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How I went from Hospital Birth to U/C in one day.

2K views 18 replies 13 participants last post by  A_Random_Phrase 
#1 ·
I need some support here ladies! Can you all give me some opinions on my decisions here?

I feel like circumstances have presented themselves that have kind of forced my hand with this one.

I have a wonderful wonderful midwife. But I live in the crappy state of Florida, and I happen to be pregnant with twins. This means she cannot under state law attend me at a H/B. I was ok with going to a hospital with a good CNM and a doctor that would do breech births (in the event baby B is breech, I'm only 17.5 weeks, so who knows!) just "in case". Well. No doctor that she knows of in the area will do a breech birth, they simply don't know how. Mind you my m/w told me without so much as telling me outright (for liability reasons) has indicated that were she in my shoes, she'd be UCing.

Even with all this, I was still pretty sure with a good CNM and a lot of cajoling IF baby b happened to be breech, I could talk them out of a C-section, so I was still hospital minded, and had a doula all lined up.

Skip till today. Found out my urine tested + for GBS. I know it means a serious colonization etc. etc. and is more serious than testing + vaginally. I've read up on the posts. But I refuse to do antibiotics unless: a) fever during labor, b) prolonged labor with ruptured waters or 3) if they're pre-term. I am absolutely immovable on this point.

So. My m/w assistant tells me (she completely agrees with me btw) that if I refuse antibiotics during labor, they will force me to let them do all kinds of bloodwork, labs, and whatever else they want to the babies, and if I refuse, then they'll ring up CPS. I am already stressed about the hospital birth, and having to argue with how I want my babies to come into this world. This was the cherry on top.

I've decided to do a UC at home with hibiclens as instructed IF both babies are head down, and none of the factors above are present (pre-term labor, fever, extended rupture of waters). DH is completely supportive as to whatever I want, he says he knows I know what's best for our babies and trusts me completely (God I love him
) I also plan on taking the babies in to my totally non-vax pediatrician the day after they're born, which I'm presently arranging with him. (He's amazing).

So WDYT? I can't believe I've just done a 180, but after crying for an hour over the positive GBS test, I realized I'd had it with people trying to interfere in our birth. Oh and PPS- how the heck do I break this to my mother? She's going to freak...
 
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#2 ·
For now, just want to say congratulations on finding your way


And--don't tell your mom, not yet. I don't know your circumstances, or how much longer you have til birth...but if you can possibly not tell her at all til after the fact, that might be best. If you must tell her, wait at least a few days, get things really settled in your own feelings/thoughts...wait as long as you can to tell her. You don't need her stress on top of all the rest!
 
#4 ·
Oh and one more thing. Being GBS+ at 17 weeks is REALLY early. You could totally be negative by the time you're ready to give birth. I would do the healing protocols and test again much later.
 
#5 ·
Gosh one more thing (I am SO sorry I am spamming your thread but I keep thinking of more things to add
)....

I have heard of successful twin UCs and HBs where baby B was breech, so long as baby A was head down... so both babies being head down wouldn't be a requirement for me personally, but I would very much prefer baby A to be head down for my comfort level.
 
#6 ·
Thanks mamas! I will def wait to tell my mom, but we are super close and I would want her at the birth, so she'll have to be told eventually.


I asked Shannon if I could retake and she said that since it was a + URINE test vs. a + vaginal one, retaking it would not change the hospital/doc protocol


As to CPS I know they wouldn't be able to do anything, but the stress of going through that and endless amounts of "monitoring" by DCF is just not something I want to endure. (I'm an attorney and I deal with DCF a lot-I just don't wanna go there KWIM?

I gotta go buy a bunch of books and refresh myself on infant cpr and emergency childbirth procedures. It's a bit overwhelming but beats the hospital!! Thanks again for your support-I feel better that I'm not the only one that would have made this choice!
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Being GBS+ at 17 weeks is REALLY early. You could totally be negative by the time you're ready to give birth.
It is early. It could totally clear up before your babies' birth day.
 
#9 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by phathui5 View Post
It is early. It could totally clear up before your babies' birth day.
Exactly. My doc claimed I was + in my urine around that time (though they also lied about other test results, which is why I left) and I went on to UC with a hibiclens wash and doing garlic/vit C/echinacea the last month. When I had to transfer to the hospital afterwards for a pph, they were amazed that her cultures came back negative. I was not worried about it, though.
 
#10 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Nanette56 View Post
Mind you my m/w told me without so much as telling me outright (for liability reasons) has indicated that were she in my shoes, she'd be UCing.

and if I refuse, then they'll ring up CPS. I am already stressed about the hospital birth, and having to argue with how I want my babies to come into this world. This was the cherry on top.
...
These are important points. My MW informed me that even hesitating to consent to the csection in the first place would be grounds for a "forced csection with legal intervention" It is real! They DO do these things to women!


There are mw's who could deliver twins at home. Just think if it were unplanned... You could always consider seeing if you can find a mw who will consult you but not deliver you (iykwim) She could be there, but you/hubby could do the actual delivery.

Yeah, your mom's gonna freak. Mine did. But you just have to remember where she is coming from. Most ladies in her days were scared into hospitals, and fully believe in the system. She loves you and only wants the best for you. BUT You know what that is, even if it isn't what she wants.

You can do this! It is not as crazy as it seems!
 
#12 ·
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I'm really feeling better about my decision. The way I see it is this: If I do end up having to go to the hospital because of some other complication, or something comes up during the U/C, they'll likely just shoot me into the O.R. anyway, and the antibiotic thing will become moot.

PS- Mom was not keen on the UC at ALL, but will not criticize because then I start to tear up, and she doesn't want me stressing about it. I think she's hoping the whole idea will blow over
. But at least I told her, and even if she doesn't support the idea is not making me feel bad for having made the decision. I've also been sending her articles to make my point. Hopefully she'll come around
 
#13 ·
I think that you are doing nearly exactly what I would do in your shoes. Some choices end up being forced on us, but you can make this your own and really educate yourself.
I, too, left the hospital scene because I was tired of having to spend precious energy during labor and delivery fighting for what I wanted, and against what I didn't want done to me and my children. Most of the hospital staff cares only about litigation, and not about the patient's well-being or desires. Very sad, but true. And some do care, but think that it's their way or the highway, and that we poor mothers are misinformed.

I do hope that your mother comes around. I would encourage her to read as much as she can, so that she can be a helpful support to you.
My mom always wanted to give birth on her own at home, and tended to show up at the hospital right before the pushing stage in order to prevent interventions. Her doctor told her that if he knew she intended to give birth at home, he was required to report her, so if she did want to try it, she musn't tell him. He was quite sympathetic, and would have come to our house to deliver her babies if his hands hadn't been so tied. Doesn't our health care system rock?
 
#14 ·
I would def. UC in your case. I can send you breech info if you need/want it as I just had a breech UC (and CPS did get involved). The main risk of breech birth is that you're not fully dialated when you get the urge to push and thus the head has a possibility of getting stuck. This rarely happens though and holding off on pushing for a while or checking yourself (if you can/know how - i didn't check) to make sure that you are fully dialated can prevent this. The big thing is to not touch anywhere down there when baby is breech. Read the passage in emergency childbirth for info. Just saying that baby being breech isn't a huge deal and with some research on it it can be just as easy/peaceful as any other birth.

Here twins and breech are auto c/s in a hospital so I can totally understand not wanting to do that if all is healthy.

ITA with the others as well on the GBS test. I'm somewhat surprised that you were tested so early.
 
#15 ·
Just wanted to say:

Welcome to the world of UC with twins! I'm planning a UC with my twins this December. I've been getting regular prenatal care with an OB, not only because this is my first pregnancy, but since I'm planning UC, I want to make sure everything is going okay. I did set some standards for myself...like, if I or the babies had ANY complications that would put any of us at risk of death during birth, I would not go UA. I'll tell you what though - even if they were both breech, I'd still attempt it! Luckily, my girls have listened well to their mommy and are both head down now at almost 32 weeks. And so far, no complications with any of us, all three of us are gaining weight normally as well.

Think positive, you'll have a great pregnancy and birth!
 
#16 ·
If I read your post correctly, you were planning a hospital birth but are now choosing UC because of needing antibiotics for GBS. (please, correct me if Im wrong) BTW It is YOUR choice to get the antibiotics or not, and no one can force any procedure on you, even if it will kill you not to do it. You may be able to clear the GBS up by labor anyway.
UC can be a great choice for some families, but it is not for everyone. UC because you really want to UC, feeling forced into it is not a good thing.
good luck no matter what you choose!!!
 
#17 ·
I just UC'd our 2nd set of twins a week ago today!! You can definitely do it if you go into it well educated. Spend the last half of your pregnancy reading all of the successful twin UC stories you can get ahold of and also of just geat twin homebirth stories. We had an emergency kit on hand in the event of hemorrhaging along with a few other things that just made me feel better and safer in the event that any problem arose since we are located fairly rurally and 35 miles from the nearest hospital. I also watched tons of birth dvd's and stuff on youtube along with reading as much info as I could about delivering different positions. For us, even double breech was deliverable..since we had been through so much conflict with medical providers over our 1st set of twins' positions. And where we are located now it is a mandatory c/s with any high risk pregnancy...which includes twins. So, we UC'd since we ran into problems with our home birth mw at 34 weeks.

Our 1st set of twins were delivered 250 miles away from where we are located now and delivered in a hospital vaginally and naturally with A vertex and B breech. It was a very easy, uneventful delivery. Really what I have come to learn is that A being vertex is preferred but B can be in any position due to the ability for them to change with all of the space that is freed up after A's arrival. But even both breech is definitely deliverable if you are comfortable with it and educated.

Our week old twins actually ended up shocking me by both being vertex and B didn't do any flipping after A's arrival. So, both were delivered vertex. It was a nice surprise but one I defintely didn't count on!!

Here's our UC twin story in full.
 
#18 ·
It's possible there is an unlicensed/underground midwife with twin experience who would attend your birth at home. I didn't believe they existed in my area, but when interviewing a midwife, she told me about one with a lot of breech and twin experience who is unlicensed in my state (and attending breech and twins at home is against licensing regulations here). I'm planning a UC with a singleton, but if the baby is persistently breech, I may call on the unlicensed midwife for assistance.

There may be similarly underground midwives near you, but it could take a LOT of digging and asking questions, interviewing other midwives, posting on homebirth professionals email loops, etc. to find one.

This is not to say you shouldn't UC, of course, if that's what you want to do, but if you would feel better having assistance, there may indeed be someone out there who can help.
 
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