Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Apr
17
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“…You Can Get Up And Go Home.”
“Either I break your bag now, or you can get up and go home.” -OB to mother who arrived at the hospital at 8 cm with intact membranes, when the mother asked if it was necessary.
There are 47 comments to this post.
I was told exactly that… 6 cm dilated, 90% effaced, contractions every 4 minutes. After 5 minutes of being in the hospital, the dr. wanted to break my water and start me on pitocin. When I declined, he said snidely, “well, then you can go home if you crazy enough to think you’re not having a baby.” I stood up in front of him and the nurse, got naked, and put on my clothes. The told me “we weren’t serious…you’re not allowed to leave”. When I asked why, they could not provide me with an answer. I left becuase they tried pushing interventions on me when I didn’t want or need them. (I did HypnoBirthing… it was AWESOME!) Turned out I was in prodromal labor, and stayed home comfortably for 2 more days with contractions 4 minutes apart. When I arrived at the hopsital 2 days later to birth my son, nobody dared utter a word about interventions! 
<3
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cheeks023 Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 7:01 pm (Quote)
*applause* you are officially my hero!!!
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Sheva Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 8:18 pm (Quote)
You’re awesome and amazing! I wish I was so brave!
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Heather P Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 8:38 pm (Quote)
(more applause) Awesome! Just because you show up at the hospital doesn’t mean that they have permission to do to you whatever they want.
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Cynthia Reply:
April 19th, 2010 at 12:10 pm (Quote)
You rock! I wish I had done exactly that at my first birth.
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I’d call his bluff. Say, “Okay,” and pick up the bag and leave. See if he panics and tries to stop me before I reach the elevator.
BTW, they can’t use the amniohook if you’re not lying down. So yeah, GET UP. DOn’t leave, but get up. :-b
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Cmat Reply:
April 18th, 2010 at 8:11 am (Quote)
I’ll remember that!
My next encounter with an OB is going to be rather frustrating on their end after I’ve spent some time on this site.. Unless of course they support the ability of the human body.
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Jane Reply:
April 18th, 2010 at 8:21 am (Quote)
The reason they go for the intimidation tactics is that in many instances, they can’t do anything without the mother’s cooperation. If you’re healthy and baby is healthy and the doctor insists on inducing you at 39 weeks but can’t give a reason, he can’t do it unless you show up. They can’t rupture the membranes or do a cervix check unless you lie down. And so on. Even the doctors who have a judge on speed dial to get a court order to section a stubborn mom would be hard-pressed to get such an order for “this mom is making it inconvenient for me to know when I’ll be able to get home for dinner.”
I’m still a proponent of laughing though. The doc says something stupid? Laugh and ask him to go right over to that computer over there and print out a copy of that study / that law / that ACOG guideline / that hospital regulation and I’ll wait right here. :-b
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Michelle Potter had this to say,
Apr 17, 2010 @ 5:12 pm (Quote)
So, what? If you don’t break my water then I don’t have any need to be in the hospital? Great! See ya!
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With my last baby I arrived at the hospital 8 cm dilated with intact waters. After a quick check in triage the nurse (who was wonderful) asked if I wanted a wheelchair to get to L&D. I said no, I’d rather walk, and she said “OK, but if your water breaks you are going to see everyone panic!” and we had a good laugh over it. My water finally broke while I was pushing. Amniotomy is over-rated. What a jerk that OB is!
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The Deranged Housewife had this to say,
Apr 17, 2010 @ 6:38 pm (Quote)
What is it with that? Just because they don’t want to mess? Honestly, sometimes I can’t figure it out. But it makes me feel better having had mine break right in front of the check in station when I got to L&D, then all over their wheelchair… 
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I wish somebody had said this to me during my first labor. I’d have been out of there so fast.
For my second I stayed at home. Much better.
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I hope this mother continued with her refusal. Honestly, doctors need to be told NO more often. The look on the OB’s face when I told him he did not have my permission to do an internal on me at a 39 week consultation was priceless. He tried to threaten that if he was not allowed to check my pelvis size that he would not allow me to have a trial of labor (was attempting to convince him to let me do a breech vaginal) I told him I had already delivered my first child vaginally with success. and when I arrived in the hospital in labor would be soon enough to check my pelvis.
He was stunned, but as I would not change into a robe or get on the bed there was nothing he could do.
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Cmat Reply:
April 18th, 2010 at 8:09 am (Quote)
*blasts the song “Did you ever know that you’re my hero..” *
Way to go
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Sheva Reply:
April 18th, 2010 at 8:10 am (Quote)
Can I ask what ended up happening at your birth?
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cheeks Reply:
April 18th, 2010 at 11:08 am (Quote)
I did go on to have a vaginal breech birth!! It was not how I wanted it to be, it was not a great birth, but it was good, and I learned a lot. It’s the reason I fight so hard to educate women around me to learn, and educate themselves, to know that it is okay to tell a doctor no, and to mean it.
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My son (a UC) was born with his placenta intact after 70 hours of timeable contractions. It was wonderfully awe-inspiring and exciting. (And it confused the h*** out of my husband, the panicky type, who swore I was still having Braxton-Hicks contractions because my water hadn’t broken. lol! You can imagine his surprise when I tell him the baby’s been born!)
Leave the waters alone. It protects the baby as long as it’s intact and the only possible benefits are speeding up labor and keeping the doctor clean. Frankly, my labor will progress as it needs to and I don’t particularly care if the doctor may get wet. It’s like riding a water ride at the amusement park. It happens so if you don’t want it to, don’t get on board.
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crunchymommy Reply:
April 19th, 2010 at 7:08 am (Quote)
Actually, current research shows that breaking the BOW doesn’t speed labor. So I guess the only benefit is keeping the doctor clean. http://nyti.ms/aCb1k5
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Kit Reply:
April 21st, 2010 at 6:28 pm (Quote)
I hate to ask this, but what does UC stand for?
(am kinda dumb)
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Krista Reply:
April 26th, 2010 at 12:34 pm (Quote)
Haha! It’s not a problem…and not something I would have known a couple of years ago. UC is unassisted childbirth. It simply means that you do it without a trained professional (midwife, OB, EMT, etc.). Sometimes there are friends and family in attendance, other times – like in my case, it’s just the woman. Technically, my husband was there, but he was rushing around like a chicken with his head cut off so I kicked him out of the bathroom and told him to watch TV. lol! I don’t personally recommend UC for much of anyone simply because it can be scary and just having a midwife around can help a lot. However, for me, it was just right.
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Kit Reply:
April 27th, 2010 at 8:00 am (Quote)
Ah! Oh, duh. lol
After hearing some of the things that went down for my own family/friends, and others on blogs such as this… I’ve seriously considered it.
But I guess mine would be cheating… my dad’s best friend is untrained, but caught her four grandkids, and I’d want her with me, whether I was in a hospital, at home, or in a barn in Ireland.
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This is my story. It was my first baby and I was young and in a lot of pain being in transition. I didn’t even have time to react to his statement, except to look at my ex-husband in disbelief before he rather roughly and painful, stuck that hook in my vagina and broke my waters. I appreciate the statements about just calling their bluff, and the me know would totally do it. Actually, the me now, would be birthing at home. If you are interested in my whole birth story about the trauma that happened to me, here is the link. http://mamachildbirtheducator.blogspot.com/2010/04/battle-of-birth.html
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Cmat Reply:
April 18th, 2010 at 1:50 pm (Quote)
While I didn’t have my waters broken, I had the same reaction to them telling me I needed pitocin. Wasn’t in pain or anything, was 5ish cm dialated and was just progressing slowly (too slow for them)and had been at the hospital for about 5 hours so I guess they decided I should have been done by then. So I can understand some of your disbelief from your first birth.
Good luck on all of your births in the future!
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I wish someone would have threatened me like this when I was in labor with my first, maybe it would have jarred me into realized how much control I had lost and I wouldn’t have had the unnecesarean.
Patrice – I’m sorry your birth was so traumatic. That is not how birth should be. You were treated poorly, roughly, inhumanely, and have every right to be angry about your experience. I hope you are healing.
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My waters broke spontaneously just before the pushing stage with both my kids. I don’t get the fascination with artificially breaking the waters. I believe they only do it to put you on a timer so they have an excuse to section you if you take too long.
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I had my waters broken at 9 cm dilated, but only because I felt I could no longer stand the pressure of the bag bulging. My midwife said when I first arrived, dilated to 6 cm, that if I would like he could break them and to just let him know. While I now wish he’d never suggested it so I wouldn’t have had that thought in my head when the pressure was intense, I at least feel quite at peace knowing I was in control of that decision the entire time and nobody scared me into it.
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I broke my own water during my VBAC. I was fully dilated and starting to push, sitting on a birthing stool with a mirror underneath me. I’d had a bulging bag of water since I first came in in labor, and it was still there, so the midwife said “If it’s causing a lot of pressure for you, you can go ahead and just push on it a little with your finger during your next contraction”. Being a doula and a interested in all things birth-related, even at the end of a very long labor I totally geeked out about that. So I did it. ^_^ And that’s the only kind of amniotomy I’m totally okay with.
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Crunchmommy Reply:
April 20th, 2010 at 12:19 pm (Quote)
Now that’s pretty cool. In my last labor (home birth) baby was up high (-3), too high to break water, and I stayed at 8 cm for 7 hours. I know what you mean about the pressure. I was just bearing down anyway, willing him to come down and my water to break. When it finally did, he was born about 10 minutes later. I was cursing the Brewer diet and all the fantastic protein I ate, because my BOW was soooo tough! I said, “I’m going to tell my [Bradley Method] students to eat junk food!” I was just kidding, of course. ;0)
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Does that sound like a threat or just medical manipulation?
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