Now, here's where I throw a tantrum. My preliminary research isn't looking promising. It appears that the clotting disorders I have are of the particularly nasty variety. Lucky me! All clotting disorders are bad news bears for pregnancy and birth and I wasn't very well-read on them because I was busy getting my mind around the fact that I'd have to shoot up for this pregnancy. I was under the impression that the Heparin would essentially remove the obstacle in my way to natural birth and I'd get to skip on down the road.
Rixa Freeze has told me otherwise. MV has clotting disorders too and she sent me an email with what she found that says the same thing. The web searches I've done have corroborated both of them. My clotting disorders can cause late-term miscarriage, unexplained stillbirth, intrauterine growth restriction - sounds just dandy right? Rixa spoke with an OB colleague/source of hers - can you believe that? She asked one of her doctor friends about me and emailed me back about it!! Cool right? Anyway, she confirmed what I was already finding - even though I'm taking Heparin and baby aspirin, my body is still chomping at the bit to get rid of the baby. PLUS, I found another tid-bit of info that just brightened the piss out of my day - I may have to continue taking the shots after the baby is born because I could be at risk for post-partum hemorrhage! I'm throwing up the deuces to that business - and that's the two middle fingers in case you were wondering. I was really holding that 36-week mark in my mind to be through with shots.
It doesn't mean that I'll have to have a C-section but I understand the reasoning behind early induction a lot more than I did. I'm still confirming everything with my doctor when I see her next but I'm a little bummed. I guess I'm high-risk after all.
However, I still have you wonderful ladies to thank!!! Drew read my post AND your comments and Sunday morning he handed me an Amazon print-out.
You guys - he ordered me the HypnoBabies CDs and Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and he bought himself a book about dads as labor coaches! How sweet right!! And I owe it to you - thank you so much for chiming in and lending your support and sharing links you think might be helpful! Plus, I think it helped for him to see that I'm not completely out there in my wishes and preferences. Of course he did say "Did you read Josey's comment and that her husband is exactly like me? Men are risk-averse when it comes to stuff like this, Desiree!" I was like, "yes babe you're totally right." He cracks me up sometimes.
Thanks again ladies! You're the best! Okay, I'm off to do some more research!
I'm sure it's so disappointing to have a health condition that makes some of the things you'd like to avoid--induction primarily, plus epidurals and cesarean sections as common add-ons to the induction. But remember, even having a high-risk health condition doesn't mean you have to throw all of your birth preferences out the window, nor does it mean you cannot have fantastic, hands-on, high-touch, high-empathy care.
ReplyDeleteYou're definitely looking at a fairly high possibility of induction. So let's talk about some ways to make the induction more successful:
- Hiring a doula has a very significant effect on lowering c/s rates for women undergoing inductions. There is extremely strong evidence for this. A recent RCT (randomized controlled trial) of 420 couples found that having a doula significantly lowered cesarean rates, from 25.0% to 13.4% overall. This decrease was especially marked in induced labors: 12.5% in the doula group vs 58.8% in the control group. Epidural rates were also lower (64.7% vs 76.0%), although the difference was not as striking as the reduction in the cesarean rate.
- Trying to wait to start the induction, especially if your Bishop score is really low. You'll have to balance this, of course, with your particular health profile at the end of pregnancy. The higher your Bishop score, the greater the likelihood that you'll have a successful induction.
- Looking into the various options for induction and educating yourself about the various pros and cons. There are pharmaceuticals (prostaglandin gels to ripen the cervix, Pitocin to induce contractions, Cytotec for both cervical ripening and induction), non-pharmaceutical medical techniques (using a Foley catheter to dilate the cervix to around 4 cms before starting Pitocin, AROM, etc), and "natural" techniques (sex, nipple stimulation/breast pump induction, castor oil, etc).
I think Hypnobabies will be fantastic for you. I really liked it for keeping me calm and peaceful during pregnancy (and helping me sleep!). Had I needed a hospital birth, I would have used it to help keep a "bubble" around me, so I could tune out the hospital environment.
Yeah for Drew buying you HypnoBabies! I got some of the best naps of my life during practice while I was still pregnant. Falling asleep during practice is common so don't feel bad if it happens to you. It doesn't mean you aren't still learning what you need to know. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in the hospital deep in labor, I remember the doctor coming in and saying something like "How is her epidural going?" The nurse pointed out that I hadn't had one. He looked really surprised. I was that calm. That doesn't mean it didn't hurt (Lord yes it did!). The techniques just helped me deal with the pain in a more quiet and calm way.
Sometimes I even feel like pulling out my CDs now just so I can relax. Enjoy!
Hi! I'm a Hypnobabies using mom who ended up with blood clots in my lung during my last pregnancy! I too had to take lovenox (blood thinner) and then switched to heparin at the end.
ReplyDeleteI was induced at 35 weeks for low fluids, but I'm here to tell you that what rica said in her comment above is all correct! Lol
I did not give up my birth preferences just because of the high risk birth. I still had choices just some of them were what needed to happen because it was an induction. Like having an iv and fetal monitoring.
But I was still on fire and no body did anything without my permission. I asked for friendly nurses and got angels.
It was my third time using hypnobabies and in the end I did 36 hours of labor before getting an epidural to sleep. But my baby was born healthy 6 hours after that into my and my nurses hands. Dr being MIA. ;)
You can do this, knowing the risks and being educated on your choices. I'm on my phone right now so I can't share the link, but you can search through my archives for trillian's birth back in January :)
LOL, well dangit, I sure didn't intend for Drew to use my comment to strengthen HIS argument!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that you're more high risk than you thought - what a bummer. :( I've heard many great things about doulas though, and Rixa's info was really interesting. There is so much to learn on this journey!
I will have to steal your line of "that just brightened the piss out of my day"...
ReplyDeleteI love your real writing:)
I just stumbled on to your blog doing some research on heparin. It sounds like we've had some similar bad experiences with pregnancy loss. I think you're right to research and ask lots of question instead of just trusting your doctor. By all means treat them with some respect but I've learned the hard way that they aren't always "on". I lost five babies in first and second trimester before my doctor stopped with the "try again" garbage and referred me to a specialist. I am not 10 weeks along, taking heparin (among other things) and getting weekly ultrasounds. It pays to push for your answers.
ReplyDeleteIn the mix of those five losses we had one healthy, perfect son...via C section. It's not great but I promise that if you're to that point you'll be willing to try anything to get the baby safely into your arms.
Good luck!
HI Desiree,
ReplyDeleteI wandered over into your blog from another design blog. I just wanted to say congratulations on the baby and to pipe in with some words -- I know, everybody feels free to offer an opinion when you're pregnant, so remember that it's free advice and probably worth what you paid for it. Here it is (yup, hold on to your suspenders): remember that the actual day of the baby's birth is just ONE day out of the bazillions of days when you will be a parent to this child. It feels like such a big deal (and it is because it marks the moment you start being a parent to this child), but no matter how you have the baby, at the end of the day, you will be a parent.
i.e., don't sweat the details (and apart from becoming a parent, it's all details).
Hey! Hope everything is ok. We're all rooting for you!
ReplyDeleteHey! Hope everything is ok. We're all rooting for you!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it's so disappointing to have a health condition that makes some of the things you'd like to avoid--induction primarily, plus epidurals and cesarean sections as common add-ons to the induction. But remember, even having a high-risk health condition doesn't mean you have to throw all of your birth preferences out the window, nor does it mean you cannot have fantastic, hands-on, high-touch, high-empathy care.
ReplyDeleteYou're definitely looking at a fairly high possibility of induction. So let's talk about some ways to make the induction more successful:
- Hiring a doula has a very significant effect on lowering c/s rates for women undergoing inductions. There is extremely strong evidence for this. A recent RCT (randomized controlled trial) of 420 couples found that having a doula significantly lowered cesarean rates, from 25.0% to 13.4% overall. This decrease was especially marked in induced labors: 12.5% in the doula group vs 58.8% in the control group. Epidural rates were also lower (64.7% vs 76.0%), although the difference was not as striking as the reduction in the cesarean rate.
- Trying to wait to start the induction, especially if your Bishop score is really low. You'll have to balance this, of course, with your particular health profile at the end of pregnancy. The higher your Bishop score, the greater the likelihood that you'll have a successful induction.
- Looking into the various options for induction and educating yourself about the various pros and cons. There are pharmaceuticals (prostaglandin gels to ripen the cervix, Pitocin to induce contractions, Cytotec for both cervical ripening and induction), non-pharmaceutical medical techniques (using a Foley catheter to dilate the cervix to around 4 cms before starting Pitocin, AROM, etc), and "natural" techniques (sex, nipple stimulation/breast pump induction, castor oil, etc).
I think Hypnobabies will be fantastic for you. I really liked it for keeping me calm and peaceful during pregnancy (and helping me sleep!). Had I needed a hospital birth, I would have used it to help keep a "bubble" around me, so I could tune out the hospital environment.