To think that "I didnt know I was pregnant"

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

Is just one big promotion for 'pre natal care'!
You get the back story, the delivery and then a whole lot of ranting about how 'she didnt have any pre natal care'. She didnt take any vitamins, she didnt have any tests done, no ultrasounds blah blah blah. As if the mother was SOOO lucky that the baby managed to survive!
Now dont get me wrong, I know anti natal care is there for a reason, but crikey! as far as I know, not taking vitamins or having a scan has never killed anyone!

YABU.

Also, HOW do you carry a baby to term and not realise? I know periods can still happen, but surely at some stage you can FEEL the baby moving about and having a kick? Anyone had this experience?

antenatal care has had the biggest impact on perinatal mortality so YABU

women can continue to have periods throughout pregnancy and due to age or other factors, not think they are pregnant, baby movements can be explained as wind for example if you are not expecting to feel a baby move.

some women have a retroverted uterus so would not show or feel much movement til late in the pregnancy

some women in certain circs may well conceal a pregnancy for their own agenda, but it is possible to carry to term and not be aware you are pregnant or in labour and go to A&E thinking you have appendicitis or something

having a scan can potentially save the baby's and your own life, so YABU

Hey wineandcheese, You may be given iron supplements as it can be hard to get enough of it when you are pregnant. I personally took pregnacare with fish oils when pregnant with ds just to make sure we were both getting everything we needed.

You will have regular blood tests to make sure everything is as it should be so no need to worry.

If I'd had a scan between the 12 and 20 week one they would have noticed my cervix was funnelling which would have prevented my baby being born at 20 weeks. I'd not had a problem with my it in my first 3 pg

wineandcheese By the way, please do not take the idea from this thread that indiscriminate vitamin supplementation is good! There are specific recommendations for pregnancy, regarding all the individual vitamins, including minimum levels recommended and maximum levels recommended.

DoesNotGiveAFig

I think it has to do with where the placenta attaches. It can attach in such a way, that the woman won't feel the kicks, because the placenta is in the way.

vitamin supplementation is good

Yy.

"Not having a scan" killed my dd at 3 weeks, because she was born premie at 24weeks due to undiagnosed incompetent cervix and subsequent strepB infection.

4% of pg end in mid trimester and some of them are actually v preventable (infections, ic, etc), the reason we all do not get scanned/tested/etc is not because it is not a risk, but because the risk is small and the costs of performing those scans is v high

So, yes, you are lucky as 96% of other pregnant women with healthy babies in their arms. Enjoy it, do not overthink it, but equally, do not dismissed it for others who may have not been as lucky.

I am pg again and I am scanned every 4 weeks now, because my personal risk of loosing this baby is no longer 4% but close to 30%. There you go!

Thank you suzikettle, TheScaryJessie and HowlingBitch.

Ok - I didn't realise that folic acid is a vitamin. I am taking it though so no worries there. It is the only thing my GP told me to take and after reading the comments above I was getting worried that I should be on Pregnacare or something similar. My diet is pretty good though so I'll just carry on as normal unless midwife suggests otherwise when I meet him/her. Thanks again.

Ok, ok, I've already said IWBU. But I also didn't word my Op very well. badly
It's the actual programme I am criticising, not the recommendation of antenatal care. I'm all for antenatal care, it's just an odd American programme! which I really shouldn't watch. The ending is almost a criticism that these mothers didn't get the care. When actually the programme is called "I DIDNT know I was pregnant" !

Without tests and scans myself and dc1 would most likely have died. So yes, imo, they are very important.

No, no wineandcheese the only reason I started pregnacare was because I take a multivitamin everyday pregnant or not so switched to one suitable for pregnant women. :)

Thanks January! Im talking slight bollocks today, knackered, but this programme does bother me and I articulated this really badly! I feel bad that everyone here thinks I'm just writing off AN care. Believe me, mine was crap, and I am just happy that both my dc were born fine, and I don't condone anyone not getting care. As I said and you backed me up, the point was this programme.

My mother had no prenatal care and didn't take prenatal vitamins

Her baby died of spina bifida

YABU

DoesNotGiveAFig a friend of mine did. She was in bath have bad stomach pains, her mum said 'if I didn't know better I would say you were having contractions' - and she was. She was 21 and very skinny.

For most pregnancies you are right - but there are so many fairly routine things that get picked up in ante-natal care that can have bad outcomes for the baby without treatment - eg anaemic mother, placenta previa, antibodies, high blood pressure, gestational diabetes etc.

I don't know the percentages but not ante-natal care = taking babies life into your own hands. I would say though that most of the issues arise after 20 weeks (other than taking folic acid) so I would have thought that no ante-natal care in the early part of pregnancy (when more likely you don't know you are pregnant) was less of an issue.

I know someone who didn't have a scan and decided to have a home birth with a friend helping her instead of a midwife, it turned out to be twins, there were complications and they were all very poorly. But I still think YANBU in most cases.

I get what you're saying (I think...) and I believe that you started the thread with the intention of being light-hearted. Having seen the programme myself I'd say it was one big advert for giving birth on the toilet/in the bathroom!

Actually the toilet is the most ergonomic and at the same time accessible birthing aid .

Before "modern" medicine robbed women of all the knowledge accumulated over the centuries prior women used birthing chairs that look remarkably like our toilets! Here

If it's an American program that's understandable. Medical care is very expensive, and if you don't have health insurance you are likely to avoid seeing a medical professional as much as possible. To avoid this, they scaremonger.

I saw the price list of the standard childhood immunisations when we had to take DS1 to an American GP - it ran to the thousands of $.

I didn't find out I was pregnant until I was 4.5 months... We hadn't been ttc (I was on the pill) and therefore continued to smoke and drink up until I got the positive pregnancy test. (I had taken one at 2 months, but it came up negative...)
It's not all about the antenatal care wrt supplements, etc, it's also about preventing doing things which could harm the unborn child. I was very fortunate that dd has no health problems relating to my smoking/drinking during the first half of my pregnancy.

Blizy, I am so sorry for your loss.

If you want to know what happens to people who go without antenatal care, look at infant and child mortality rates in different countries. In the US, where women turn up at the emergency room without having had any care whatsoever, their rates are getting worse, whereas in countries that have the best provision, their rates are getting better and better. Nuff said.