No 3rd trimester ultrasound....

ksw5ff

Thank you for all the responses, ladies! I feel better knowing that it's not just my doc/practice and that what's been going on is totally normal. Phew!

cc61712

overtonhayes:

jennyann28:

Seriously? I don't know how you can post something like this and expect to not get flamed. What you have done is UNFATHOMABLY irresponsible. You've had 27 weeks to get your sh!t together. It is not your insurance company's fault or the OB's fault, it is your own. When I think about how I struggled to get pregnant for months, when there are people like you who play fast & loose with their baby's health makes me want to vomit. And this is me being nice here. Stop being so goddamn irresponsible, get in your car first thing tomorrow morning, and drive to the nearest OB and tell them that you've neglected your prenatal care for your entire pregnancy, and demand to be seen. Then spend the rest of your pregnancy getting care & educating yourself for your poor baby's sake!

Don't you think I have done ALL of those things? But guess what seeing an OB requires, whether it's on schedule or 'demanding to be seen'? Money. Up until three weeks ago, DH's income - our only income, since I legally cannot work - was $300 a month. Before tax. Stop to think for a minute about how on earth you can keep a roof over your head and food on your table for under $300/month, let alone pay for any health care. We saved for two months and started a credit card just to be able to have that one OB visit. Do you have any idea what it is like to be turned down by a goddamn health department because you can't meet their lowest fee schedule? We have already looked into getting help from things like Medicaid and local churches and family and friends, and none of those are available to us. I was even grateful for the wreck because sure, it only served to add to the $8000 I've already racked up in ER bills, but at least someone would check the baby was ok and we could worry about the cost of it later. And before you jump to say "ok, so your income changed three weeks ago, why haven't you got any care since then", the answer is because DH's entire first (and so far only) paycheck wasn't enough to cover our rent; moving expenses (we had to move so that he could find another job); expenses from the wreck; and groceries. 

I thank God every night for this baby. This was not a planned pregnancy and I have friends who have struggled to get pregnant or have lost babies, which only serves to make me feel even worse that I have not been able to get regular health care for this child. I know that I am absolutely blessed to have a healthy baby. Your comment serves no purpose other than to make me feel even worse, congratulations. Don't you dare leap to assumptions about me when you don't know my situation, and no doubt don't care to.

Wow, so if you've only had those 2 ultrasounds how did you get the 3D one that's in your siggy? Have you thought about what's going to happen once baby is here? What if baby has health issues because you neglected your prenatal care? How do you plan on paying for that?! How do you plan on keeping a roof over your head and food on your table when you have expenses for a child? Maybe before you snap at people for stating their opinions on the "lovely" post you made, you should stop and think about all this stuff and realize that there might be a better option for this baby than you and your SO.  

mkflower3000

It might partly be because I'm at a BC (they usually don't schedule many USs unless there's something wrong/unclear going on), but I was only ever supposed to have the dating scan and the AS. Part of me really wishes I could get another one (especially since our AS was on the early side - 17 weeks), but I suppose I'll just have to be patient and wait out the next 6 weeks!

Rink08

For both of the OB practices that I've gone to, a routine pregnancy only has the 20 week anatomy scan. Any other ultrasounds are added for issues or concerns with the pregnancy.

Rink08

amoerizzle:

overtonhayes:

jennyann28:

Seriously? I don't know how you can post something like this and expect to not get flamed. What you have done is UNFATHOMABLY irresponsible. You've had 27 weeks to get your sh!t together. It is not your insurance company's fault or the OB's fault, it is your own. When I think about how I struggled to get pregnant for months, when there are people like you who play fast & loose with their baby's health makes me want to vomit. And this is me being nice here. Stop being so goddamn irresponsible, get in your car first thing tomorrow morning, and drive to the nearest OB and tell them that you've neglected your prenatal care for your entire pregnancy, and demand to be seen. Then spend the rest of your pregnancy getting care & educating yourself for your poor baby's sake!

Don't you think I have done ALL of those things? But guess what seeing an OB requires, whether it's on schedule or 'demanding to be seen'? Money. Up until three weeks ago, DH's income - our only income, since I legally cannot work - was $300 a month. Before tax. Stop to think for a minute about how on earth you can keep a roof over your head and food on your table for under $300/month, let alone pay for any health care. We saved for two months and started a credit card just to be able to have that one OB visit. Do you have any idea what it is like to be turned down by a goddamn health department because you can't meet their lowest fee schedule? We have already looked into getting help from things like Medicaid and local churches and family and friends, and none of those are available to us. I was even grateful for the wreck because sure, it only served to add to the $8000 I've already racked up in ER bills, but at least someone would check the baby was ok and we could worry about the cost of it later. And before you jump to say "ok, so your income changed three weeks ago, why haven't you got any care since then", the answer is because DH's entire first (and so far only) paycheck wasn't enough to cover our rent; moving expenses (we had to move so that he could find another job); expenses from the wreck; and groceries. 

I thank God every night for this baby. This was not a planned pregnancy and I have friends who have struggled to get pregnant or have lost babies, which only serves to make me feel even worse that I have not been able to get regular health care for this child. I know that I am absolutely blessed to have a healthy baby. Your comment serves no purpose other than to make me feel even worse, congratulations. Don't you dare leap to assumptions about me when you don't know my situation, and no doubt don't care to.

This sounds like a lot of BS to me. First off, you say you have Tricare. Tricare covers 100% of pregnancy care. Also, to have Tricare, you have to have an affiliation with the military. I'm assuming your husband is military, as he is your income and there is no way that he is only making 300/month. 

 Try again? 

If her DH is in the Reserves, she can be correct. We had a time period where we had a $280/month income because the only income was from DH's Army Reserves. We were lucky to have savings that we could use until DH secured a good job but if we did not have that, we would have been in the same position. Tricare Reserve Select is not free (meaning that it would be deducted from her $300) and they do not cover maternity completely. We still had bills at the end of DS2's pregnancy.

Gismo123

Rink08:

amoerizzle:

overtonhayes:

jennyann28:

Seriously? I don't know how you can post something like this and expect to not get flamed. What you have done is UNFATHOMABLY irresponsible. You've had 27 weeks to get your sh!t together. It is not your insurance company's fault or the OB's fault, it is your own. When I think about how I struggled to get pregnant for months, when there are people like you who play fast & loose with their baby's health makes me want to vomit. And this is me being nice here. Stop being so goddamn irresponsible, get in your car first thing tomorrow morning, and drive to the nearest OB and tell them that you've neglected your prenatal care for your entire pregnancy, and demand to be seen. Then spend the rest of your pregnancy getting care & educating yourself for your poor baby's sake!

Don't you think I have done ALL of those things? But guess what seeing an OB requires, whether it's on schedule or 'demanding to be seen'? Money. Up until three weeks ago, DH's income - our only income, since I legally cannot work - was $300 a month. Before tax. Stop to think for a minute about how on earth you can keep a roof over your head and food on your table for under $300/month, let alone pay for any health care. We saved for two months and started a credit card just to be able to have that one OB visit. Do you have any idea what it is like to be turned down by a goddamn health department because you can't meet their lowest fee schedule? We have already looked into getting help from things like Medicaid and local churches and family and friends, and none of those are available to us. I was even grateful for the wreck because sure, it only served to add to the $8000 I've already racked up in ER bills, but at least someone would check the baby was ok and we could worry about the cost of it later. And before you jump to say "ok, so your income changed three weeks ago, why haven't you got any care since then", the answer is because DH's entire first (and so far only) paycheck wasn't enough to cover our rent; moving expenses (we had to move so that he could find another job); expenses from the wreck; and groceries. 

I thank God every night for this baby. This was not a planned pregnancy and I have friends who have struggled to get pregnant or have lost babies, which only serves to make me feel even worse that I have not been able to get regular health care for this child. I know that I am absolutely blessed to have a healthy baby. Your comment serves no purpose other than to make me feel even worse, congratulations. Don't you dare leap to assumptions about me when you don't know my situation, and no doubt don't care to.

This sounds like a lot of BS to me. First off, you say you have Tricare. Tricare covers 100% of pregnancy care. Also, to have Tricare, you have to have an affiliation with the military. I'm assuming your husband is military, as he is your income and there is no way that he is only making 300/month. 

 Try again? 

If her DH is in the Reserves, she can be correct. We had a time period where we had a $280/month income because the only income was from DH's Army Reserves. We were lucky to have savings that we could use until DH secured a good job but if we did not have that, we would have been in the same position. Tricare Reserve Select is not free (meaning that it would be deducted from her $300) and they do not cover maternity completely. We still had bills at the end of DS2's pregnancy.

I was a Reservist for 2 years....served 5 1/2 full AD before that.....and while yes it's not free to get Tricare Select Reserve, the information you are giving out makes it sound like it's going to cost them an arm and a leg to have the baby.

There is a $1,000 cap so at MOST that is what they would spend on the entire pregnancy.  If they can't afford a $1,000 for everything....which is cheap compared to a LOT of other insurance companies, then they are in deep trouble financially.  

For her to go this ENTIRE pregnancy with no OB and to blame it on Tricare not being able to provide an OB is completely idiotic.  If she indeed has Tricare Reserve she can find her own OB.  If she's on Prime, no excuse, and if she's on Standard once again she can find her own OB.

And if they are really that bad off financially they do qualify for Medicaid and probably even welfare/food-stamps.  I know she says she's not "legal" to work here but that doesn't mean her SO can't apply for all these benefits!  It sounds to me like she is just being lazy and not wanting to do the work to get the ball rolling.

ateal2490

overtonhayes:

Ok, I... I really, really don't want to be flamed here. No one feels worse about this sh*tty situation than me, trust me. You have no idea how many times I've cried myself to sleep over it, and felt like I've already failed this child before I've even had her.

I've only had 3 medical ultrasounds, and one (maybe you could say two) OB visit. Very long story short, our insurance company massively screwed us over and I STILL don't have an OB. We went to a local health department for my healthcare and paid out of pocket but they were so overbooked and had such limited availability that I could only get in one appointment, when I was 18 weeks. They found a cyst on the baby's brain and scheduled an appointment with a specialist for the a/s (hence 'maybe you could say two'), and thankfully everything checked out fine. But that's all I've had in terms of actual OB care. When I was about 8 weeks pregnant I went to the ER for stomach cramps and they did an ultrasound and determined everything was fine with the baby. When I was around 22 weeks we were involved in a wreck, so, again, another ER ultrasound, which also determined that the baby was fine. But that's been it.

I'm extremely nervous that time is ticking for me to get my GD test done and I still don't have an OB (we have Tricare for insurance, so we can't just choose one: we have to meet with someone on their time frame who will find me an OB on that OB's time frame). I'm worried that those ER ultrasounds that reassured me "everything is fine" don't mean "there's nothing wrong with your baby", they mean "your stomach cramps/the wreck hasn't affected the baby".

I've been calling up my PCM (the someone I have to meet with to find an OB) daily to see if there are any cancellations and I can come in sooner. I've been doing everything that I can. What do you think will happen in my case? Is it likely that I'm going to need to have more ultrasounds/be more closely monitored than most people? What will happen if I miss my GD test?

 

 The solution to this is so easy, I have absolutely no idea how you haven't been able to get this done.

 

If you're on Tricare and they cannot get you in to see an OB on post, they can refer you off post. You do not need a referral from your GP. Call Tricare and they will give you a referral. They would never allow you to go this far through your pregnancy without getting you an appointment. You've been calling all the wrong people. You do not have to meet with anyone to get an appointment. You just have to call Tricare. End of story.

 

Can't get an on post ob? Switch to Standard. Takes 2 seconds and allows you to choose your own OB/hospital/ect.

 

This isn't a case of a crap doctor or crap insurance. You're not trying hard enough and you're putting your baby at serious risk.

 

amy5162

kitchencolors:

theresat858:

Be glad you don't have any pregnancy complications warranting later ultrasounds. 

AMEN. Good advice for anyone who wants lots of ultrasounds.

Agreed!  I lost count of how many I have had.  I only had one with my 1st pregnancy because it was a breeze!

laxhottie23

I'm 38 weeks and have only had 2 ultrasounds.  The only reason I had 2 was b/c during the anatomy u/s he wouldn't roll over so we couldn't get any measurements of his heart.  So I had to get another one.

My doctor never mentioned more ultrasounds so I don't think they are normally done unless there is a problem.

 

 

bellc1980

Last one I had was at 20 weeks and doc said I'm not getting another one unless there is cause for concern about size or position of baby!  I think it is pretty normal not to get one.