Pregnancy Complications

[Guest guest]

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