I dislike it all. The OB’s cavalier attitude towards an unexpected section, the induction (yes, I know they are sometimes medically warranted), the doctor being surprised by a breech baby in the first place, and that breech means automatic section most of the time!! I hate it all!!

I often wondered, what with all the ultrasounds and cervical checks doctors like to do in late pregnancy, how anyone could have a surprise breech baby at delivery. Then with my last baby, he started turning transverse in the last week before my due date, and by my labor, was breech. But no one was surprised – the nurse took one look at my belly while I was laboring in the shower and said the baby was definitely not head down. She was more accurate than the ding dong OB who externally examined me with my first breech baby, insisting that the head I felt in my ribs was really a butt. Who knows – had I not listened to him I may never have gone through a c-section in the first place, since by then I still had time for them to do a version (which they never offered, BTW).

Is this from the same incident as a couple of days ago, or is obstetrics rife with doctors who are incompetent at determining the baby’s position?

Before a doctor breaks the amniotic membranes for an induction, shouldn’t the doctor make sure doing so is safe? That, say, the cord won’t prolapse, that the baby is head-down and engaged, etc?

And with all these women getting ultrasounds that predict a baby between 8 and 18 pounds, they don’t think to run the scanner over the women they induce to make sure induction is actually safe and advisable (and that the baby is the right age)?

Not diagnosing a breech seems a bit like not knowing your car is in reverse rather than drive. It should be a fairly obvious thing for a trained professional to rule out.

I’m surprised they didn’t know it was breech. I have a friend who is a doula and she’s had some directionally challenged babies the last couple of weeks. They knew which end was up at the delivery. Even my own OB was able to tell *gasp* without u/s if my son was head down or not. He considered ordering another u/s to confirm that DS was head down, but after listening again for where the heart beat was and some palpitations, we realized he was in the right position after all. I doubt I would have been allowed to deliver a breech baby, but my OB is pretty flexible…so who knows.
I think the breech=c/s idea is dumb. My dad was a breech baby and 50 years ago they still let women push out breech babies. You’d think with medical advances, it’d be easier to get them out.

Oh for pete’s sake! My last midwife appointment was with a TRAINEE midwife and she could tell precisely how my baby was positioned from feeling around my abdomen. She is not even certified yet and I’ve got some extra padding to have to feel through and she could still tell. How does Dr. Dumdum not know the baby’s breech before inducing?! Unless babay flipped while they were turing on the pit there isn’t really an excuse for that.
And SO WHAT if baby’s breech?! Or twins?! Why is it that ONLY singleton babies who are born before their due date and are head down are allowed to have a shot at natural birth? It annoys me. How did they think twins and breech babies came out in the “olden days?” By magic? My husband’s mother was born breech. Not just breech, but BUTT first. YEOWCH! Grandma’s told us that story a couple times. If she can push out a baby born folded double and coming out bum first… well she’s my hero. I wish everyone was given a chance to TRY. Medical interventions are supposed to be there for EMERGENCIES, not come standard with labor. *sigh*

I would think the OP could sue for gross negligence. Why would they even break waters before induction in the first place? Shouldn’t they start the pit and see if labor moves along? and what about Bishops Scores? Shouldn’t they leave themselves in a position that if labor doesn’t cooperate they can send mommy home and try again in 2 or 3 days? Way too many induction going on in the first place. What if the cord had prolapsed? This doctor shouldn’t be practising anywhere on anyone. Forget breakfast Dr. Bozo, just sent me a bill for a vaginal delivery rather than a c-section! Oh and you can also pay for a home health care aid for one to six weeks while the mom/wife recovers! I do hope this is the same OP and the other one. I would hate to think there are two of them out there!

I am not trained to do so, but even I can tell a breech when I feel one/ or am told where kicks are felt the most. I spent my entire 2nd trimester fretting because my daughter was lying transverse. (she turned and I had my UC)

But really, who’s afraid of a little bum? They may enter the world backwards, but at least they land on their feet!

Free breakfast? That totally makes up for this slight inconvenience. Thanks doc, you’re so nice and thoughtful!

“IT’S MALE BONDING TIME! Come on, we’ll leave the little woman here to recover. So sorry about having to alter YOUR wife. Let’s go eat. I know a great cave bar that serves these giant pterodactyl omelettes that are bigger than your head, heck, bigger than my head, ha ha. You’ll love it.”

Uuuuuuuugh

By the way, was that amniotomy remotely necessary? Or were you just trying to hurry things along to a pace you found more satisfying, or give your hands something to do because you were getting bored waiting?

And not all frank breeches are automatic c-sections, if you’ve had any training on how to assist at those sort of births, anyway, which all things considered, Doc, you probably haven’t. I’m not sure you would have known that prematurely rupturing the membranes was the stupidest thing you could have done – if you’d palpated ahead of time and detected a breech, you might have known to leave the mother alone to see if the baby would flip at the last minute, as some do, and at the very least you would have avoided raising the risk of cord prolapse.

Or maybe you did realize some of that as the amniotic fluid whooshed out, and thought a nice apology breakfast (to the father, since he’s the one that apparently counts in your book) would cover up your goof?

I hope next time Mom finds a better care provider. Good heavens, what nerve.

Am I the only cynic that is worried hat he brome her water BECAUSE she was breech so that he could have a “valid” reason for the surgery? Also, how did he discover the breech? Stuck his fingers in? But. Doc, I thought you’re not supposed to s anything in there after the water

Actually, i could see this being said in a genuinely appologetic way. Don’t a lot of people wake up from a cSection hungry?

On the other hand if he said it JUST to the father, that’s kinda ikky. And due to it appearing on this site I’m betting it wasn’t said in a kind way. But the OB that delivered my friend’s son (via vaginal bypass… i love that term.) brought a pizza to her when she was cleared for food. All through her 12 hour, nonproductive labor sh kept telling the doctor she was gonna get a pizza when she left the hospital. (hers started naturally, she just wouldn’t “open up” apparently. The doctor told her it was a fluke and OF COURSE she would have a normal birth next time. Then pulled the “trust me, I’m a doctor” line.)

I posted this. A fellow doula shared this story a few months ago. It was a female OB, who was inducing for “post-dates” (gag!)and was sure of the position. I’m floored that an “expert” didn’t determine position. In my experience, it’s confirmed before induction of any sort, but especially an AROM induction.
After the surgery, the OB indicated that the mom had set herself up for the outcome by having a birthplan. What happened to the sausage biscuit?

I’d be tempted to have him write that in my chart, so when I’m in LABOR with my VBAC I can have as much food and drink as I want without any push back from the staff.

wow. married to a man who was born frank breech, without issue, this just makes me want to hurl.
also, on the food issue, the hosp where i delivered allows eating in labor, but i also had spouse bring me a hamburger about half an hour before i pushed baby out.