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Birth center after a preemie?
Hi ladies. I am early in my pregnancy with DC#2 and I have been talking a lot to my DH about wanting to have a gentler birth this time around. I feel that a Birth Center with a midwife may be the best this time around. My DS was born at 34 weeks due to PPROM and the whole experience was pretty hard. I gave birth vaginally, but I can't say that I remember much of it or enjoyed any of it.
I am not considered high risk, but my son was in the NICU for 9 days and I am, of course, afraid that I will end up the same way with DC#2.
Have any of you had experience with this? I just want to enjoy the birth of my second child.
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Re: Birth center after a preemie?
There really weren't any complications. I had a completely normal pregnancy up until the night my water broke. That is my worry is that I use a birthing center and then end up at a hospital almost an hour away vs one 10 minutes away. It would make a huge difference if baby #2 had to be in the NICU.
My doctors say I am not high risk, but I am not low risk either since I had pre-term labor. I imagine this is the case for you as well, since you delivered a preemie. In thinking about a second pregnancy, I think about the quality of my doctors and how they will handle preterm labor and the quality of the nicu at the hospital I am delivering at. I have also discussed taking P17 shots with my OB as it is shown to help prevent preterm birth in people who have had a previous preterm birth and its effectiveness is currently being studied in women who did not have a preterm birth, but had previous preterm labor. A hospital midwife may be comfortable with prescribing the shots, and most OB's certainly are, but a CPM would be unable to prescribe P17.
Personally I would be highly skeptical of any home birth or non hospital birth center midwife that would take me on as a patient. I am just not a low risk anymore, but I am certainly not high enough risk to be seen by a maternal fetal medicine specialist and an OB.
As a side note, look into delivering at a hospital with a private room nicu. In private room nicu's parents are permitted to room in with their child since there is space for that and to take a much more active role in their child's care instead of having nurses do all the care. That could make a nicu experience much more palatable.
Thomas ~ 07/07/2008 ~ 8 lbs, 5 oz
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