Re: Pregnancy Complications

[Guest guest]

Oh Tori, I'm so sorry to hear things are not going as great as expected. I

don't have any advice for you except that there are some wonderful support

boards on babycenter.com for pregnancy complications and one specific to

thyroid/pregnancy complications where there may be some women able to give

some advice or share their similar experiences.

Hugs,

Pam B.

[Guest guest]

Hi Tori, I don't know the exact complications of waiting, or not waiting &

inducing 3 weeks earlier... It was my belief that pretty much everything was

fully developed those last few weeks & that those last weeks were for the baby

to finish " fattening up " , although I could be wrong..There are a lot of sites on

the net ( babycenter.com ) that might be able to explain this situation better.

I am pregnant also, 10 weeks along, & am extremely hyper still.......I go into

the doctors for my first examine (Finally, after being put off for 3 weeks) &

have tons of questions about the dangers of pregnancy when your hyper.....When I

had my daughter the pregnancy was totally fine, no problems at all except around

8 months along I developed a horrible rash called PUPPS Syndrome. No one knows

what causes it, how to cure it or even ease the painful itching. I was in such

misery that I begged my doctor to induce me early so this rash could go away.

Thankfully I was able to hold out until my due date!! On that day he finally

caved in and said he would induce me by the end of the week... He went ahead and

did the membrane sweep just to see if that would cause labor on its own. That

next morning I lost my mucous plug, and exactly to the minute 12 hours later my

water broke.....Even tho that caused me to rupture I had to be given pitocin to

start the contractions unfortunately...24 hours later I had a beautiful

baby..Anyways, that's my story on induction....My personal opinion is that it

would cause more stress on the baby inducing that early.. The induction will

most likely not take since your not full term yet....Woman can be 2 weeks

overdue and still not able to be induced....I would do some research, maybe do

an amino just in case, and just do what feels right to you....I also dont see

the goiter doing that much growth in the next 3 weeks.....I would think that the

doctors would just monitor you more closely until you reach your due date then

they can do what ever action needs to be done....Hope this helped some.. Sorry

if it seemed I was rambling! I'm not too good at writing emails!! Let us

all know how things turn out! ~Amber~

Pregnancy Complications

Just when I thought it was smooth sailing through the end of the pregnancy,

the storm hit. Last Friday, an ultrasound showed a goiter on the baby. Thank

God, everything else indicates the baby is fine. His growth, development, and

movement are all normal. His heart rate is on the low end of normal, ranging

from the 120's at rest to 150 after movements. That, coupled with the fact

that I produce both Hashi's and Grave's antibodies, leads doctors to believe

that the goiter is due to hypothyroidism in the baby. Currently, I'm mildly

hyper with a TPO antibody count of 27 (normal is < 2). The TSI result hasn't

come in yet, but was 216 at the end the first trimester, down from over 500 at

the beginning of the first trimester. The concern is that the goiter could be

pressing against the baby's trachea and impede his airflow after birth. They

also want to test him for thyrotoxicosis after birth, but think that's

unlikely. Today marks the beginning of my 37th week of pregnancy and doctors

are

recommending induction. I have misgivings about that. First of all, they

want to

do an amniocentesis before inducing to ensure the baby's lungs are developed

and that seems to be an unnecessary risk in my opinion considering the baby is

not in immediate danger if he stays in utero for another few weeks.

Secondly, I haven't had any contractions so far and my cervix is probably not

favorable for an induction (we'll verify that tomorrow) and an induction could

lead to

a c-section in that situation. At 39 weeks, they could induce without doing

an amnio and have better odds of a successful vaginal delivery. Or we could

wait until I go into labor naturally. It seems to me that all this talk about

induction is extremely precautionary and the baby's goiter is not going to

significantly worsen if the pregnancy is allowed to progress. None of the

doctor's can quantify the risk of waiting a few more weeks, they seem to have

a " Why

not induce now? " attitude. I feel there's numerous reasons to avoid an

induction and only want to do it if my baby is in danger. My gut feeling is

to

wait until 39 weeks and try the least invasive methods of induction, such as

accupuncture, moxi bustion, or even a membrane sweep. Does anyone know or

have an

opinion of the consequences of allowing the pregnancy to progress? Does it

make a significant difference if we induce at 37 weeks, 39 weeks, or wait

until

I go into spontaneous labor? This is a very difficult decision for us and

I'd appreciate any advice.

Peace,

Tori

[Guest guest]

Hi Tori-

Are they concerned about your baby's development because he might be

hypothyroid? If they think that he might be that would be the only reason I

can think of to induce now. If the only concern is that his goiter is

pressing on his trachea, that will be a problem whether he's born now or in

2 weeks.

My son had some lung development problems when he was born at 36 1/2 weeks

and he had to go to the NICU. Boys are slower to develop than girls and his

sister was fine and able to stay with me. It was really hard not to have

him with me.

I hope everything goes well for you and that you don't have to have a c-sec.

Take care,

dx & RAI 1987 (at age 24)

> Just when I thought it was smooth sailing through the end of the

pregnancy,

> the storm hit. Last Friday, an ultrasound showed a goiter on the baby.

Thank

> God, everything else indicates the baby is fine. His growth, development,

and

> movement are all normal. His heart rate is on the low end of normal,

ranging

> from the 120's at rest to 150 after movements. That, coupled with the

fact

> that I produce both Hashi's and Grave's antibodies, leads doctors to

believe

> that the goiter is due to hypothyroidism in the baby. Currently, I'm

mildly

> hyper with a TPO antibody count of 27 (normal is < 2). The TSI result

hasn't

> come in yet, but was 216 at the end the first trimester, down from over

500 at

> the beginning of the first trimester. The concern is that the goiter

could be

> pressing against the baby's trachea and impede his airflow after birth.

They

> also want to test him for thyrotoxicosis after birth, but think that's

> unlikely. Today marks the beginning of my 37th week of pregnancy and

doctors are

> recommending induction. I have misgivings about that. First of all, they

want to

> do an amniocentesis before inducing to ensure the baby's lungs are

developed

> and that seems to be an unnecessary risk in my opinion considering the

baby is

> not in immediate danger if he stays in utero for another few weeks.

> Secondly, I haven't had any contractions so far and my cervix is probably

not

> favorable for an induction (we'll verify that tomorrow) and an induction

could lead to

> a c-section in that situation. At 39 weeks, they could induce without

doing

> an amnio and have better odds of a successful vaginal delivery. Or we

could

> wait until I go into labor naturally. It seems to me that all this talk

about

> induction is extremely precautionary and the baby's goiter is not going to

> significantly worsen if the pregnancy is allowed to progress. None of the

> doctor's can quantify the risk of waiting a few more weeks, they seem to

have a " Why

> not induce now? " attitude. I feel there's numerous reasons to avoid an

> induction and only want to do it if my baby is in danger. My gut feeling

is to

> wait until 39 weeks and try the least invasive methods of induction, such

as

> accupuncture, moxi bustion, or even a membrane sweep. Does anyone know or

have an

> opinion of the consequences of allowing the pregnancy to progress? Does

it

> make a significant difference if we induce at 37 weeks, 39 weeks, or wait

until

> I go into spontaneous labor? This is a very difficult decision for us and

> I'd appreciate any advice.

>

> Peace,

> Tori

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the responses. You've all brought up some of the same concerns I

have, which makes me feel that I'm on the right track. I've asked the doctors

about possible developmental problems with the baby since he could be hypo,

and they say that although that's a possibility, nothing so far would indicate

that and they can't know for sure until he's born. The only concern the

doctors are voicing is that the goiter could restrict airflow after birth and

they'd like to be able to test his thyroid levels and can't do that until he's

born. Because antibodies are present, they're calling my body a " toxic

environment " and say the longer the baby stays in my body, the more he's exposed

to

antibodies that could worsen his condition. I certainly understand that point

of

view, but we're only talking about a few weeks. I can't imagine that a few

additional weeks exposure to antibodies outweighs the benefits of the additional

growth time he'd have. I don't know a lot about TPO antibodies, but a count

of 27 doesn't seem that bad to me. The doctors said that it's significant

since it's 13 times normal, but that's just because " normal " people don't have

these antibodies, right? I'm used to seeing TSI counts in the hundreds, so 27

seems pretty darn good to me. Am I mistaken? Is this a large number? He's

not a huge baby, they estimate his weight at 5lbs 11oz now, which should be

about 7.5 lbs at my due date. They told me that about 5% of babies born at 37

wks

have immature lungs. That number increases when you consider that the babies

included in the statistic are mostly those whose delivery started naturally

and were ready to be born and the fact that white babies develop a bit slower

than other races. I'll have weekly ultrasounds and twice weekly fetal

monitoring, so I feel that if more problems arise, we'll be prepared to deal

with it.

I'm just not one who buys into the " induce if there's no reason not to "

concept. I feel there's always reasons not to induce and that natural

childbirth

is better for both mother and child. At the same time, if there is a clear

reason that my baby's being born now is better for him, of course I'll induce.

I

just don't see what the urgency is.

There is another kink in this story that I forgot to mention in my initial

post. The doctors have taken me off PTU at least through the end of the

pregnancy. I was on 50 mg twice/day and mildly hyper. So, I also have to

factor in

the rate at which my thyroid could rev back up. Would a few weeks make such a

difference that it could cause complications during labor? What if docs are

wrong and baby is actually hyper? Is being off PTU harmful to the baby?

Thanks again for all the help and support. You're helping alleviate the

anxiety of such a difficult decision.

Take care,

Tori

In a message dated 6/20/2003 7:28:40 AM Pacific Daylight Time,

mlbuck@... writes:

> I'm sorry you're having problems now! I know it can be so scary not knowing

> what is best for the baby! The good news is that you've made it this far

> without any problems. 37 weeks is pretty darn near the end and most of the

> baby's development is done. Mostly he's just gaining weight and getting

> bigger at this point. Have they done an ultrasound or anything recently to

> see if they can determine approximately how big the baby is? That may give

> you a better indicator or whether it's better to wait the 2 weeks. I've had

> several friends who have given birth 4 and 5 weeks early and no

> complications. The one I'm thinking of that was 5 weeks early was just over

> 8 lbs. (we told her thank goodness she had him early - imagine how big he'd

> have been in 5 weeks!) If he's still kind of small, it's probably better to

> wait. I'd see if you can pin the doctor down any _why_ exactly they want to

> induce now. What's the benefit of doing it now rather than in 2 weeks?

>

> I'd be a bit skeptical about doing the amnio myself. Likely there would be

> no problem, but I have known people who have had problems after an amnio

> (and sometimes the results aren't even right - but that's another story). If

> it were me and the doctor couldn't give me a good reason for doing it now,

> I'd wait the 2 weeks and induce then. But that's just what I'd do. It may be

> in 2 weeks that you might go into labor naturally. I wish I had more info on

> if the waiting harms the baby in terms of the goiter, but I suspect it would

> be the same whether it were 37 weeks or 39 weeks. It's a tough decision, it

> sounds like you might need one more talk with the doctor to help make up

> your mind.

>

> I had my last 2 kids induced - one was a week early, one was 10 days early.

> I had to be induced because I was Group B Strep positive and my first labor

> was so quick, they were afraid they wouldn't be able to give me the

> anitbiotic in time before the delivery if I went naturally. I didn't have

> problems with either one being done early. One I was dilated already to 3,

> but still had plug. The other I wasn't dilated at all yet. The first thing

> they usually do is break your water in the hospital, then wait a while to

> see if that gets things moving. (I recommend walking around during this

> part - works better) Then if nothing's really happening, they'll start the

> pitocin. If you want, you can still have an epidural or other pain meds,

> too. After they started the pitocin, it was 5 hours until the second was

> born and almost 8 hours for the third. Both vaginal deliveries. I didn't

> really find it any more painful with pitocin than not, but other people have

> experienced otherwise. I actually perferred being induced to going

> naturally, especially with the successive kids. You know us Gravesians, we

> like to be " in control " of things, and having the date for induction was

> kind of a security for me. I didn't worry about having the baby in the car

> or my spouse not being available for some reason, or a hundred other

> disaster scenarios I had The deliveries of our second and third kids were

> just as special as the delivery of our first. My husband was there to help

> me through each of them. I didn't feel " cheated " at all about not waiting

> until nature took it course. I knew I was doing what was better healthwise

> for the babies. The fear of them having GBS at birth overruled any doubts I

> may have had.

>

> It's a hard decision, but it sounds like you know what you want to do. Talk

> to your doctor again and trust your instincts. You know what's best for you

> and the baby. It's not the way he's born that makes it special - it's the

> birth itself that is special! It sounds like the doctor is on top of the

> problem, so they'll know what to do for him after he's born. I'm praying for

> you the next couple weeks. He'll be here before you know it! Good luck

> Tori - you're going to make a great mom!

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Terry,

My sentiments exactly. It's likely that the baby would be fine if he were

born now, but why take the risk if it's not necessary? My docs even admitted

that babies born via spontaneous labor at this stage do better than those who

are induced.

I talked to an accupuncturist here who is supposed to be fabulous. She was

an OB in China, so she understands the issues surrounding pregnancy

complications and only performs accupuncture to induce labor in circumstances in

which

she feels it's in the best interest of mother and baby. She agreed to see me

but said that " The fruit is harder to pluck from the tree if it is not yet

ripe. " She said she could try accupuncture, but since I'm not at term, it's not

as

likely to induce labor. Has your husband ever had patients see him prior to

40 weeks? Was accupuncture successful for them? It would definitely be my

first choice of intervention and one of the reasons I'd rather wait until 39

weeks when it's more likely to work.

I really believe that my baby will be just fine. The doctors, including my

endo who always tells me the worst case scenario, seem to think that there will

be no lasting effects and any symptoms are unlikely, but can easily be

managed with medication if necessary. I just wish I could get a better read on

why

they believe an induction is in the best interest of the baby.

Take care,

Tori

In a message dated 6/20/2003 8:29:32 AM Pacific Daylight Time,

aldente@... writes:

> I'm sorry you have to go through this now, and I'm sure from an emotional

> point of view that your wanting to wait and go into spontaneous labor is a

> good decision. It sounds like the doctors are 'being doctors' and we all

> know what great things come of that. It seems to me that if there was an

> imminent danger to him, they'd be much more adamant than they sound from

> your post. If there is no big escalation of danger, why intervene?

>

> That said, my friend just had her baby (spontaneously) at 37 weeks,

> and he's a gorgeous, completely developed 6 lb. 8 oz. boy.

>

> Anyway, given the choice of means of induction at some point (if you need to

> do it) I can attest to the success of acupuncture. My husband occasionally

> has an induction patient sent to him and it always works within two

> treatments.

>

> I am excited to know that there will be another new baby in the group soon,

> and I hope that his hypothyroidism is easily taken care of.

>

> Take care,

>

> Terry

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Tori -

I'm sorry you're having problems now! I know it can be so scary not knowing

what is best for the baby! The good news is that you've made it this far

without any problems. 37 weeks is pretty darn near the end and most of the

baby's development is done. Mostly he's just gaining weight and getting

bigger at this point. Have they done an ultrasound or anything recently to

see if they can determine approximately how big the baby is? That may give

you a better indicator or whether it's better to wait the 2 weeks. I've had

several friends who have given birth 4 and 5 weeks early and no

complications. The one I'm thinking of that was 5 weeks early was just over

8 lbs. (we told her thank goodness she had him early - imagine how big he'd

have been in 5 weeks!) If he's still kind of small, it's probably better to

wait. I'd see if you can pin the doctor down any _why_ exactly they want to

induce now. What's the benefit of doing it now rather than in 2 weeks?

I'd be a bit skeptical about doing the amnio myself. Likely there would be

no problem, but I have known people who have had problems after an amnio

(and sometimes the results aren't even right - but that's another story). If

it were me and the doctor couldn't give me a good reason for doing it now,

I'd wait the 2 weeks and induce then. But that's just what I'd do. It may be

in 2 weeks that you might go into labor naturally. I wish I had more info on

if the waiting harms the baby in terms of the goiter, but I suspect it would

be the same whether it were 37 weeks or 39 weeks. It's a tough decision, it

sounds like you might need one more talk with the doctor to help make up

your mind.

I had my last 2 kids induced - one was a week early, one was 10 days early.

I had to be induced because I was Group B Strep positive and my first labor

was so quick, they were afraid they wouldn't be able to give me the

anitbiotic in time before the delivery if I went naturally. I didn't have

problems with either one being done early. One I was dilated already to 3,

but still had plug. The other I wasn't dilated at all yet. The first thing

they usually do is break your water in the hospital, then wait a while to

see if that gets things moving. (I recommend walking around during this

part - works better) Then if nothing's really happening, they'll start the

pitocin. If you want, you can still have an epidural or other pain meds,

too. After they started the pitocin, it was 5 hours until the second was

born and almost 8 hours for the third. Both vaginal deliveries. I didn't

really find it any more painful with pitocin than not, but other people have

experienced otherwise. I actually perferred being induced to going

naturally, especially with the successive kids. You know us Gravesians, we

like to be " in control " of things, and having the date for induction was

kind of a security for me. I didn't worry about having the baby in the car

or my spouse not being available for some reason, or a hundred other

disaster scenarios I had The deliveries of our second and third kids were

just as special as the delivery of our first. My husband was there to help

me through each of them. I didn't feel " cheated " at all about not waiting

until nature took it course. I knew I was doing what was better healthwise

for the babies. The fear of them having GBS at birth overruled any doubts I

may have had.

It's a hard decision, but it sounds like you know what you want to do. Talk

to your doctor again and trust your instincts. You know what's best for you

and the baby. It's not the way he's born that makes it special - it's the

birth itself that is special! It sounds like the doctor is on top of the

problem, so they'll know what to do for him after he's born. I'm praying for

you the next couple weeks. He'll be here before you know it! Good luck

Tori - you're going to make a great mom!

Pregnancy Complications

> Just when I thought it was smooth sailing through the end of the

pregnancy,

> the storm hit. Last Friday, an ultrasound showed a goiter on the baby.

Thank

> God, everything else indicates the baby is fine. His growth, development,

and

> movement are all normal. His heart rate is on the low end of normal,

ranging

> from the 120's at rest to 150 after movements. That, coupled with the

fact

> that I produce both Hashi's and Grave's antibodies, leads doctors to

believe

> that the goiter is due to hypothyroidism in the baby. Currently, I'm

mildly

> hyper with a TPO antibody count of 27 (normal is < 2). The TSI result

hasn't

> come in yet, but was 216 at the end the first trimester, down from over

500 at

> the beginning of the first trimester. The concern is that the goiter

could be

> pressing against the baby's trachea and impede his airflow after birth.

They

> also want to test him for thyrotoxicosis after birth, but think that's

> unlikely. Today marks the beginning of my 37th week of pregnancy and

doctors are

> recommending induction. I have misgivings about that. First of all, they

want to

> do an amniocentesis before inducing to ensure the baby's lungs are

developed

> and that seems to be an unnecessary risk in my opinion considering the

baby is

> not in immediate danger if he stays in utero for another few weeks.

> Secondly, I haven't had any contractions so far and my cervix is probably

not

> favorable for an induction (we'll verify that tomorrow) and an induction

could lead to

> a c-section in that situation. At 39 weeks, they could induce without

doing

> an amnio and have better odds of a successful vaginal delivery. Or we

could

> wait until I go into labor naturally. It seems to me that all this talk

about

> induction is extremely precautionary and the baby's goiter is not going to

> significantly worsen if the pregnancy is allowed to progress. None of the

> doctor's can quantify the risk of waiting a few more weeks, they seem to

have a " Why

> not induce now? " attitude. I feel there's numerous reasons to avoid an

> induction and only want to do it if my baby is in danger. My gut feeling

is to

> wait until 39 weeks and try the least invasive methods of induction, such

as

> accupuncture, moxi bustion, or even a membrane sweep. Does anyone know or

have an

> opinion of the consequences of allowing the pregnancy to progress? Does

it

> make a significant difference if we induce at 37 weeks, 39 weeks, or wait

until

> I go into spontaneous labor? This is a very difficult decision for us and

> I'd appreciate any advice.

>

> Peace,

> Tori

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

>Hi Tori,

I'm sorry you have to go through this now, and I'm sure from an emotional

point of view that your wanting to wait and go into spontaneous labor is a

good decision. It sounds like the doctors are 'being doctors' and we all

know what great things come of that. It seems to me that if there was an

imminent danger to him, they'd be much more adamant than they sound from

your post. If there is no big escalation of danger, why intervene?

That said, my friend just had her baby (spontaneously) at 37 weeks,

and he's a gorgeous, completely developed 6 lb. 8 oz. boy.

Anyway, given the choice of means of induction at some point (if you need to

do it) I can attest to the success of acupuncture. My husband occasionally

has an induction patient sent to him and it always works within two

treatments.

I am excited to know that there will be another new baby in the group soon,

and I hope that his hypothyroidism is easily taken care of.

Take care,

Terry

[Guest guest]

Hi Tori,

I may have spoken too soon, not considering your situation since my husband

gets to induce people who are late, not early. Usually it's a situation

where they thing going on any longer could be a problem, so the choice is

pitocin or acupuncture. I love what that acupuncturist said, so very Chinese

to spout a true analogy like that. I think you're take on this is great, and

I know you have the good wishes of a whole lot of people behind you, too.

That has to count for something!

Terry

> From: L@...

> Reply-To: graves_support

> Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 12:06:29 EDT

> To: graves_support

> Subject: Re: Pregnancy Complications

>

> Hi Terry,

>

> My sentiments exactly. It's likely that the baby would be fine if he were

> born now, but why take the risk if it's not necessary? My docs even admitted

> that babies born via spontaneous labor at this stage do better than those who

> are induced.

>

> I talked to an accupuncturist here who is supposed to be fabulous. She was

> an OB in China, so she understands the issues surrounding pregnancy

> complications and only performs accupuncture to induce labor in circumstances

> in which

> she feels it's in the best interest of mother and baby. She agreed to see me

> but said that " The fruit is harder to pluck from the tree if it is not yet

> ripe. " She said she could try accupuncture, but since I'm not at term, it's

> not as

> likely to induce labor. Has your husband ever had patients see him prior to

> 40 weeks? Was accupuncture successful for them? It would definitely be my

> first choice of intervention and one of the reasons I'd rather wait until 39

> weeks when it's more likely to work.

>

> I really believe that my baby will be just fine. The doctors, including my

> endo who always tells me the worst case scenario, seem to think that there

> will

> be no lasting effects and any symptoms are unlikely, but can easily be

> managed with medication if necessary. I just wish I could get a better read

> on why

> they believe an induction is in the best interest of the baby.

>

> Take care,

> Tori

>

> In a message dated 6/20/2003 8:29:32 AM Pacific Daylight Time,

> aldente@... writes:

>

>> I'm sorry you have to go through this now, and I'm sure from an emotional

>> point of view that your wanting to wait and go into spontaneous labor is a

>> good decision. It sounds like the doctors are 'being doctors' and we all

>> know what great things come of that. It seems to me that if there was an

>> imminent danger to him, they'd be much more adamant than they sound from

>> your post. If there is no big escalation of danger, why intervene?

>>

>> That said, my friend just had her baby (spontaneously) at 37 weeks,

>> and he's a gorgeous, completely developed 6 lb. 8 oz. boy.

>>

>> Anyway, given the choice of means of induction at some point (if you need to

>> do it) I can attest to the success of acupuncture. My husband occasionally

>> has an induction patient sent to him and it always works within two

>> treatments.

>>

>> I am excited to know that there will be another new baby in the group soon,

>> and I hope that his hypothyroidism is easily taken care of.

>>

>> Take care,

>>

>> Terry

>>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Tori-

What a difficult decision this is for you. Can you really pin the doctors

down about the risk that they're worried about? Like how concerned they are

about the hypothyroidism or if they're just trying to be careful about any

risk. Maybe ask how many times they've seen this situation before and what

the outcome has been. And ask if the goiter is large (which would indicate

more of a problem).

OBs are sued for malpractice more than doctors in any other specialty so

they may be trying to cover all bases because there is the possibility that

something could be wrong. If they didn't warn you about all the

possibilities and didn't try to do everything they could to reduce the

chances of any problem, they would open themselves up to a lawsuit if

something happened, even if the chance was very small.

My son was 5 lbs 11 oz when he was born. Twins are supposed to be more

developed than singletons and he still had lung problems at 36 1/2 weeks.

It wasn't severe but it was still a problem and I was disappointed that he

couldn't be with me. We were going to wait another 8 days for the scheduled

c-section but nature took it's course a little earlier.

Take care,

> Thanks for the responses. You've all brought up some of the same concerns

I

> have, which makes me feel that I'm on the right track. I've asked the

doctors

> about possible developmental problems with the baby since he could be

hypo,

> and they say that although that's a possibility, nothing so far would

indicate

> that and they can't know for sure until he's born. The only concern the

> doctors are voicing is that the goiter could restrict airflow after birth

and

> they'd like to be able to test his thyroid levels and can't do that until

he's

> born. Because antibodies are present, they're calling my body a " toxic

> environment " and say the longer the baby stays in my body, the more he's

exposed to

> antibodies that could worsen his condition. I certainly understand that

point of

> view, but we're only talking about a few weeks. I can't imagine that a

few

> additional weeks exposure to antibodies outweighs the benefits of the

additional

> growth time he'd have. I don't know a lot about TPO antibodies, but a

count

> of 27 doesn't seem that bad to me. The doctors said that it's significant

> since it's 13 times normal, but that's just because " normal " people don't

have

> these antibodies, right? I'm used to seeing TSI counts in the hundreds,

so 27

> seems pretty darn good to me. Am I mistaken? Is this a large number?

He's

> not a huge baby, they estimate his weight at 5lbs 11oz now, which should

be

> about 7.5 lbs at my due date. They told me that about 5% of babies born

at 37 wks

> have immature lungs. That number increases when you consider that the

babies

> included in the statistic are mostly those whose delivery started

naturally

> and were ready to be born and the fact that white babies develop a bit

slower

> than other races. I'll have weekly ultrasounds and twice weekly fetal

> monitoring, so I feel that if more problems arise, we'll be prepared to

deal with it.

> I'm just not one who buys into the " induce if there's no reason not to "

> concept. I feel there's always reasons not to induce and that natural

childbirth

> is better for both mother and child. At the same time, if there is a

clear

> reason that my baby's being born now is better for him, of course I'll

induce. I

> just don't see what the urgency is.

>

> There is another kink in this story that I forgot to mention in my initial

> post. The doctors have taken me off PTU at least through the end of the

> pregnancy. I was on 50 mg twice/day and mildly hyper. So, I also have to

factor in

> the rate at which my thyroid could rev back up. Would a few weeks make

such a

> difference that it could cause complications during labor? What if docs

are

> wrong and baby is actually hyper? Is being off PTU harmful to the baby?

>

> Thanks again for all the help and support. You're helping alleviate the

> anxiety of such a difficult decision.

>

> Take care,

> Tori

[Guest guest]

Hi Tori,

I too would wait, and I'd skip the amnio since you don't need it if you wait.

The tests for lung maturity (FLM and LS/PG) aren't always a good indicator.

With fetal heart monitoring at your regular check-ups, they should be able to

tell if anything is amiss. It would be good to hear from I if she's

around. Best to you, Elaine

[Guest guest]

Hey Tori, I just thought of something... don't know if it will help at all,

but if the doctors are really worried about lung development, there are

things they can do to speed that up - Luke was born 8 weeks early and they

were able to give me 2 shots of steroids a little less than a week before he

was born and he came out breathing like a full term baby - of course we had

other issues, but breathing wasn't one of them. I have no idea if there are

any negative side-effects of the steroids - that was back in the day when I

trusted MDs and just did what they said.

Pam B.

[Guest guest]

Tori,

I'm sorry that you have to deal with this when you were almost to the

end of your pregnancy. I was induced with both my son and daughter.

However, I was not yet diagnosed with Graves. I was just diagnosed a

couple of months ago (my baby is 8 months old).

Anyways, here is my opinion of induction. I think it works if you are

already progressing on your own AND you are totally on board with it.

For both my inductions, I was already at 2-3 centimeters, 80-90%

effaced with babies who had already dropped. I was induced 10 days

early with both of them because we feared large babies (was son was

9lbs 2oz - 10 days early). I was totally for my inductions - I think

that had a lot to do with it. My labors were short 4 and 6 hours and

both born vaginally with no complications (I did get epidurals). So,

my experience with induction is a very positive one, but I think that

you really need to be OK with it and make a decision that you are

comfortable with.

It really is a joy and a miracle when they lay that baby on your

chest. I hope you get to experience it the way YOU want to.

Best wishes,

[Guest guest]

I was Induced with 2 of my babies and went much better than when I went on

my own,so I think it depends on the person. Hoping all goes well with you

and baby! I just found out I am having a boy! I am 4months pregnant with my

7th. Jen