a patient who plans to homebirth. So if you still want that monitoring but without the tests, I suggest finding a midwife instead of a dr.
In some states, Certified Nurse-Midwives are required to be supervised by a Doctor. If you go with this type of midwife, you may be able to use that Dr to have the ultra sounds. At the very least, I would assume your midwife would refer you to someone she knows if you want ultrasounds. Most (all?) have working relationships with Doctors for these types of referrals, inc ase they are needed.
I thought I would just mention that a midwife can check the baby for growth progress too, by feeling and measuring your stomach. So ultra sounds are not needed for that. It would be needed if you want the standard anatomy scan to check that all is looking okay with the anatomical development and this is when they can check the sex (if you want). Ultrasound would also be needed if any problems are suspected, but I would think that is standard for midwives to watch for and refer out for.
Your midwife can also use a doppler or fetal-scope (stethoscope) to hear your baby's heartbeat, which is a good sign of progress and not something US is needed for.
on edit...I agree with the previous poster that you can go to ultrasound studios (some at malls) to get "recreational" ultrasounds not done by a doctor. These are done just for the purpose of seeing the baby and nothing medical is discussed. They'll print out pics, give you videos, etc. Try googling "3-d or 4 d ultrasound keepsakes" or something like that in your area and you will probably find some.
my experience is that my midwife does not do ultrasounds, but does refer out for the anatomy scan (if the mom wants it) and any other scans she thinks are medically necessary and the mom agrees to.
In some states, Certified Nurse-Midwives are required to be supervised by a Doctor. If you go with this type of midwife, you may be able to use that Dr to have the ultra sounds. At the very least, I would assume your midwife would refer you to someone she knows if you want ultrasounds. Most (all?) have working relationships with Doctors for these types of referrals, inc ase they are needed.
I thought I would just mention that a midwife can check the baby for growth progress too, by feeling and measuring your stomach. So ultra sounds are not needed for that. It would be needed if you want the standard anatomy scan to check that all is looking okay with the anatomical development and this is when they can check the sex (if you want). Ultrasound would also be needed if any problems are suspected, but I would think that is standard for midwives to watch for and refer out for.
Your midwife can also use a doppler or fetal-scope (stethoscope) to hear your baby's heartbeat, which is a good sign of progress and not something US is needed for.
on edit...I agree with the previous poster that you can go to ultrasound studios (some at malls) to get "recreational" ultrasounds not done by a doctor. These are done just for the purpose of seeing the baby and nothing medical is discussed. They'll print out pics, give you videos, etc. Try googling "3-d or 4 d ultrasound keepsakes" or something like that in your area and you will probably find some.
my experience is that my midwife does not do ultrasounds, but does refer out for the anatomy scan (if the mom wants it) and any other scans she thinks are medically necessary and the mom agrees to.
You could not tell a doctor that you planned on switching, and stay just until after the 20 week u/s. It's easy to decline the early testing like for genetic issues. It would be a fight to decline bloodwork for things like blood counts, HIV, rubella, etc- the routine initial blood draw (just one lab draw, many tests). The standard-ish u/s at a doctors office would be early (8-12 weeks) scan to confirm viability& due date, then 20 week anatomy scan. Most won't do more than that (at least, in the areas where I've been) but I think some practices whip out the u/s pretty often just because.
But, PS, you'd be missing out on a lot in that 1st 20 wks not being with a midwife, IMO. 1st baby prenatal care was with a home birth midwife until she came very early, and thus this time I'm seeing an OB. I have had lots of ultrasounds but very little nutrition counseling, general getting-to-know you discussions, careful review of health and lifestyle, etc. overall the midwives were much more thorough. I feel fine with the OBs this time- it's more what I needed, but wow what a difference.
depending on the studio depends on what they offer...the studio that I go to does check for red flags and they even have their affiliating dr take a look at the pics to check for other issues and if anything is spotted, they will contact you and your dr....also, they send the pics to the dr for his records. But obviously all studios are not going to be the same. =)
I had certified nurse midwives in CT. They just refereed me to the closest local hospital for the one ultra sound I got for dating purposes. While I was there the ultra sound tech let me check the sex too. I was happy with that. At all my prenatal appointments the midwives did measure the bump and also listened to the heartbeat.
My mom had all of her children at home, UC. I had mine at home with a lay midwife.
I had no fancy tests and refused ultrasounds and any invasive tests; just the first full blood panel and one before delivery. I loved the nutritional advice, weight and fundal records, and the palipations. I am happy that it worked out each time. My children are healthy and I am happy that I was able to contribute to that factor in this way.
My mom had all of her children at home, UC. I had mine at home with a lay midwife.
I had no fancy tests and refused ultrasounds and any invasive tests; just the first full blood panel and one before delivery. I loved the nutritional advice, weight and fundal records, and the palipations. I am happy that it worked out each time. My children are healthy and I am happy that I was able to contribute to that factor in this way.
Most of my clients just end up getting the 20-week ultrasound. Outside of the 20-week scan and maybe an early ultrasound for dating, the use of serial ultrasound isn't well-studied or evidence-based.
I see midwives, and getting out of the blood work and other testing took some stubbornness on our part because they are affiliated with a hospital and follow their "standard of care." :eyesroll I wanted some things, and didn't want others so we compromised. For example I wanted a lead test, so since I was having the blood drawn anyway I gave in to having the glucose tolerance test, but not to drinking the drink.
I've had a couple of ultrasounds, the most recent was on Wednesday to check his position because he'd been head up for two appointments. But he ended up flipping that morning, after a pelvic adjustment by my chiropractor.
I'd be uncomfortable working with a midwife who was completely unable to get you an ultrasound. Routine ones may not be a big deal, but there are times that it's very necessary. As the others have said, even if your midwife can't directly, there should still be ways for you to get ultrasounds done if you want to, and hopefully the midwife knows how.
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