I hope this is the right place for this.. anyhoo, here goes..

My hubby and I aren’t trying TTC right now but we’re both excited about the thought of having another baby. We even been choosing baby names and wondering what the kiddos would think about having another brother or sister... I think my mom would be elated and he thinks his parents would think we’ve gone mad (with good reason though, read on)…lol..

So, right now we’re just “talking” about how wonderful it would be to have another baby. There are a couple of things holding us back from TTC.

One thing is I don’t have any health ins. atm. Things are pretty tight right now and I can’t really afford pay to see a dr. a monthly basis without it and of course looking towards the end the actual birth, etc… We’ve both decided there’s no hurry (it’s already been 7 years, what are a few more months?!) and we can certainly wait until it’s offered through his place of work…

So that brings us to the other thing keeping us from TTC. I’ve had 3 pregnancies and 3 births. The first pregnancy was a breeze. I had a midwife with DD and she was born right on her due date. My next two were both premature. I started out with my same midwife ( I love her! She took great care of me!) with both pregnancies and both times she had to turn me over to the Dr. she worked under. We (hubby and I) were quite ignorant; I guess and didn’t know I was considered high risk for premature labor until later. Anyhow, DS 1 was born 7 weeks early and 3 years later DS 2 was born 9 weeks early. Both premature births were caused from placental abruption.

When I was in the hospital trying to stop premature labor with our last baby, a dr. came in and asked me if I’d made my appt. to have my tubes tied yet. Hubby and I were both shocked and at first I didn’t know what he was talking about! We said, “What!! We never said anything about wanting to do that!!” That’s when we were told that since I’d gone into premature labor two times the chances were pretty high that if I were to get pregnant again, premature labor would happen again and that the next baby would be even earlier than 9 weeks.

Ok so, I guess my question is. Since I don’t have insurance, but I have questions I’d like to ask before we even TTC again,. Does anybody know of a forum/website where I can get consultation and ask my questions and have a dr. or a medical professional answer my questions?

I’m wondering if after 7 years, I am still at risk of going into premature labor. And, is it safe to keep working out during high risk pregnancy? (if indeed I’m still considered high risk after 7 years) etc…Oh! And bed rest?!?! Is it really true I'd need to be on bed rest for most of the pregnancy?!? One of the nurses in NICU suggested getting a perinatologist for “next time”, is that really necessary, or can I just go with a regular Dr.? I’ve looked online for one in my area, and I can’t find one..

I guess that's it for now... Thanks for listening

Well, just playing devils advocate here. In my opinion, I would wait until you have insurance first before doing anything. If you get pregnant before having the insurance, then they won't cover you and it would be considered pre-existing.

I would definitely talk to several doctors about the whole high risk thing prior to getting pregnant and if they feel it would definitely cause the baby to come early or even earlier than previous babies, would you still risk it?

I guess you guys have a lot to think about.

The earlier they come, the more problems they can have and thats not really fair to anyone.

However, the doctors may not really know for sure if it would happen again or not. I don't know.

Good luck to you. I'll keep you in my prayers.

I agree with Beth on the insurance, sounds like you have a good understanding of how that works though.

As far as the preterm labor issue, I would say go get an exam done by a doctor. There are lots of factors that can cause pre-term labor and a good thorough exam can rule out some, i.e. your cervix size/position and such. Not to mention after your past pre-term delivery issues it would probably be good to get a thorough exam anyways and of course to answer all your questions, as I'm sure you have many.

As far as bed rest goes, you probably would be considered high risk due to your past preterm labors and I think it would be safe to bet that you would spend a majority of your pregnancy on bed rest.

Pray for direction of course, God can make anything happen!

Good luck in making your decision!

Jessy

Thanks ladies! :)

Like I said we're definitely not in any hurry and totally willing to wait for dr. consultations and insurance etc...

We totally thought baby #3 would be our last because of what the drs. said about the next baby being even earlier and the risks to babies born so early. Both our babies spent time in the NICU, but thankfully didn't have any major health issues...

Neither one of us ever thought we'd feel this way about having another baby and it's only been the last 2 weeks we even knew how the other one thought/felt about it. It sure has been fun and exciting thinking about it. It's like the excitement we felt when we were planning for our first one. Almost like God dropped this desire in both our hearts at the same time.

We'll definitely be praying and we appreciate your prayers for us too. It's a big decision and there are a lot of unanswered questions/unknowns. And if it weren't for the high risk for pre-term labor/birth we'd both say, yes in a heart beat! :)

Thanks again ladies! :)

I have four children and all were born early due to a mishapen uterus. Our last two both spent time in the NICU. First of all the March of Dimes has a great website with a forum where lots of women talk and a few health professionals pop-in. These are all woman who are high-risk for various reasons. Google search and if you can't find the link feel free to pm me and I'll help you. I don't know much about your specific condition (my abnormality was there since birth but not actually diagnosed until preg. #3). In my case all of my girls were early but each preg. was different. First was 4 weeks early and had no issues, second was only 3 weeks early and the largest baby, third was 6 1/2 weeks early but second largest and only spent a few days in, our fourth was 4 1/2 weeks early and the smallest. She spent 7 days in the NICU and came home with an apnea monitor, but at 6mths is fine now. I always ended up with pre-term labor beginning around 28 weeks and ended up being repeatedly hospitalized and on bed rest for a bit. What I'm saying here I guess is that each baby wasn't worse and worse, etc. They were all different. I did have a perinatologist this time and appreciated his care. I started out with a regular OBGYN and he referred me on about half way through my preg. I continued to see both docs and once I got past 34 weeks he referred me back to regular doc for delivery. My doc pushed hard for me to have a tubal and he talked me into it. Our reason was not so much the pre-term labor but the fact that my abnormality caused my last three babies to get stuck breech and I had severe uterine scarring with the three c-sections. I want to be honest and tell you that I'm already regretting that decision. Not that I'm sure that I need to have or would be able to have another child, it took us 5 years to conceive our last one, but more that I've taken the option away from the Lord and my husband and I. I found in my preg. last year that many advances have happened with pre-natal and newborn care just in the five year gap that I had. I received new treatments which helped to make my preg. better than ever before and my daughter received outstanding care in the NICU as did many other babies there who were even smaller than she.
If the time feels right to you and dh I would consult carefully with OB's about your history and ask if they'll refer you to a peri. if need be. Also to choose your hospital carefully. I switched mine so that I could deliver where the NICU was, turned out to be a wise decision.
Please let me know if you have any further questions or need to talk. HTH
Beth

I have four children and all were born early due to a mishapen uterus. Our last two both spent time in the NICU. First of all the March of Dimes has a great website with a forum where lots of women talk and a few health professionals pop-in. These are all woman who are high-risk for various reasons. Google search and if you can't find the link feel free to pm me and I'll help you. I don't know much about your specific condition (my abnormality was there since birth but not actually diagnosed until preg. #3). In my case all of my girls were early but each preg. was different. First was 4 weeks early and had no issues, second was only 3 weeks early and the largest baby, third was 6 1/2 weeks early but second largest and only spent a few days in, our fourth was 4 1/2 weeks early and the smallest. She spent 7 days in the NICU and came home with an apnea monitor, but at 6mths is fine now. I always ended up with pre-term labor beginning around 28 weeks and ended up being repeatedly hospitalized and on bed rest for a bit. What I'm saying here I guess is that each baby wasn't worse and worse, etc. They were all different. I did have a perinatologist this time and appreciated his care. I started out with a regular OBGYN and he referred me on about half way through my preg. I continued to see both docs and once I got past 34 weeks he referred me back to regular doc for delivery. My doc pushed hard for me to have a tubal and he talked me into it. Our reason was not so much the pre-term labor but the fact that my abnormality caused my last three babies to get stuck breech and I had severe uterine scarring with the three c-sections. I want to be honest and tell you that I'm already regretting that decision. Not that I'm sure that I need to have or would be able to have another child, it took us 5 years to conceive our last one, but more that I've taken the option away from the Lord and my husband and I. I found in my preg. last year that many advances have happened with pre-natal and newborn care just in the five year gap that I had. I received new treatments which helped to make my preg. better than ever before and my daughter received outstanding care in the NICU as did many other babies there who were even smaller than she.
If the time feels right to you and dh I would consult carefully with OB's about your history and ask if they'll refer you to a peri. if need be. Also to choose your hospital carefully. I switched mine so that I could deliver where the NICU was, turned out to be a wise decision.
Please let me know if you have any further questions or need to talk. HTH
Beth

Thanks so much for sharing Beth! :)

I am gonna' look up that website thank too you! :)

So, you saw both an OBGYN and a peri with your last pregnancy? What exactly does a peri do?

Your welcome, peri's are basically a sub-specialty. Like for instance a brain surgeon vs. a regular surgeon. They specialize in high risk pregnancies so tend stay more current and have the latest treatment strategies available. In my case the peri. monitored the babies growth and my uternine activity early on. I'd go in every two weeks for a 3-D ultrasound and have uternine monitoring at the same time. Rather than going to an OB every month this is designed to pick up on and monitor any potential issues quickly. There are some new advanced treatment options for pre-term labor like a injection pumps (that you wear on your body to get constant does of meds), hormone therapies (I had weekly prog-26 shots), and even home uterine monitoring. They also do way more cerclages and amnios than the average OB. My regular doc would not have been able to provide some of those services. I never stopped seeing my regular doc though as the goal of the peri. was to prolong my preg. to the point that my OB could take over and deliver.
Hope that helps!
Beth

thank you for all the information!! I really appreciate it..

I'm a little worried because we've moved away from my midwife and drs. although I did have my medical records transferred to my current OBGYN. But she doesn't "know" me or my history like my midwife does/did and she's retired now anyway... but I can see now why a peri would be good for me to see were I to get pregnant again..

Anyway, thank you so much! :)