Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Apr
2
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“If You Don’t Push Like You Mean It, I Will Have To Cut You.”
“If you don’t push like you mean it, I’ll have to cut you!” -OB to mother in pushing in the lithotomy position.
There are 15 comments to this post.
octobermomx2 had this to say,
Apr 2, 2010 @ 2:06 pm (Quote)
“excuse me “dr” have you ever tried to push a baby out of your vag after hours of labor while lying on your back??? no??? then SHUT UP!”
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What is this doctor, a gang member? “I’m gonna hafta cut ya, man! I mean, woman!” And since when did threats become Standard Of Care?
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attached2mykids Reply:
April 2nd, 2010 at 2:38 pm (Quote)
This reminds me of the episode of Family Guy with the “bad cockroaches”. “I cut you so bad man, you wish I hadn’t cut you so bad!
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Although it sounds ugly, I have seen this work with women. Sometimes they are afraid of tearing or just don’t like the way it feels, but the threat of a C-section is enough to get them to do more effective pushing. I recently had a mom whose water was broke for almost 48 hours. Her husband is military and she had been trying to wait for him to come home to go into labor. During pushing her cervix actually started to close. Her temp started creeping up. We ended up having to transport. After several hours at the hospital, her temp was now 103.3. This threat was enough to make her realize that she couldn’t hold out for him anymore despite everything that I had told her.
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Laura Reply:
April 2nd, 2010 at 3:53 pm (Quote)
Um, did you read the original post? Clearly we’re talking about someone who is THREATENING a laboring woman with an *episiotomy* (and presumably a forceps or vacuum-assisted delivery) if she doesn’t start pushing “like she means it” — whatever THAT means.
We are NOT talking about informing someone who is in serious danger of going into shock that, if things get to a certain point, a c-section is going to be necessary for her health. We are talking about a douchebag OB saying “Push or I’ll cut you”– which, in case you’re wondering, is a f***ing DISGUSTING way to “motivate” someone.
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Michelle Potter Reply:
April 2nd, 2010 at 8:21 pm (Quote)
*Warning* a woman that her situation is getting serious and that a c-section might be imminent, especially if there’s something she can do about it, is one thing. *Threatening* a woman, while possibly effective, is disrespectful.
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it may “work”, but there is a more tactful/polite/less arsehole way of going about this. For example he could have said. I know it hurts, but if you push past that point of pain you will find it hurts less, and becomes a more effective push.
I discovered this myself, when my midwife told me to stop pissing around and push in ernest! I realized she was right, I was pushing up to a point of pain, and refusing to push past it, letting my body do most of the work. Once I pushed past that point of pain I realized it did hurt less, and within 5 minutes (as opposed to the 45 minutes of “piddly pushing”) my daughter was born. I explained it this way to my SIL too, as I noticed her doing the same thing. Once she pushed past the pain, she started pushing more effectively.
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I had similar comments made to me with my first baby. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to push any harder and was cut. I was left with a scar and the feeling that it was my fault for not trying harder 
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Sheva Reply:
April 4th, 2010 at 8:54 am (Quote)
It wasn’t your fault.
Your provider could (should?) have given you other choices of birthing positions, and could have done things to help the skin stretch. Cutting is almost never the answer because if a baby is stuck, it’s stuck on one of the bones protruding into the birth canal, not on a piece of skin. If it had been skin holding the baby back, it would have torn.
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch had this to say,
Apr 3, 2010 @ 6:25 am (Quote)
And if you don’t get those scissors away from my perineum, doc, I will have to KICK you.
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The Deranged Housewife had this to say,
Apr 3, 2010 @ 6:42 am (Quote)
I’m surprised he hadn’t already done it anyway at this point. Why bother even asking? *sarcasm*
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Like you mean it? And how exactly does the doctor determine if mom “means” it? This is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve from an OB. Its right up there with the OB I observed start pulling the baby out (literally) of a mom who was completely unmedicated because he thought it was going too slowly. She pushed five times, and it took about two minutes for the baby to come out. And the nurse had literally been holding the baby in while waiting on the OB to wake up and get there. Awesome. I guess now we have to remember to push like we mean it, ladies!
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SistaC Reply:
April 3rd, 2010 at 3:05 am SistaC(Quote)
Well, two minutes IS a long time.
That just makes me ill. That son of a …
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