When we go out to eat the server hands us a menu and we choose our meal.

When a pregnant woman goes to her OB for the first time she's asked who her insurance carrier is and, depending on her answer, she's handed a different kind of "menu". It's a pre-printed "pregnancy management plan" and lists every visit and every test she will have from that point forward, to and including her delivery day. The point is, you don't get to choose. Neither does your OB. All treatment choices have been made for your pregnancy by your insurance company!

You get what your insurance company will pay for and not an aspirin more!

Is a "one-size fits all" pregnancy management plan the best that medical science has to offer? Is your's the plan an OB would choose for his wife or daughter if she were pregnant? Likely not. Insurance company plans often represent the MINIMUM ACCEPTABLE STANDARD OF CARE.  

Understand that for the majority of pregnancies, the MINIMUM STANDARD of care will be sufficient to insure a satisfactory outcome. But what about women who want the MAXIMUM STANDARD of care? Those who are willing to pay for added tests and procedures. More often than not they are never offered any additional testing by their OB's. They are not encouraged to "upgrade".

Why are women not offered "UPGRADES?" We believe it is because their insurance companies discourage the practice, lest the women come to demand the added testing.... as they did for birth control prescriptions.... and won.

For too long women have been shielded from the truth that they could suffer a stillbirth, when in fact over 26,000 women suffered a stillbirth last year in the US alone. And yet nothing is said about it. No warning signs explained. Not by their OB, or even hospital birthing classes. Reluctance to "frighten" women seems to be the most common reason we've heard. But women need to know that one in every 116 deliveries is a stillbirth. On the positive side, armed with knowledge, stillbirth is may not always be inevitable.

STILLBIRTH CAN BE PREVENTED IN MANY CASES IF WOMEN ARE TOLD THE EARLY WARNING SIGNS. TYPICALLY, A DECREASE OR INCREASE (HYPER-ACTIVITY) IN FETAL ACTIVITY IS A SIGNAL THAT YOUR BABY IS IN DISTRESS. MONITORING SUCH ACTIVITY BY "KICKS COUNTING" IS A NO COST LOW TECH WAY TO HEIGHTEN YOUR AWARENESS.

A SECOND WAY TO REDUCE THE LIKELIHOOD OF EXPERIENCING A STILLBIRTH IS THROUGH MORE FREQUENT TESTING DURING YOUR PREGNANCY. ADDITIONAL ULTRASOUND AND NON-STRESS TESTING SHOULD BE DISCUSSED WITH YOUR OB, EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR THEM. DOWNLOAD THE PREGNANCY INSTITUTE PROTOCOL AND TAKE IT WITH YOU ON YOUR NEXT OB APPOINTMENT.  ASK ABOUT AVAILABILITY OF ADDITIONAL TESTING. THEN DECIDE, BUT AT LEAST KNOW WHAT OPTIONS AND "UPGRADES" ARE AVAILABLE TO YOU AND THE COST.  THEN YOU CAN MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION.

A THIRD METHOD UNDER DEVELOPMENT AT THIS TIME TO REDUCE THE LIKELIHOOD OF STILLBIRTHS RESULTING FROM CORD COMPRESSION IS HOME FETAL HEARTBEAT MONITORING.  BY THE USE OF A RECORDING FETAL MONITOR AND "REAL TIME" EVALUATION OF RESULTS THROUGH A CONNECTION TO THE INTERNET, DR. JASON COLLINS OF THE PREGNANCY INSTITUTE HAS MONITORED 25 WOMEN FROM THEIR OWN HOMES! DESPITE CORD ISSUES THAT APPEARED THROUGHOUT THEIR PREGNANCIES ALL OF THEM DELIVERED HEALTHY BABIES. DR. COLLINS PLANS TO EXPAND THE MONITORING STUDY TO AN ADDITIONAL 75 WOMEN PRIOR TO PUBLISHING HIS RESULTS.

	National Still Birth Society		Missing Angel Foundation		The Importance of Counting Kicks

FOOTNOTE:

Stillbirths are often preventable in cases where inadequate monitoring and testing fail to detect incipient umbilical cord issues. Richard K. Olsen, founder of The National Stillbirth Society, and his wife Sharon, did not know to count their daughter's kicks. They never had a Non-Stress test (because it was neither offered nor discussed) and they had just three ultrasounds. The first confirmed the pregnancy, the second guided the needle for the amniocentesis test, and the third confirmed Camille's heart was no longer beating on delivery day! Had we known then what we have learned since, we would have a six-year old daughter. She succumbed to a cord compression the night before her scheduled delivery!

"Protect Your Pregnancy" is public service of The National Stillbirth Society which is actively engaged in the battle to reduce the incidence of stillbirths worldwide. The Society can be found online at www.stillnomore.org.  Email us at nss@cox.net or phone us at 602-216-6600.