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Natural Birth
Natural Childbirth possible with GDM?
I am trying to see if it is possible to have a natural childbirth if I am heavily gestationally diabetic. I am trying for no intervention, no pitocen for my next birth, but im really not sure it will be allowed. I really dont want to be induced again. I am in the military stationed overseas, and we really dont have alot of choice about the medical care we recieve. When i had my last child, I had to sign papers saying that i consent to recieve pitocen as a matter of course, and if I did not sign, I had to leave the hospital. Any thoughts?
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Re: Natural Childbirth possible with GDM?
I think that's a discussion you have to have with your doctor. I have a friend who has GD and I know they don't expect her to carry to term. She's due three weeks after me but they were saying that she'll likely deliver a week or two before my due date, depending.
I kind of question the legality of them refusing you medical care if you decline to be given an artificial dose of hormone. Pitocin is not typically medically necessary. You should probably have this discussion with your doctor sooner rather than later.
It sounds like the big challenge to natural birth may not be the gestational diabetes but the standard of care where you are. I would talk to your doc ASAP about what you'd like out of your birth, and if you have options to switch care to another doc who is less inclined toward interventions, it isn't too late. Avoiding induction may or may not be an option given the risk factors of GD, but that doesn't mean your entire birth needs to be highly medicalized (scroll around this board for lots of induced but natural or low-intervention birth stories).
I also question the legality of making you leave if you don't sign, especially since Pitocin isn't even FDA approved for all the uses obs employ it for regularly, but I also know that military-run facilities can have different rules and expectations. Do you know anyone well versed in military legal stuffs you could ask? This is another thing to talk to the doc about, BTW--if he or she is on your side on these kinds of issues (refusing Pitocin or an IV or allowing you to walk around while in labor) you'll have an easier time avoiding a fight with the hospital.
I don't know if you will be able to avoid being induced (because of the GD), but we in my childbirth class we had a couple come in that wanted their birth to be natural, but her water broke and she had no signs of labor 48 hours later so she had to be induced. At first, she was frantic because she thought this would be the first in a chain of medical interventions, but she as able to give birth naturally as they used very moderate amounts of Pitocin.
While I understand your wishes, if after going through all the necessary steps and finding out you still have to be induced, know that is doesn't have to lead to major interventions if you make it known that you would like to try and avoid them. Good luck and keep us posted.
Good luck with trying and with finding supportive care! I've heard that about Tricare--we're really lucky that my husband is a reservist and the reserve plan version of Tricare is much more flexible. But yeah--I've had friends in the military look into third party insurance because they hated their military clinic/hospital options so much.