Going back home to labor after checking in at hospital?
ncjulia12
member
I loved all the advice on the laboring at home thread! My only big concern though is that I'm probably going to be GBS+. (Tested positive earlier in the pregnancy.)
I was really interested to read this...
aliska:
We went into the birth center at noon for me to get antibiotics (GBS+). At 1pm we went back home.
That's great that they let her get the antibiotics and then go back home. I really want to stay at home as long as possible but don't want to go in too late for the antiboitics and also think my ob will be encouraging me to come in early for that reason. I know my ob and the hospital will think I'm crazy for even asking to go back home, but I'm going to ask at my next appointment if that's a possibility. (I live literally 3 minutes from the hospital and it's a really small building so getting in and out won't be bad logistically.)
Anybody else go home to keep laboring after antibiotics? Or check in and then go back home for another reason to keep laboring?
Re: Going back home to labor after checking in at hospital?
Chemical Pregnancy 10/5/10
BFP 2/7/11--m/c 2/12/11
TTD pics taken by knottie jen&louie
I never would have thought of that! So you had a co-pay for each time you went in?
I think it's a great idea. I also think it is far more likely to happen with a MW and birth center, compared to a hospital and an OB.
Be very careful when you ask, and make sure you discuss it completely with your OB. It's likely that they will say "Oh sure, you can come get checked and go home." But what your OB will probably think you mean (if you don't discuss it thoroughly!) is "if I come in in early labor and am not 4+cm can I go home?" if you show up 4+ cm dilated, many hospitals/on-call OBs will not let you leave without a fight and/or signing out AMA. Make certain that your OB know that you mean 1. come in just for antibiotics and 2. go home even if you are 4+cm dilated (the usual cut-off for admission), and make sure he/she is willing to go to bat for you. Remember that they are used to dealing with women who WANT to be admitted asap, not the opposite.
Curious what your OB will tell you.
My OB told me..."You want to stay home as long as possible?? Psht....okay. That's not a problem. As a first time mom, there's pretty much no way you'll show up to the hospital with less than 4 hours to go until you give birth. Stay at home as long as you want...I only need to give you two doses of antibiotics, over 4 hours. I am confident you'll have time."
I didn't have time.
I think she underestimated my desire for a med-free birth.
Anyway, not getting antibiotics just meant a 48 hour hospital stay for us all. Not really a big deal overall. Hopefully you'll be able to do whatever works best for you!!
Yeah- I'm really curious what my ob will say as well. He knows how much I want a natural birth and I don't think he underestimates me- (I've known him a long time- he's a family friend.) so I'll be interested to hear what he recommends. I'm not going to even ask the other ob (the less NB-friendly one) in my practice because I know he'll tell me to come early. I think at my hospital, I'll have to stay 48 hours either way (antibiotics or not) if I test GBS+ or not. I need to ask about that too.
As far as what a PP said about maybe not testing positive- that would be great and I've thought about starting a regimen to try to get a negative result, but I'm nervous about getting a negative result but then ending up being positive at birth (since I was before) and not getting an antibiotic that *might* help prevent SIDS. I need to do more research on this though.
Americanpregnancy.org is where I got this information. It is important to not take the GBS+ culture lightly.
How does Group B Strep infection affect a newborn baby?
Babies may experience early or late-onset of GBS.
The signs and symptoms of early onset GBS include:
Newborns with early-onset are treated the same as the mothers, which is through intravenous antibiotics.
The signs and symptoms of late-onset GBS include:
Late-onset of GBS could be a result of delivery, or the baby may have contracted it by coming into contact with someone who has GBS.
Yeah, which I was unaware of at the time. It wasn't a huge deal since after everything was said and done, the only cost to me during my entire stay (including an unplanned c/s) was the 3x$100 in co-pays. FYI, I would do it the same way again.