Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Jan
25
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“The Rest Of That…Was All Your Own Blubber.”
“Beautiful sized baby, 7 pounds 7 ounces. You could have easily pushed that one out. The rest of the 10 pounds was all your own blubber.” -OB to mother who had a cesarean for a failed induction at 42 weeks, and had been told that an ultrasound at 36 weeks predicted a baby up to 10 pounds.
There are 24 comments to this post.
No, the rest of that 10 lbs was ultrasounds aren’t accurate!
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Kat Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 6:57 am (Quote)
But… but… He’s a DOCTOR! And they are always right (except when they are wrong)! And the Ultrasound is done by high tech machines. Miraculous Technology!!! (With a margin of error of plus or minus 2 pounds, not including user error).
Last time I checked the mother’s “blubber” doesn’t affect the (not 100% accurate) bone structure measurements of a baby via ultrasound, and is not actually in the uterus at all.
This whole thing reeks of “We miscalculated, but let’s find a way to blame the woman for it.”
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I have been so blessed with excellent OB care that I was so blind (well, I didn’t know really), to the world of (and level of) rudeness within the pregnancy community. Maybe it’s my keen sense of who is going to be an a** when I meet them that saves me from that kind of “care”, but I haven’t really had to walk away from a care provider. I feel really, really bad for the women who have to endure this kind of abuse. And I feel saddened by the fact that they feel there isn’t a better option, that they just have to accept that model of care because those people are the Dr’s. They know what they are doing, right?
What ever happened to Women’s Lib?? Was it solely focused on women in the work field? Because I remember Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Katy Stanton (among others) both fighting for the RIGHTS of women to choose what they wanted to do and be supported in that choice, not just for voting and equality in the work field. Why are we having to fight for what we want just be able to birth our babies in a comfortable, natural manner with good, if not great care (and bedside manner)??
Sorry, I had to rant I guess.
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Hallie Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 7:07 am (Quote)
I totally agree. It’s sad that we have to fight for something as simple and important as GOOD, EVIDENCE BASED care. But we need to.
I feel so sorry for this woman. I hope she stayed away from him in future pregnancies. There are good, nice, care providers. Hard to find. But they are there.
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Genet Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 7:37 am (Quote)
Mistie, I have wondered the same thing about women’s lib, and Jennifer Block discusses that question in her book Pushed. I have two answers for you, depending on who we’re really talking about:
1) Most of the women’s lib organizations, like so many other special interests, have lost their dedication to reasoned principles in proportion to their politicization. They begin to focus on lobbying, not on true change or information. These so-called “feminists” will even come right out and say that they think abortion is a women’s health issue, but birth is not. Family, motherhood, and therefore birth have all been demonized in the name of women’s “freedom” from those things, instead of what the feminist goal should be–our freedom to choose those or any other goals for ourselves.
2) The original feminist movement worked so hard to get INTO the workforce and OUT of the home that they forgot about the power and rights of women who WANT to be mothers. So paternalism didn’t go away; it just concentrated itself in the maternity/child care arena. Grassroots activists like BirthNetwork, ICAN, CIMS, and others are working to help women stand up for their autonomy in birth and medical care choices, and many of these women would consider themselves feminist. They’re just not going to get any help from entrenched political organizations that have gotten their fingers in the pie in the name of feminism (and in the long run, we are probably better off without that kind of help!).
Just my, um, ten cents or so! 
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Kat Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 8:23 am (Quote)
I was raised in a home where my (strong, smart, very intelligent) mother stayed home with us. We were raised with the understanding that a woman’s work in the home is every bit as productive and worthy of respect as a woman who works outside the home.
Ironically if a woman chooses to work caring for others’ children in a childcare facility this is more “acceptable” to the “political feminist” than if the same woman did the same work caring for her children at home.
I actually think it’s terrific the “new generation” of feminists are recognizing how anti-woman it is to say that a woman MUST choose a career outside her home in order for her contribution to society to have value.
And I think you’re right, the “political feminist” organizations have no interest in taking on the medicalized industrial-birth machine. I am sure some of that is due to the deep pockets of the healthcare industry. But that’s another issue!
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Jena Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 10:24 am (Quote)
You must run in different feminist type circles than I do (I’m 28) because I don’t hear much outside of church about women wanting to and having the right to be stay at home mothers and being honored for that choice. But that’s exactly what my feelings about feminism have been for a while now, so maybe I’m not seeing the forest for my own tree! I consider myself feminist because I honor and fight for and try to educate others about honoring the most inherently feminine thing about being female-responsibly bearing and raising children-and our right to do so, but I think a lot of people my age still would disagree or be confused, having grown up under the umbrella of political feminism and the influence of many in its thrall. It’s frustrating to be “going forward” while facing backwards (butt-first. Hoy.)
But getting to the original crap up yonder… WHAT A JERK! Copy/Paste Jane’s comment below [Here].
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Kat Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 6:51 pm (Quote)
Jena, I was raised in a church setting where the work of motherhood was viewed with honor. I was surprised to encounter self-proclaimed radical feminists who had similar views (that choosing to be home with children is an equally empowering choice) the first time. But really when you think about it, it makes more sense than saying the choice to be a mother is not valid!
I didn’t encounter these new feminists in my neighborhood, we were on an internet group for Elimination Communication, and I really learned a LOT, and not just about babies’ toilet habits either. 
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The Deranged Housewife had this to say,
Jan 25, 2010 @ 7:19 am (Quote)
Wow, doc. Way to turn something that was basically YOUR fault into HER fault. Lovely. And he (she?) has the nerve to act like it’s no big deal. What an ass.
Perhaps I’m wrong, but I get the strange feeling that this OB was a woman. I don’t know why; I just do!
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You see, if you call a woman fat, she feels humiliated.Then we add in the humiliation of “you couldn’t even give birth on your own, you failed” and what we have here is total insulation against any kind of malpractice lawsuit.
It’s very hard to be charitable with individuals like this one. I keep hoping life hands this OB the same amount of pain s/he dished out.
BTW: if this doctor and radiologist can’t tell the difference between the MOTHER’s body and the BABY’s body on ultrasound, they both need to go back to school.
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Hi guys,
This was my story and when it happened I had been contracting for 42 hours and been on an epidural for about 8. I had gone past caring. I had always envisaged a lovely natural birth in a pool, but it wasn’t to be.
I had a miraculously sharp mind at thetime and my response to this OBs remark was: ‘Chris, unless you have a liposuction machine handy there I suugest you f**k off’.
So – no, it wasn’t nice of him, but I was pretty pleased with my come back!
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Jess Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 10:49 am (Quote)
((hugs)) Stella. You go girl! Glad to hear you held him accountable. A sharp mind after 42 hours of labor displays a tremendous amount of strength!!!!!!
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Krista Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 3:30 pm (Quote)
So totally agreed!!!
Stella, I’m so sorry the OB did this to you. Not a single thing I want to say is even remotely appropriate here. Doubt my keyboard has enough special characters. lol! I’m so glad you were able to stand up to him! He was completely wrong to try to take advantage of your exhaustion. Talk about kicking you when you’re down. What an @ss!
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Mistie Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 11:21 am (Quote)
Stella, I’m glad you had the presence of mind and the spine to stand up for yourself and tell your Dr. off, kudos to you. Still though, he had absolutely no right to even say those things to you (or any other person). Additionally, how does he know you were 2 weeks over? Were you able to give him the exact date that you conceived because that is a very rare occurrence. When a woman only has intercourse once a month it’s a bit easier to figure that stuff out, but.. still not always.
Even if you know the one day a month you did have intercourse the sperm can hide in the folds of the fallopian tubes (or vaginal walls) for up to 5 days (alive) and still find and implant in the egg. Subsequently, the egg also takes 3 days to release from the fallopian tube and attach to the uterine wall then showing that the body is impregnated. So even if there is a definite date of copulation, conception may be off by up to 5 days if not 8. That’s a week. A [low risk] baby will come when it’s ready, you should not have even been induced in the first place, thus resulting in an at home, water birth. A 7lb 7oz baby doesn’t sound like a 42 week baby, I doubt you were really 2 weeks over. Doctors just like playing God.
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Your comeback rocked though! YEAH!!!
My SIL also was ‘scared to death about having a large baby’ when the DR told her at 34 weeks to stop taking whatever prenatals she was taking because at the rate the baby was growing, she was going to have a 12 lb baby. Her daughter was 8 lbs at an induction 2 wks early. After all the meds, they had to basically wake her up to push.
She did stop taking prenatals although had only taken them for 2 months throughout the whole pregnancy due to nausea at the beginning. All this was told to me while planning my own VBAC homebirth. Needless to say, I had to filter all that was scared upon me in my pregnancy.
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Abbi Reply:
February 12th, 2010 at 12:27 pm (Quote)
DRs dont give women’s bodies the credit they deserve, nor are they aware of what we are capable of. I am living proof that it IS possible to deliver a 12 pound baby. I did it at home without drugs. And I’m not a big person: 5’4″ ; about 125 lbs. I think my DR purposely avoided doing an ultrasound toward the end of my pregnancy so that I wouldn’t know how big the baby was. I’m so glad, too. Can you imagine how scary it would be knowing the baby’s going to weigh 12 pounds before you push them out? But, it IS possible!
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Mistie – i totally agree with you. I don’t think she was 42 weeks either, but they didn’t want to keep her in any longer. I had actually asked to wait until after the weekend with the induction, but was told Monday was a national holiday so it would be inconvcenient….
Oh, I can go on and on about the shocking experiences of this birth!
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So cruel.
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