Now that’s irony for ya.

I was talking to a lady down in the cafeteria this morning. Her daughter is going to have her first baby soon, and her doctor told her that 99% of all pregnancies don’t make it to 40 weeks.

I found that odd, to say the least.

I’ve just read all of the posts and can only say I’m shocked, but unsurprised

One has to remember that half of all OBs, CNMs, L+D nurses, and even midwives, graduated in the bottom of their class, but are still licensed …

Just make certain that you don’t get one of them for your own health care!! ♥

Well, in this day of ~30% c-section rate and scheduled inductions left and right, probably 99% of that doctor’s patients never see 40 weeks.

Left to nature, it is common for first time mothers to birth closer to 41 weeks than 40.

When we need articles stating the obvious (2 recent ones I read were: “C-sections increase risks to mothers and babies”, “Inductions are less risky closer to 40 weeks than 36 weeks”) there’s something deeply wrong with the status quo. It’s not extremist to be upset. If you’re not upset about the way birth is being mishandled, you’re simply not paying attention.

@TJ — I wonder if there was some miscommunication there. It could be that the doc was that ignorant, or his mouth said something his brain didn’t mean — or maybe he’s just induction-happy and doesn’t let women get to 40 weeks. {roll eyes} The reason I’m willing to say it may just be “miscommunication” is that it’s something like 1% of pregnancies that go beyond 42 or 43 weeks — it’s a small percentage that go post-term. So, maybe he was meaning “past term” and she heard “past due date”. Maybe. But after reading some of the bonehead things in these posts, I wouldn’t put it past a doctor to say it and mean it, however wrong it is!

As she was telling me this, I told that her that the pregnancy would most likely make it there if they didn’t induce her.

Of course the OB I had for my first pregnancy told my nurse that 2pm was too late in the day to be giving me pitocin. I wish I could have known then what I know now for sure.

Where do some of these nurses get off? That’s even worse than my L&D nurse making cracks about me being a smoker (I’m not) before heading off for his lunch break since we were going to “be here all day”.