Switching from an OB to a Mid-wife Mid Pregnancy | 20 Week Ultrasound

This wasn’t a post I was sure I was going to write, but it might be relevant to someone in our shoes. We switched providers at the half way point in our pregnancy and not at all because we were unhappy. This was an extremely difficult decision for Brent and I to both make.

​A little background on our pregnancy, we live in central Ohio and have for the past 4.5 years. When we moved here from southeastern Ohio, I never switched to a new, local obgyn. Why? Because it was only an hour drive, I was established, very happy with my care and I was only going once a year. Fast forward to about two years ago when we started realizing pregnancy wasn’t going to come easy for us, we started seeing him a little more frequently. No big deal. We did our entire female fertility workup with him and even two insemenations (even though we live in a big city that has numerous fertily treatment centers). Essentially, once we had exhausted all fertility avenues with him, he gave us a referral to a specialist in our current city. Little did we know, we would get pregnant on our own within a few months, even before setting up that referral appointment! It came as a complete and utter shock and suddenly we started to feel a little panicked about where we should deliver: an hour from home where our families still were or in the city we lived.

The decision wasn’t easy and took months to finally decide. We met with two midwife agencies. One was a private, at home kind of delivery; the other was affiliated with the main hospital. We ultimately made the decision to use the affliated midwives for two reasons. 1. This being our first pregnancy, there were a lot of unknowns and fears. Delivering in a facility where doctors were available if need be felt safe. 2. Financially, it just made sense. Insurance could be billed unlike the private agency, who we would have to use a third party billing company, pay $3k out of pocket and wait to be reimbursed out-of-network benefits.

We completed our 20 week anatomy scan with our physician and that was the end. A hard reality. But visits were becoming more frequent and we already were investing three hours minimum of our day into our appointments (2 hours round trip and an hour minimum between waiting/being seen). Am I 100% confident in our decision? No. Why? Because I won’t form any sort of real relationship with the midwives who will potentially deliver our baby. There are about 9 midwives total and you rotate between them all each visit and I only have half the time most women get to meet them all. Is this decision the safest? Absolutely. Delivering in Ohio in February, there is no telling what the weather will be like and we don’t own a 4-wheel drive vehicle. Not to mention my labor could be short and we may not have made the hour+ drive. There were just too many variables. So, to anyone who has to switch providers mid pregnancy whether by choice or not, you’ll make it through. You’re extra emotional which doesn’t help, but at the end of the day, safety and a healthy baby are what matter the most. Do your research and don’t be afraid to set up consultations with potential providers.

On a lighter not, I thought I’d share a few pictures from our 20 week scan. I’m currently 27 weeks, 4 days and will be doing a 3d scan tomorrow (and the dreaded one hour pregnancy glucose test), which I will be sure to share!

Her sweet little profile

Those little toes though!

Heart rate of 146