Going to be stuck with continuous monitoring...

Shemico

My dr. says its the current recomendation and I will have to have continious fetal monitoring. I'll be allowed to either be in bed or in the rocking chair. She also said I could do lunges near the rocking chair but that would be it for movement.

I guess thats not too horrible, but still not what I was hoping for.

erbear

I think that's standard practice. My sister (who is an OB) and my OB told me the same thing.

ReeseM

Same here. She said once I am in "active labor". I did not get the definition of that though. When I made a face at her when she said it, she reminded me that the best way to avoid as much as possible, was to stay home as long as possible.

I live 40 minutes from the hospital, so I may even find a friend who lives closer and when I leave my house, go there, labor a while longer, then go in to the hospital. That way I am close, but not THERE, you know?

userdeleted

Ask if you will be able to take "bathroom breaks" or even get in the shower during labor. The hospital I delivered in also required continuous monitoring during active labor, but my doctor said that a) I could take bathroom breaks basically as often as I wanted, and it wasn't like they were going to drag me off the toilet to get hooked back up to the monitors, and b) If everything looked good she'd write me a "prescription" for a 15 min shower every so often. It's not ideal, but maybe you could get some time where you didn't feel bed-bound. GL!

nosoup4u

ReeseM:

Same here. She said once I am in "active labor". I did not get the definition of that though. When I made a face at her when she said it, she reminded me that the best way to avoid as much as possible, was to stay home as long as possible.

What I will never understand is why providers tell us to stay home as late as possible, but require continuous monitoring when we get to the hospital. If it's safe enough to labor until pushing at home, why isn't intermittent monitoring safe enough inside the hospital, where there's staff around in case something does go wrong?

I say stay home for as long as possible. I was able to show up pushing (dumb luck on my part), but they still had a monitor on DS while I was pushing (annoying, but I was too out of it to care at that point...). hth

emylos

nosoup4u:

ReeseM:

Same here. She said once I am in "active labor". I did not get the definition of that though. When I made a face at her when she said it, she reminded me that the best way to avoid as much as possible, was to stay home as long as possible.

What I will never understand is why providers tell us to stay home as late as possible, but require continuous monitoring when we get to the hospital. If it's safe enough to labor until pushing at home, why isn't intermittent monitoring safe enough inside the hospital, where there's staff around in case something does go wrong?

Because if we stay home and something goes wrong, the hospital has no liability.  If we're in the hospital and something goes wrong and could have been stopped by continuous monitoring, then the hospital is at risk for lawsuits.  

Shemico

Rach03k:

Ask if you will be able to take "bathroom breaks" or even get in the shower during labor. The hospital I delivered in also required continuous monitoring during active labor, but my doctor said that a) I could take bathroom breaks basically as often as I wanted, and it wasn't like they were going to drag me off the toilet to get hooked back up to the monitors, and b) If everything looked good she'd write me a "prescription" for a 15 min shower every so often. It's not ideal, but maybe you could get some time where you didn't feel bed-bound. GL!

Thats kinda what I was thinking. Lots of bathroom breaks. And also I was thinking I might be able to relocate from the chair to the bed (or vice versa) a couple tines. I'll ask about the shower thing.

drakee

Honestly, I had intermittent monitoring with my VBAC, and it was kind of a nuisance.  They had to monitor me about every half hour during a contraction.  It's very difficult to manage a contraction while you have to simultaneously hold still while you get monitored.  Once I had continuous monitoring (after I received my epidural), I didn't have to worry about being checked every 30 minutes or so.  Even though I was confined to my bed, I had a lot of mobility.  My doula was a great help in finding different positions and movements to experiment with.

iris427

emylos:

nosoup4u:

ReeseM:

Same here. She said once I am in "active labor". I did not get the definition of that though. When I made a face at her when she said it, she reminded me that the best way to avoid as much as possible, was to stay home as long as possible.

What I will never understand is why providers tell us to stay home as late as possible, but require continuous monitoring when we get to the hospital. If it's safe enough to labor until pushing at home, why isn't intermittent monitoring safe enough inside the hospital, where there's staff around in case something does go wrong?

Because if we stay home and something goes wrong, the hospital has no liability.  If we're in the hospital and something goes wrong and could have been stopped by continuous monitoring, then the hospital is at risk for lawsuits.  

Yep.  It's as much about liability as what is safest.

OP, do you know if the hospital has wireless (telemetry) monitoring?  I used that for my Pit induction and I was able to walk the halls, move all over my room and even shower while being monitored.  A lot of doctors don't tell their patients about that option unless you specifically ask; you might want to call the L&D department and ask too.  

Continuous monitoring is the standard of care but sometimes you can find a practitioner who will make an exception.  You can always refuse it too, but that could cause drama at the hospital.  GL!

nosoup4u

emylos:

nosoup4u:

ReeseM:

Same here. She said once I am in "active labor". I did not get the definition of that though. When I made a face at her when she said it, she reminded me that the best way to avoid as much as possible, was to stay home as long as possible.

What I will never understand is why providers tell us to stay home as late as possible, but require continuous monitoring when we get to the hospital. If it's safe enough to labor until pushing at home, why isn't intermittent monitoring safe enough inside the hospital, where there's staff around in case something does go wrong?

Because if we stay home and something goes wrong, the hospital has no liability.  If we're in the hospital and something goes wrong and could have been stopped by continuous monitoring, then the hospital is at risk for lawsuits.  

Yeah, I know that it's for liability reasons - I wasn't clear in saying that I find it ridiculous that VBAC is so dangerous in a hospital that it requires continuous monitoring, yet providers regularly tell women to stay home during labor where there is no monitoring. You'd imagine if VBAC really was a danger, then all VBAC women should be required to go to the hospital the second they go into labor, KWIM?

JoelsGirl07

I love the people who go in, get checked, and if they aren't 9 or 10 will walk around in the lobby laboring! Those are true champs b/c that cannot be comfortable!

papagena

Yeah - I am also subject to continuous monitoring, which sucketh, because I'm GBS+ which means they'll want me to come in far before I would have otherwise and the hospital that I'll most likely deliver at doesn't have wireless monitoring.  In general a situation that I'm pissed about on several levels.

Shemico

iris427:

OP, do you know if the hospital has wireless (telemetry) monitoring?  I used that for my Pit induction and I was able to walk the halls, move all over my room and even shower while being monitored.  A lot of doctors don't tell their patients about that option unless you specifically ask; you might want to call the L&D department and ask too.  

Its wired monitoring as far as I know. I'll definitly ask again at the next apt (in 2 weeks).

ShansBride

they told me I had to be on continuous fetal monitoring as well, but I was really just not comfortable with that.  Most of what I read about FM said that women with CFM had a higher c/s rate than those with IMF but no better outcome for mama or baby.

If you really don't want CFM, I would fight it.  I did and I am so glad I did!