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and i didn't switch OBs earlier b/c i didn't feel i had a legitimate problem earlier. i didn't have much to say or ask at first, and to the extent i had complaints about their unresponsiveness (to my symptom-griping), it wasn't serious enough to switch. its also been difficult to get a sense of the OBs early on b/c this practice tries to rotates you through all of them in your monthly visits.
if you think about it, real comfort (or discomfort) w/a doc comes when you see the decisions the doc makes - and you see their reasoning. for a 'normal' pregnancy (haha Skyeblue and lunamoo), you come in, you get checked up, and you check out. repeat in a month. all the doc's real decision-making comes at the end, near labor time, and then it may be too late to switch. it makes me think i should have two-timed my OBs (insurance co would have loved me).
i made a point of asking over the summer about their delivery practices. OB #2 rea__sured me that they only use interventions if you want them to or if absolutely necessary... and of course OB #2 is the only one who isn't on call this week or next... but as one woman who pursued VBAC found, docs can say whatever they want about what they *will* do - its at labor time that you learn what they *actually* practice. (her OB told her she could have a vbac, but at labor time he started pushing c-section, and she learned from the hospital nurses that he'd never actually admitted a vbac patient).
the labor inducement discussion last week has been a cold splash of water about what this practice *will* do, and causes serious concern. informed consent means not being pressured into making a decision w/out being told the risks involved. my next appt is w/the most senior OB - whom i've never met actually. i plan to have a chat w/her and then decide where to go from there. the irony is that when i'd asked OB #4 on the preceding visit about birth positions to practice, she'd simply responded that i ought to trust my body to do what it was meant to do. enter OB #3: "So did OB #4 talk to you last week about inducing labor???" b/c that's a great way to trust your body to do what its meant to do... right?
my SO thinks OB #3 is the real problem. she's right out of residency and new to the practice, according to OB #4. and actually, come to think of it, OB #3's the one who sent me to the hospital for a false alarm 3 weeks ago, b/c i was having light but frequent contractions. i didn't think i was going into labor, but OB #3 had previously instructed me to call if, so i did, not expecting that she'd barely ask me any questions and send me straight over... and (sorry if TMI) she was the roughest on my pelvic exam, causing immediate bleeding on the exam table and then some. it made me paranoid that she'd stripped the membranes. i'd barely spotted the day after on my two prior exams. so *maybe* its just OB #3.
still, if it IS just her, she and OB #5 are the ones on call this week... so i honestly can't decide if i *want* him to come this week or not... not that i have a say in the matter really. i'll be switching to another practice, next baby round... a__suming there's another. teddy, the SO's still not giving it up... and i'm not sure i remember how, lol...
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if it wasn't clear, OB #5 is the most senior OB that i'm meeting this week. OB #3 implied that labor induction was OB #5's idea, b/c she said OB #5 was going to give her a hard time if she didn't get an induction date from us that day. My SO doesn't buy it and just says to wait for the appt.
also, angelmonkey, here they induce by inserting the gel the night before to help with dilation / cervix ripening, and then do a pitocin drip the next day to bring on contractions. i forget the insert OB #3 named, but i know there are different ones commonly used in the US.
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lunamoo i'm at low risk of falling asleep any time soon... *sigh*
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A placenta that is past it's prime will develop calcifications, that is what hinders the pa__sage of nutrients to the baby. My placenta was studdied after I was delivered. In addition, when a baby is inutero, the red blood cells look different under microscope. Shorly after delivery they change. When I was about 3 weeks old I had blood work done that showed the red blood cells had remained unchanged and it was thought that I had a rare blood disease. After a few days at Children's Hospital in Seattle, it was discovered that this too was a result of being overdue. It took until about 3 months of age for my red blood cells to take on a normal appearance.
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oi, i've just decided, i want the baby to wait. daddy's just come down w/a high fever. the guy never gets sick! so baby just needs to stay inside until daddy's all better, hehe. i don't want to deliver w/out him, and i don't want baby catching anything when he comes home either!
i guess now's not the time to tell daddy my contractions have been getting stronger the last few hours *cheeky grin* thank goodness i've got sisters in the area if baby decides to ignore me and come anyway!
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just a quickie on-topic update, the OB's office called today to get an induction date scheduled. ultimately i told them i was going to wait for my next visit to talk to the senior OB.
what was interesting though, is when i told her why - that it was sprung on us at the last visit (38 weeks) w/out a discussion on risks, and that i'd done some research etc. she apologized and said that they normally raised the topic at week 37 and that OB #4 was supposed to go over it with me earlier.
so THEN (trying to be as casual as possible!!!) i asked if it was a routine thing, for their practice to schedule inductions for all their patients. she said *yes*, at the 41 week mark, just in case people pa__sed their due date. i asked if anyone ever refused induction, and she said that a couple of women had, recently.
pretty revealing if you ask me... i wanted to jump up and say I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT WASN"T ME, GD MY BUTT... but then, if i did that, i'd be, like, hormonal, hehe. still, it's good to hear some other women at this practice have refused induction and their decisions were respected.
score one for gummi!
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God job in asking gummibear!!! You got the answer straight from the horses mouth! ROUTINE to induce at 41 weeks, that is just wrong! And as the nurse said so few women refuse as we just blindly trust doctors who more often than not no little more (and often less) then we do. In the University hospital where I gave birth to my 1st it is ROUTINE to give oxytocin/picotin after ONLY 8 hours! Did you know it was normal for women to be in soft labor for days...and that steady labor can take far more than 8 hours and that is all good and normal and healthy!?! Yet patience is a lost practice and now days it is pump it out and go! Hence I opted for a home birth and 100% care of midwife for my last 2 pregnancies. Good luck and let us know when you go into labor!!!
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Gummibear!?!?! Long time no post, does this mean you've popped!?!?! Let us know!
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like i said i live in the uk and well over half of 1st time mothers go 2 weeks late so there cant be too much of a risk.
also iona you say most mothers who are induced have an epidural?...............and? most mothers who are not induced also have an epidural
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a risk with the whole placenta thing i mean
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Just saw the other post, congratulations gummi. Good for you sticking to your guns!
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hi all, sorry i didn't realize there were new postings on this thread. yes i popped :) he was born on new year's eve, at 7.5 lbs and 20 inches. i posted his birth story on the thread asking for birth stories. he's about 10 lbs now - my fat happy baby :) no complications, just irritations at the doc/nurses/hospital. they say the challenge to having a natural birth is in bucking the 'active management' system - its so true. i was arguing with hospital staff in between contractions right up until the end. long story short, i'll be switching OBs for the next baby, and may go to a birth center instead of the hospital. i see why women like the home birth option.
"most mothers who are induced have an epidural?...............and? most mothers who are not induced also have an epidural"
if you want an epidural, this doesn't affect you. but if you *don't* want an epidural, this fact is a BIG deal. its something i learned on my own, not something the doc shared with me.
i know it's been several weeks now, but when i look back and think about it, i still get very angry that my OB (#3) was pushing drugs on me during labor - epidural 3x, and 'something to make the baby's head come down faster' - disregarding my clearly stated desire to avoid drugs. besides which, my baby needed no help. he came ONE hour after she suggested the drugs. she thought he wasn't coming until the afternoon.
her suggestions did no harm physically, but it made it harder to concentrate mentally and made me feel alienated, unsupported and insecure. its the equivalent of trying to lift 100lbs and having someone stand there and repeatedly tell you that you can't do it and don't you want some help??? it makes it a mental exercise as much as a physical one. my theory is that my pain etc made her feel uncomfortable, out of control. i doubt she's seen many natural births, since she's just out of residency.
it made things more stressful than necessary, that and the negative att_tude certain nurses had towards my no-meds birth plan. at least i got to complain to the hospital admin / boss. she came into my room asking about my stay and i gave her an earful =) she seemed to care enough that i think she'll do something about it.
as an aside, i look at my son, who's 10lb something now - and i can't imagine giving birth to a baby his size. those few lbs - its all in his torso and head, the extra bulk - its just hard to imagine!!! hats off to the ladies who do it!
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Congrats!!!!! I totally understand your hospital experience about having drugs pushed on you and your reaction. Thats what hospitals do, they undermine the women and do what is routine for them and easier and what makes the birth quicker. I had the exact same experience, but sadly I succ_mbed to their drugs, epidural, oxytocin then vacuum birth. A real shame that the up coming nurses and doctors take all these interventions as the norm and therefore press for them. Did you see Riki Lake's doc_mentary The Business of Being Born....? She interviewed some nurses who had NEVER seen a natural birth!!!!! So of course when a women comes in with her agenda of delivering her baby HER WAY...the nurses and docs dont know how to support that. You also see your baby was a perfect size, how they could ever consider (or scare you into thinking) he would be "too big to deliver" if you are not induced!
On a side note I had my #3 DD feb 8th (2.5 weeks early) at home! Little bundle of 6.6 pounds delivered as i wanted in the comfort of my home. Take care!
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congrats iona! i was just thinking of you the other day. i saw the youtube preview of that doc_mentary, off a link on the bellybelly australian website. i started feeling emotional and teary, remembering my labor experience. don't know if i could sit through the whole video.
i feel i should be thankful - i had a healthy baby boy and i came out ok. but sometimes i feel pretty angry and depressed about it. my SO was sick and was also ill-prepared, and i felt very alone fighting the docs by myself. as soon as i learned my SO was sick, i asked my sisters to come with me to the hospital, but they didn't give me a straight (no) answer until the night i went into labor. and then it was too late to ask anyone else.
it was really hard trying to go natural by myself. in the end, it was as natural as i could get in an 'active management' hospital. i had the IV, intermittent fetal heart monitoring (had to fight for it), no epidural or other pain killers, and no pre-labor pitocin / induction. post-labor, the OB ordered pitocin without asking me. i'm not sure how much the pitocin was absolutely medically necessary. i had a 3d degree tear - which i blame the OB for, for making me labor on my back (which is sooo backwards, let me tell you!). the pitocin stems the bleeding. but so does b___stfeeding (which releases oxytocin, and pitocin is synthetic oxytocin).
i think the stress of it all made it hard to bond with my baby at first. i didn't have any new mother wonderglow. i had the 'where'd you come from?' dazed look. when they took him away to get measured, i was just too tired to fight anymore. i'd been in labor for 9 hours by myself before i'd woken up my SO, reading about labor positions in between contractions and coaching myself. so when ethan was just born, i was more than happy to hand him off to his dad. i kind of wish i'd held him more in that first hour, but it was hard to stay still. the doc spent an hour st_tching me up, and i think that was more uncomfortable than labor itself.
He swears the next time will be different. i don't believe him, and plan to get a doula or midwife or do SOMETHING different. i'm not mad he was sick. i'm mad he didn't speak up for me. we talked about it in advance multiple times. i wanted to make other arrangements for a support person, but he swore he could do it. and he didn't - not b/c he was sick, but b/c its not in his nature.
him - "I didn't know what to expect, it was my first time. next time will be different"
me - "neither did I - it was my first time too. but you know what, I prepared as much as I could. Why didn't you? where's the boyscout mentality there??? tons of women have babies for the first time, what do you think they do???"
him - "I wasn't the one going through it"
me - "And you won't be going through it the NEXT time. You've known since you were a kid you wouldn't go through labor. So how can you say the next time will be different?"
him - "I didn't know what you wanted"
me - "you would have if you'd prepared with me. i didn't want to labor on my back, and they made me. you didn't protect me"
him - "i didn't know you didn't want to be on your back"
me - "i SAID 'i don't want to' when they told me to go on my back. how can you say you didn't know? how CLEAR is that?"
him - "well but then you laid on your back" [aside - my 'i don't want to' was not a normal firm statement but a rather pitiful wail, made towards him while clutching his shirt with both hands - so its not logical to a__sume i thought about it and then decided to consent and lay back, esp. given my known-argumentative nature]
me - "cuz i was too tired from fighting by myself the whole time. i told you in advance that i needed someone to fight for me, b/c i'd be too out of it. you told me multiple times you could do it. if i could fight for myself at the time, i wouldn't need anyone else. you went in and you said NOTHING."
him - "sorry dear"
me - *angry glare*
*must deal with bitterness before it consumes me*
we're going through a similar argument re: getting support with my BFing. he claims ignorance, and then claims he's trying. but the look on his face when i told him to imagine he had to BF Ethan and what would he do - it was very telling. he knows how to research, he just doesn't do it.
*tired sigh* sorry i really needed to vent that. don't know what else to do to get it out of my system. maybe i need some therapy. :I
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just letting you know i had my little girl was in labour for 16 hours gas and air for just 6hours not completly natrual i know but i was so scared of asking for an epidural! i did get offered pethidine once towards the end i pushed her out on my back which was so much easier for me compared to when i was all over the place and i just could not push her out as soon as my legs were in stryps she was out in about half hour 1st degree tear no st_tches....im happy with my labour experiance
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