Fundies and Prenatal Care

[tkr322]

So I've noticed that many fundies decide to forgo prenatal care or instead have very little care done, usually through a midwife. I can't count how many I've seen not go to see a doctor until they're halfway through the pregnancy even. I realize the main reason for this is most likely that it's less expensive the less care you get (hence all the homebirths). But at the same time, it boggles my mind because I think, wouldn't you think God would be super pissed if you didn't get medical care and your baby or you ended up dying from something preventable?

[Witsec7]

There is already a thread on this subject, perhaps more than one.

[nomi]

I had midwifery care with both of my children. With my first I did see her for the first time at 8 weeks, but we couldn't find the heartbeat until I was 12. With my daughter I didn't have my first appointment until I was about 14 weeks along and then got sourced out for the required blood work and such. It's not that I didn't have prenatal care, it's just that if something were to happen the midwife probably wouldn't know up until 12 weeks or really be able to do anything about it. I knew I was pregnant so I took my prenatals with folic acid (since I didn't do prescription prenatals because they had crap like sucralose in them) and went on with my life.

I don't really see a problem with minimal or no prenatal care in the first trimester because the doctors really don't do anything. I guess now they do more ultrasounds, but when I was pregnant with my son they didn't do anything but the big scan at 20 weeks unless you were having issues (and of course everyone I knew lied and said they were spotting or whatever so they could get an early peek).

[sassyNoz47]

nope just look at Zsu Zsu refused the blood test...why?

[tkr322]

There is already a thread on this subject, perhaps more than one.

Sorry. Zsu Zsu's most recent blog post made me think of it so that's why I started one.

[nomi]

nope just look at Zsu Zsu refused the blood test...why?

With my second i refused most testing because I'd gone through it before with my previous pregnancy. I was in a committed, monogamous relationship so there really wasn't any need to do all the STD testing I'd had before. I did go in for an iron level check and consented to doing the triple screening since they'd already be taking blood from me and wound up with a false positive, a level 4(?) u/s, and an amniocentesis when they couldn't give me a straight yes or no.

[bananacat]

A lot of them believe that if you pray hard enough and follow all the rules, God will reward you with a healthy pregnancy. If anything goes wrong, it's either your fault for some minor infraction, or else God is testing you. They're very superstitious and blame any misfortune on some wrongdoing within the family.

[nomi]

I know that in the UC community (unassisted childbirth) a lot of the women feel that they "trust birth" and that if they trust it enough they will manifest a healthy pregnancy. Birth complications and pregnancy issues are just a manifestation of not trusting birth or having faith in the human body. It's pretty disgusting and I have a feeling that fundies replace birth with god and there you go.

But yeah, minimal prenatal care/testing =/= poor prenatal care. I got bare bones care with my kids in the early phase by choice (and then when an issue cropped up I went all medical all the way)/

[sassyNoz47]

With my second i refused most testing because I'd gone through it before with my previous pregnancy. I was in a committed, monogamous relationship so there really wasn't any need to do all the STD testing I'd had before. I did go in for an iron level check and consented to doing the triple screening since they'd already be taking blood from me and wound up with a false positive, a level 4(?) u/s, and an amniocentesis when they couldn't give me a straight yes or no.

i didn't do the panel screening or whatever it was for any of my pregnancies....back then I knew it wouldn't change anything. If I were to by some fate of god get pg again I would do the testing. I know how hard life is for a disabled child and I'm not sure I could put another child through pain and such but I don't know what I would do, I want to know ahead of time. Although what my child has now isn't detected by any tests and it wasn't present at birth but to knowingly bring another child who has serious problems into the chaos I'm not sure it would be right or fair.

Now if my dr asked me to have a blood test due to a virus there must be a reason behind it so I certainly would take the test.

[nomi]

I did the amnio because I wanted to know for sure so I could get the appropriate support group networks in place. It also would have determined where I gave birth (hospital/home...no home birth for a DS baby!) and how I would proceed in feeding methods and such.