Another U/S question.....

[SewGreenBaby]

I'm deciding between 2 doctors for my vbac, one of them has a lower c/s rate and less restrictions for a vbac. Buuuut, he doesn't do an ultrasound until 22 weeks. I've had previous miscarriages and am currently on progesterone supplements to help this baby stick. I also had an amniotic band with my son that needed to be monitored regularly. Based on my history, should I be firm about having a dating u/s done in the first trimester?

[stevensmom]

do you have a planned parenthood nearby? I know that with ours up here they will do early u/s for people.

[rverrone11]

What is an amniotic band? Is that something that is monitored via an ultrasound or something that would be detected via an early ultrasound?

[EmilytheStrange]

what would be the purpose of the ultrasound? to check fluid levels and such?

you couldn't accomplish your needs with the doppler?

[SewGreenBaby]

I think I had an amniotic sheet not a band. It was something they wanted to monitor with weekly ultrasounds. Because of my past miscarriages I'm anxious to to see that the baby is healthy and growing well.

[UmmKira]

You can talk to the dr and express your concerns, and see how willing he is to work with you.

Sent from my phone using DS Forum... Typos complements of Swype

[evasimone]

I would pick the doctor with the better end results regardless of when he does an ultrasound. In the grand scheme of things the birth overtakes an ultrasound IMO.

An option that I haven't seen mentioned is paying out of pocket for an ultrasound. You can have them done for $100-200. I think ours cost $130, the tech came to our house and did an ultrasound while I laid on the couch. He projected it on our big screen tv and it was awesome. He basically interpreted the u/s and pointed everything out to us; he owned his own company so their was no restriction on what he could say unlike what you get at a hospital or office. Our results were also interpreted by a radiologist but he agreed with what the tech said.

[evasimone]

Okay I did a bit of googling and this is what I could find:

The incidence of amniotic band syndrome is 1 in 1200 to 1 to 15,000 live births. The cause of amnion tearing is uncertain and is consider a chance event. It does not appear to be genetic or hereditary, so the likelihood of it occurring in another pregnancy is remote.

http://fetus.ucsfmedicalcenter.org/a...learn_more.asp

Also another website I found said that the earliest fetal surgery they could do for amniotic band surgery was 22 weeks and that was for severe cases. So even if an early u/s did show amniotic banding they likely wouldn't do anything until later.

That being said I am very casual about u/s. I am happy with my one and not interested in extra u/s so I am coming at it from a different perspective than probably a lot of other people. My midwife had the ultrasound at 18 weeks which is pretty average from what I understand. So I don't see why you couldn't at least negotiate for an 18 week rather than a 22 week one.

[songbird516]

I would go with the doctor that has the best birth policies (or that match what you want better). The chance of another amniotic band is really small, and there isn't much that could be done before 22 weeks anyway. Dating in ultrasound just isn't that reliable, either. Even early on it can be 7 days off, so personally it wasn't important to me.

[SewGreenBaby]

I'm hoping the dr an I get along well when I go to the appointment. He has an 11% cs rate alone and the other office has a 20% rate among 4 drs including repeats. I don't know if the other one includes repeats. I'm just scared I'm gonna pick the wrong dr and go through a nightmare delivery again. I'm gonna be very honest with him about what I want and hope he stays on board with it. I talked to the nurse for awhile and explained my last birth, emergency c/s. She assured me that he would not consider that situation an emergency so that's comforting.

I didn't think about doing a 3d u/s so early. I figured they were just to see the baby later in pregnancy. That's a good idea, I think we'll do that. We do have a pregnancy center here that does free u/s but I feel like they're just for women considering an abortion, ya know? A friend recommended me to one when I was pregnant with my son and a counselor came and spoke to me abortion and adoption. It was awkward.