Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
May
22
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“Some Women Just Don’t Do Labor.”
“Some women just don’t do labor.” -OB to VBAC mother on why she was unlikely to have a successful VBAC after a cesarean for failure to progress with her first birth.
There are 37 comments to this post.
Mama Wears Combat Boots had this to say,
May 22, 2010 @ 6:01 pm (Quote)
Right, doc. *eye roll* And how exactly has the human race survived and multiplied for so long without birthing our babies before c-section was invented?
Oh, you don’t know? I’ll tell ya – we didn’t have OB’s to get in the way. It’s called physiological birth, buddy.
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Heather P Reply:
May 22nd, 2010 at 6:31 pm (Quote)
Don’ cha know that women used to DIE before OBs came along. Now that OBs are here they can prevent death. Except for when they can’t. Then they get sued for not being all powerful. So they have to use more and more interventions to prove that they did everything they could.
Pretty soon pregnant women will need to be monitored their whole pregnancy 24/7. We will have a to wear telemetry units all the time and wear special paper underwear that will detect amniotic fluid. Oh, and we’ll need test for drugs daily and be on bed rest. But we can’t eat more than 200 calories a day or the baby will be too big. Not that it matter because all babies will be born by cesearean. That way they can all be born during the doctor’s work day. Babies that rock the boat by initiating labor outside of normal business hours will be caught by the residents who has not had any sleep in the past week. But that’s okay, he/she needs a few lawsuits under their belt before they can become a “real” doctor.
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I think if this had been said to me, I’d have been laughing until I started crying. Really? You REALLY believe that?
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Mama Mirage Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 8:00 am (Quote)
Yeah I imagine I would be staring at him/her with my mouth hanging open and a stupified look on my face as if he’d just said some women don’t give birth to babies, they give birth to puppies instead.
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Heather (qtberryhead) had this to say,
May 22, 2010 @ 11:25 pm (Quote)
“…especially if we don’t let them.”
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I had a thought on this comment this morning. I think this OB is right in a way.
Some women don’t “do” labor when in a foreign environment.
Gowned in an embarrassing frock that is labeled “hospital property”.
Forced to remain lying down.
With Repeated vaginal exams to monitor their progress.
Being denied food and drink.
Given an IV as if sugar water where a substitute for real sustinance.
Treated as if they are no more than a vessel for their babies.
I’ve just mentioned the basic requirements for hospital birthing. Its no wonder they are subject to the cascade of interventions when their labor stalls at this point. Women weren’t made to give birth under such conditions.
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 11:01 am (Quote)
It’s astonishing that so many are utterly convinced that this is the safest, the best, the only way to give birth.
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I’ve heard comments like this before on another forum, however, it was stupidity on the mother’s part, and I’m sorry to say that, but I don’t understand how women could believe such things, more than once, like: “I had to be induced with all 3 of my babies at 38/39 weeks because I just wouldn’t go into labor.” *head desk* And when I tell them they didn’t even give their bodies a chance they still don’t get it.
As for the OP, it sounded more to me like he was saying “some OBs just won’t allow labor.”
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Mama Mirage Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 8:22 am (Quote)
Yeah no kidding. Some buns need to stay in the oven longer than 40 weeks. And some docs are so set on calculating due dates based on LMP for a 28-day cycle (and let’s face it, not everyone has a 28 day cycle and ovulates on day 14), or falible ultrasound measurements, that you might think you’re being induced right at 40 weeks but you’re genuinely only 37 weeks along. Or worse you think you’re 2 weeks overdue but you haven’t even hit your true due date yet. And even if you chart BBT like me and know the precise hour you conceived, some OB’s won’t listen to reason or still insist on changing the due date after an ultrasound. Like we are too dumb to know when we were both ovulating and copulating on the same day, but their magical 28-day cycle chart can predict so much better when the baby’s going to be ready to be born. Even a couple of my midwives have been hestiant to let ME tell THEM my due date so I’ve had to be pretty insistant about it. I don’t understand this worship of the 28 day cycle calculation of due dates when not all women are the same. Some women have a 50 day cycle, some ovulate twice, some do have a 28-day cycle but ovulate on day 10 or day 20.
And ultrasounds have quite a large margin of error. My friend just had twins. At her last prenatal they did an ultrasound and measured them to be nearly 7 pounds each. Well they were born at just under and just over 5 pounds. A WEEK LATER. They did not loose 2 pounds in a week between appointment and birth. More like the ultrasound machine isn’t as smart as they make it out to be.
And as for measuring the uterus with a tape measure… That’s no guarantee of how far along you are either. I remember with my first I had one month where I measured a week small, and then later a month where she measured a week large. They can go through growth spurts and slows in there too.
My sister’s husband was born a MONTH late. Yes, he was almost 45 weeks. And obviously he’s a married adult now (since I said he’s my sister’s husband… LOL!), didn’t die from being 5 weeks overbaked. And his mom didn’t explode or anything- went on to gave a baby girl a few years later.
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Brige Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:08 pm (Quote)
At 42weeks I measured 38 
my midwife thought my DD would be 7 lbs… one of my most vivid memories is having my midwife hold her up and sayin outloud… That is not a 7lb baby… the hubster and I still laugh about it she weighed in at a perfect 8lbs 9oz
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 8:32 am (Quote)
Yeah, and a lot of these same women say they are eternally grateful to their OBs for saving them and their babies from certain death.
Who slips Kool-Aid into the epidural drip, anyway?
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Cmat Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 8:10 pm (Quote)
Despite some women just “not doing labor” I think I’ll wait til the timer beeps on the oven befor taking the bun out 
.
Mama M. – I don’t understand the worship of the almighty 28 day cycle either. I’m not looking forward to that arguement when it comes along for me. I think I’m going to do what another lady said and do some adjusting before I give the docs dates .
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch had this to say,
May 23, 2010 @ 8:30 am (Quote)
However did our species survive all those eons, without c-section to rescue women from labour?
Fairy godmothers?
It’s true that some women don’t “do” labour – because they, like Victoria Beckham, schedule their elective c-sections around their husbands’ football schedules, or, like Britney Spears, are simply too posh to bother with pushing.
If the rest of us don’t “do” labour, it’s because we listen to care providers who don’t “do” labour. Our bodies are certainly ready and willing to do the work.
Sheesh. “Don’t do labour.” What rubbish.
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Brige Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:10 pm (Quote)
We’re in the military and just relocated to the south and overwhelmingly the response from most ladies is well I wanted to look pretty after I had my baby… I try really hard not to laugh… I mean broke blood vessles from purple pushing, swelling from the liters of saline/sugar water they pump into you… IDK
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Cmat Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 8:12 pm (Quote)
HAHA! Looking pretty after labor and delivery????
After labor and delivery all I cared about was 1) making sure my baby was okay. 2) EATING! and 3) sleeping!!!!
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
May 24th, 2010 at 7:21 am (Quote)
You know, I thought the ludicrously high c-section rates in Southern states were mostly due to the mindset of the obstetricians there – controlling. In the South (and in the Midwest, where I live) episiotomies are still common as part of routine, especially for first time mothers who manage to push their babies out before they’re sectioned. Most of the states that ban homebirth with a midwife outright are southern or midwestern. These are also the states that are the likeliest to restrict other aspects of family planning and reproductive decision-making (how’s that for euphemism?) and I saw it as all part of the same need on the part of modern medicine to control the chaotic, incomprehensible self-regulation of the female body. Medicine conveniently allying with a certain religious mindset, in a way that frequently does not act in its own best interest, if that interest is to honour and preserve life. After all, maternal/neonatal morbidity and fatality hardly seem to fit in with those values. They don’t even fit in with the calling of the physician, per the Hippocratic Oath, to preserve life and do no harm.
However, no law exists in a void. We are a democratic country, and we elect our own idiots. If the laws regarding homebirth and direct entry midwifery and reproductive choice in general are not mother-friendly in certain states, then the first thing we have to do is stop electing officials who devalue the things we want, and who prefer to kowtow to the stodgier members of ACOG.
And the physicans would be out of jobs if there were no consumer demand. So would certain procedure stop being performed, if we put our feet down a little more forcefully. Are we, perhaps, a little too easy to sell on the convenience of c-section? If we are told that not only is it safe, yea, safer if one has already had a c-section in the first place, and less painful than labour (which is apparently unbearable if one is a “nice” girl rather than one of those unnatural granola-eatin’ Birkenstock-wearin’ bra-burnin’ feminazi hippie mama birth warriors)? Not only all that, but we’ll be PRETTIER if we don’t bother with the nasty ol’ business of labour. Why, some mothers actually poop during labour, did ya know that? Especially now that enemas are no longer routine. Certainly y’all will get messed up and sweaty and your veejayjay will get torn up and you might get… hemorrhoids… Eeek, no.
I’ve heard that it used to be common for women to go into labour with hair curled and wearing makeup. I’ve seen modern magazine articles that still advise us to “pamper ourselves” before we go to the hospital by getting our body hair waxed off (wouldn’t want hair to show up on camera!) and getting manicures and pedicures, so our hands and feet look pretty when we push.
In places where it’s important to be a belle, to be “nice,” do we still want to wear makeup and pack pretty nighties, too, because it’s unladylike to birth au naturel?
I could see that causing labours to stall, too. Nurses telling us, “Hush. You’re making too much of a bother. That’s not very nice, now is it?” Doctors taking husbands aside and saying confidentially, “I can make sure she’s still pretty after all of this, and as young and fresh as a virgin. *wink*”
I wonder if this, too, accounts for the huge disparity in circumcision rates in the South and Midwest as opposed to coastal states? Is it really all about the fear of having a little boy look funny?
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
May 24th, 2010 at 7:27 am (Quote)
“If the laws regarding homebirth and direct entry midwifery and reproductive choice in general are not mother-friendly in certain states, then the first thing we have to do is stop electing officials who devalue the things we want, and who prefer to kowtow to the stodgier members of ACOG.”
Should have typed, “but rather prefer to kowtow to the stodgier members of ACOG.” Obviously the officals are the ones we want to kowtow to us, not the ones who will kowtow to ACOG. Sorry, I’m not a morning person.
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Suzanne Reply:
May 24th, 2010 at 5:08 pm (Quote)
Just a note of hope – my SIL just recently finished her OB rotation in nursing school, and from what she was telling me of her southern NC hospital experiences, they seem to be moving more toward evidence based practices – at least in the hospitals where she was training (as in ways to help natural labor progress: tug of war, not as many medicated births, etc). Hopefully that kind of thing will progress and start spreading like I ripple of hope and sanity
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There was a friend of mine who said this when I was getting towards the end of my pregnancy- she is very tall, broad woman and said that she thinks that she “just can’t go into labor” because she failed to progress with her daughter.
background info- she was induced because her mom was in town and her family “tends to go past their due date” (first clue, ya think?!), failed to progress, and the OB TOLD HER TO GO HOME. The refused and demanded a c-section! She told me all of that and I just didn’t know what to say. It was so sad…and she’s a nurse! not a L&D nurse, thank goodness.
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Brittany D had this to say,
May 23, 2010 @ 5:09 pm (Quote)
Wow, I am so not going to an OB for my next pregnancy. I went into preterm labor (water broke @ 33 weeks 3 months ago) went to my midwife who tested to see if I was leaking amniotic fluid, then tranferred from her care to a dr she recommended, and drove to the hospital, without having very many contractions the whole time, baby was moving still…I’d say about 9-10 hours later, I was still only dilated 1-2 cm, hooked up to IV for antibiotics, and on the EFM. My arms and legs had gone numb from being on my back (laying on sides did nothing for me), monitor detected “fetal distress”, my husband had only been with me for the last 4-5 hours (b/c he’d driven from GA back home, he’s military) and I was in agony from heartburn, being flipped upside down to get baby’s heart rate back up, and contractions that were increasing. I hadn’t been allowed to move from bed since getting to hosp. Within an hour of fetal ditress, was measured, U/S performed putting my son around 4lbs 8 oz (he was 4 13 and 18 in long), and it was decided I would have c/s.
I recently found out from my friend (and the midwife I transferred from) that the area I’m in (and may still be in 2 yrs from now) doesn’t have any facilities (especially on the mil. base w/ hosp) that do VBAC, so my only options are HBAC or repeat c/s…there is NO WAY I will have another c/s unless seriously necessary, so I am planning to get my body in better shape than before, and going for HBAC with my next one. I cannot have another c/s with a new baby and two year old. It was painful enough recovering with my first, I don’t want to put myself through that AND have to wrangle a toddler-more power to those who’ve done exactly that, but not for me!!!
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Cmat Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 8:15 pm (Quote)
Go go HBAC then! You can do it. I really think that with what our bodies are made to do, we can pretty much do anything we set our minds to 
.
Hopefully you’ll transfer and be in a more vbac friendly area by the time its necessary.
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
May 24th, 2010 at 7:32 am (Quote)
HBAC. You can do it. I did.
It was the best birth I ever had.
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Kate Reply:
May 24th, 2010 at 10:04 am (Quote)
I’ve never had a c/s so I have no practical knowledge of the recovery, but I imagine an HBAC would be waaaay better than another routine repeat c/s.
I just wanted to say yay! for midwife access at all. My first is due in two months. I’m also a military wife and there are no midwifes in our area and only 4 OBs to choose from (and one likes to go on month long vacations out of the country.) Actually, the base we are at doesn’t even have a military hospital. We use the public one in the small town near us.
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If you live long enough you start to see that no one is 100% correct.
I agree that the OB was probably out of place but . . .
I planned my third home birth attempt. The first time, I went into preterm labor at 26w2d. Five days later I gave birth to our son in a hospital who died shortly after birth.
Our second attempt (four years later) took a turn for the worse when the baby’s heart tones started dropping. I got to the hospital nearly completely dilated (9.5 cm) and effaced. Nice OB let me try for another 4 hours but heart tones continued to drop when ever baby started moving down. We had a cesarean birth.
Our third and final attempt (I don’t get pregnant easily and we won’t be trying again), I labored at home for 30 hours but couldn’t get active labor going. I walked for miles, I danced, did lunges, went to an acupuncturist with experience in labor, tried cranial-sacral massage to open my hips, had acu come to my home to try again. Sadly, we transported again.
With pitocin and 4.5 hours of pushing we got the baby out vaginally.
Apparently, I couldn’t “do labor”.
Welcome to the land of broken bodies.
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Well, some women just don’t do OB’s…..THANK GOODNESS.
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Jessica Reply:
May 22nd, 2010 at 5:35 pm Jessica(Quote)
Amen!
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Mama Mirage Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 7:57 am Mama Mirage(Quote)
Me! I don’t do OB’s! Hahaha… Midwife for me, please.
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 8:24 am Sarah Dorrance-Minch(Quote)
I don’t do OBs, either. Guess that makes me the mother of dead babies, since all the OBs say giving birth without their help will result in certain death. I wonder how my three year old will react to being told that she died at birth.
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laura Reply:
May 24th, 2010 at 5:05 pm laura(Quote)
Well, if she drools and says, “braaaaaaaaiiiiinnnss”… just run, ok? The zombie apocalypse might be starting in your house, is all I’m sayin’.
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Lisa Reply:
May 28th, 2010 at 7:59 pm Lisa(Quote)
Exactly.
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