My midwife was using a pinard as we prefer not to use a doppler. She was able to locate the heartbeat everytime and left it at our house for the children to use in between appointments. Right at the end and because of baby position my hubby could hear it through my skin without using anything!!
Thanks for everyone's answers (even though I disagree with most posters answers re the safety of blood tests for pregnant women i.e. just as they've confirmed certain vaccinations can cause autism [just research various court judgements], most doctors or big pharma won't recognise the link yet).
But especially a big thanx to the people that expressed kindness & empathy. It means a lot. I'll keep looking for alternatives. Perhaps, this isn't the forum for exploring that option or non-traditional birthing methods etc.
There is a lot of unnecessary intervention in pregnancy and birth these days. I believe it is important to acknowledge this, and research the options and their benefits and risks to out what you are comfortable with.
The Thinking Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer is a great place to start.
I am interested in your idea that blood tests can be harmful, because it's not something that i have encountered before. Is it the volume of blood that is taken, or just the puncturing of the skin that can be harmful? Are you concerned that something is injected in to you during the blood collection?
I understand that vaccinations can be harmful because 'stuff' is being injected into the blood, and many other women here also question the safety and efficacy of vaccines. There is a section on vaccines you can check out. Vaccination Information and Research
Is there a reason you need your pregnancy confirmed by someone else? A good midwife can palpate and often feel the pregnancy and baby position without any need for ultrasound or doppler.
take care
Last edited by HotI; September 2nd, 2013 at 01:21 PM.
-Intelligender will not determine whether you're pregnant or not, it's based in the ph levels in your urine with the theory being the ph rises or falls depending on the sex of your baby
-Blood tests won't cause miscarriages
-If you don't want a medical way of finding out if you're pregnant, just wait until your belly starts to grow
-It has never been confirmed that any vaccines causes autism
Last edited by PumpkinZulu; September 2nd, 2013 at 02:15 PM.
A urine test can confirm your pregnancy at around 5/6wks by your GP. I'm sorry for your loss and it is unfortunate that it happened on the day you had a blood test but it really is coincidental.
I'm also sorry to hear that you have so much mistrust of health care professionals. I don't know if this stems from any other previous experiences besides your pregnancy loss but if so perhaps it would be helpful to discuss it with someone.
I hope you have the pregnancy outcome you desire and can find a care provider (eg. midwife) who you're happy to work with without compromising your health or that of your pregnancy/baby.
Hi there Pegasus. I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. Whatever the cause, it sucks that you've had to deal with that. No wonder you are anxious to avoid going through it again.
I would suggest that you try some different HPTs, maybe research to find the most sensitive. It could be that your cycle is still out of whack and you've conceived later than you first thought. The lighter bleeding than your normal AF could just be that your lining is still not back to your usual levels, or hormonal changes since your m/c. I often have an AF exactly like you described that bleed.
The urine test at a dr will not be any better than what you can buy at a pharmacy. It must be driving you nuts to have no period and negative HPTs, but I'd give it another try in a week or so. You may have used faulty tests too.
If they are still negative and no AF, then I'd suggest you talk to a health professional about other causes for a missing cycle. Internet research aside, there is no way you'd have too little HCG in your urine to test positive and sustain a pg from about 2 weeks past conception. Even though levels do taper off after 12 wks they are still many thousand times higher than what is needed to get a positive HPT.
TTC can really mess with your head and all the physical symptoms you've noted may or may not indicate pg. You only have to read our TWW threads to see how every little thing messes with your head!
All of the other medical procedures that may or may not affect your pg and baby are entirely up to you, of course. But by the time they are a consideration, there would be no doubt you are pg. As an aside, there are birth attendants and some midwives (not all registered) who would be willing to care for you and your pg at home under all of your conditions. But you would need to ask around and I'm not sure where you're located. The homebirth groups are a good place to start as their are people in those who form a range of views across the continuum.
Last edited by Jennifer13; September 3rd, 2013 at 07:58 PM.
Glorious, using a standard stethoscope it is very hard to find the foetal heart rate and its not unusual to have difficulty finding it prior to 20 weeks.
Hugs Pegasus. Sounds like you're in that awful realm of not knowing something you really want to know!
Of course, it's ultimately your body and your life, and I totally respect your desire to do nothing that might harm your precious little one. I've been there myself.
But 2 kids later, what I've realised is that going through life trying to stop anything bad from happening is a futile exercise. And it's one that will do your head in. This isn't to say we should be careless with our lives or the lives of those entrusted to us, but I think we risk missing out on the joys of life if we spend our time avoiding its sorrows.
I hope you are holding your precious little one in about 9 months.
As others have said above, there is no mechanism by which taking blood from a vein in your arm can trigger a miscarriage. I'm sorry to hear of your loss after your b/t, but it would just be a horrible coincidence.
While I respect those who prefer to avoid unnecessary u/s (due to a perceived risk), there are many, many healthy pregnancies during which the foetus is exposed to multiple u/s without any repercussions. There are very clear medical reasons for performing obstetric u/s. For example, my missed m/c could not have been diagnosed without an u/s. If the (dead) foetus had been left in me it could have caused an infection or other nasty consequences and so I am grateful that we have the technology to identify these problems.
Additionally, a doppler uses the same technology (ultrasonic sound waves) as a medical u/s, so objecting to u/s but embracing a doppler is quite a contradictory stance...
If you really want to avoid modern technology in diagnosing a pg, you have to go back to waiting for the baby to start kicking (usually after 20wks). That's how they used to know that women were pg in ye olde days...
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