Oxygen saturation tests

[lotsofcupsoftea]

Hey everyone,

I'm currently 29 weeks with my 4th and 40years old. I've just had a discussion with my midwife on where I would like my birth.
Straightaway she said as I'm 40 I definitely have to go into hospital and be induced before my due date.
She then proceeded to say that as I'm taking sertraline, my baby and I will have to stay in hospital after the birth for oxygen saturation tests for 48-72 hours.
Has anyone else been told or through this?
I really wanted a home birth as this is definitely going to be my last, so lots of discussions to be had I expect!

Thanks :)

Some info here for you.

www.hey.nhs.uk/patient-leaflet/mothers-who-take-antidepressant-medications-care-for-your-baby/

jmedicalcasereports.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13256-020-02640-1

Sorry, just look at the first patient info leaflet!
Don’t click on the second one.

Thankyou @PostThenGhost I did do a Google search and read that information.
I'm now questioning should I possibly wean off my antidepressants so it's not an issue when baby is born? Then if needed I can go back on them.
I'm going to speak with my consultant and midwife again but just wanted other opinions if possible?

Thanks :)

You don't have to do anything! You should be offered an induction… it may be that you don't meet the criteria for a birth centre, but that doesn't mean you can't discuss it with your consultant/manager of the birth centre.

Yes to it being recommended that baby has obs if you are on antidepressants, but that doesn't mean you should stop taking them. Again it's worth discussing it with the consultant and/or GP.

Thankyou for your reply @PinkPrawns2
My thoughts behind stopping my antidepressants is that with everything I have read regarding taking them during pregnancy, it states if the mother needs to take them to be healthy then she should. No where does it say that after birth there could be withdrawal symptoms in the baby and no where does it say tests will be needed after.

From what I've read it's saying withdrawal symptoms will only last a few days in the baby but I've gone through withdrawal before and it definitely lasts a lot longer than a few days and certainly is not nice. I feel my baby would be going through that in there first weeks of life, because of me.

I just don't know why ALL the information isn't readily available for mothers to make an informed decision without having to hunt it down on Google?

I of course would not refuse the oxygen saturation tests but that would mean staying in hospital, when I wanted a home birth so I didn't have to go into hospital.
That's why I'm thinking I could stop taking my antidepressants, go through the withdrawal symptoms myself and hopefully when my baby is born she will not have to withdraw in the first few weeks of life.

Do you think I'm thinking right? My partner has said just do what I feel is right, but I just don't know?