The Health Care Blog: A Normal Pregnancy is a Retrospective Diagnosis#more

You know, I have been there in a way. I had four hospital births and four home births. They went something like this:

1) Normal pregnancy. Had all the tests but amnio, "just to make sure." (though we wouldn't have done anything had any test come back bad. We believe even handicapped babies are sent by God for a reason.) She was born with the cord around her neck so tight they had to cut it to get her out. She scored a 4 out of 10 on the APGAR and spent the first two hours on oxygen. Today, she's perfetly normal.

2) Chicken Pox in week five. First asthma attack in the sixth month. Lots of tests and, especially, ultra sounds. Normal labor and birth. Today, he's perfectly normal.

3) Normal pregnancy (except for my worst asthma attack ever at about six months). Had some tests. Normal labor and birth. Today, he's perfectly normal.

4) Normal pregnancy until he turned breech at 37 weeks. Had some tests. Turned himself vertex at 39 weeks. Labor induced at 41 weeks. Born with the cord around his neck three times, but not tight. Today, he's perfectly normal.

5) Had moved to a different state and decided on a midwife and homebirth for this one (as well as al future ones). We did my blood tests but nothing else. Normal pregnancy, Normal birth. Today, she's perfectly normal.

6) No tests except my iron level. She did summersalts all through the last two months. I didn't know from day to day whether she would be a breech or vertex or transverse (necessitating a c-section). At 43 (!) weeks she turned head down and labor started a couple of days later. Normal birth. All signs said she was EXACTLY at 40 weeks, not 43, in development. Had we been under phsycian care he would have induced and she would have been a primi. Today, she's perfectly normal.

7) No tests except my iron level. Normal pregnancy. Surprised us at pushing stage with crowning a foot. Perfectly natural, normal breech birth (would have been a c-section in the hospital). Today, she's perfectly healthy.

8) I showed signs of diabeties beginning in the middle of this pregnancy. An A1C test showed definite dibeties. We also tested iron, but nothing else (other than the normal heart tones done during every pre-natal of every pregnancy). I altered my diet and symptoms disappeared. Cord prolapse which resolved with prayer and midwife manipulation followed by shoulder dystocia (would have been a c-section in the hospital). Scary to say the least. Today, she's perfectly normal.

My conclusion after having had both pregnancies with all the tests and ones with none, perfectly normal pregnancies, high risk pregnancies and tramatic births:

The tests (including ultra-sounds) cause unnecessary stress and fear. I won't reapeat them should God bless us with another little one.

The exception would be the iron test (what's a little skin prick? and I am so light I am at risk for anemia) and the A1C. Because of my symptoms of prediabeties when not pregnant, I think it wise to moniter this so I can better control it with diet. A clear-cut need, not just idol curiosity or "defensive medicine."

An excellent articlde.

The Health Care Blog: A Normal Pregnancy is a Retrospective Diagnosis#more