Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Jul
6
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“You Get One Push Or You’re Going In For A Cesarean.”
“You get one push or you’re going in for a cesarean.” -OB to a mother who had been pushing for around 30 minutes after 19 hours of induced labor for premature rupture of membranes at 34 weeks.
There are 29 comments to this post.
And if I say, “NO!” “Will you take away my twinkle lights?”
Good grief. I’d like to know if Mom was on her back the whole time. Unless baby is obviously not doing well, change position and keep trying. (And if baby isn’t doing well, say that. Hey Doc, threats don’t equal communication in my book.)
Just thought of this. Why are cesareans treated as no big deal by some OBs, but also held over Mom’s head as a threat? Seems to me you wouldn’t threaten a person with something unless you recognized the inherent harm of caring out that threatened action.
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Luann Reply:
July 6th, 2010 at 9:57 pm (Quote)
trying to grasp this..
” seems to me you wouldn’t threaten a person with something unless you recognized the inherent harm of caring out that threatened action”
i think i get what u are saying and i think you are on to something. a bit contradicting aye?
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Jen Reply:
July 7th, 2010 at 5:41 am (Quote)
I think the writing between the lines Kate was referring to is the fact that you wouldn’t threaten someone unless you knew what you were threatening was bad enough for the recipient, in some way, for it to be threatening.
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Luann Reply:
July 7th, 2010 at 8:12 am (Quote)
yeah, then i did get it and again i think she is on to something there.
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
July 8th, 2010 at 8:03 am (Quote)
Well, they know that most of the time, we don’t WANT certain interventions. Pitocin augmentation, c-section, episiotomy. Those are the biggies.
I don’t know if they think such interventions are harmful. I suspect most think they are no big deal if performed in a “properly controlled” setting. Risk neutralized and all that. But they know we don’t want them done to us, going by the way react, so they make good threats.
It’s not like they can threaten us with being sent to bed without any dinner. Most mothers are subjected to that in the hospital, anyway, as part of routine.
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WTH? I was in labor over 20hrs and pushed for an hour & a half. I guess I should have had a c-section. /sarcasm
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Jen Reply:
July 7th, 2010 at 5:44 am (Quote)
I pushed for closer to 3 hours with my daughter. I was on my back for some stupid reason. I didn’t even realize I’d been pushing for that long until she was out and someone told me the time, and I certainly could have continued pushing at least a bit longer if needed.
Guess I should have had a section. *eye roll*
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I had two pregnancies with PPROM. One at 33 weeks and one at 31. With both they tried to stop labor. My 33 weeker was not going to be stopped. I started labor 6 hours after PPROM and she was born an hour later. My 31 weeker decided he wasn’t coming and they did not induce, they did everything they could to keep me from going in to labor but we decided to induce (they left it up to me without trying to scare me or coerce me) at 31 weeks 2 days (2 days after PPROM) because I tested positive for group B strep and group B Strep even in my urine.
I guess my point is that you don’t have to be induced immediately after membranes rupture and if you are being induced prematurely it is likely that things are going to be slow and why would the doc immediately go to the c-section if the baby was tolerating pushing? Ridiculous!
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Lisa in Texas Reply:
July 10th, 2010 at 4:50 pm (Quote)
I had PPROM at 20 weeks. I’ve been at home on bedrest ever since and am now 27w 2d. I am living proof that you do NOT have to induce immediately for ruptured membranes — you are exactly right about that.
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Kate, Ren's Mom had this to say,
Jul 6, 2010 @ 7:17 pm (Quote)
I had a 36-hour induced labor (induced at 38w for pre-e), and I pushed for 4 hours! I guess I was really lucky they didn’t cut me much earlier. But I say, if mama’s got the energy and baby’s doing fine, let her push for as long as they need to!
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Kate, Ren's Mom Reply:
July 6th, 2010 at 7:19 pm (Quote)
My post may have been unclear: I WAS able to birth my daughter vaginally; it took 4 hours because of a nuchal hand…
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Sheva had this to say,
Jul 6, 2010 @ 8:06 pm (Quote)
If mom was pushing for 30 minutes, why did doc say she could only have one push? Did the doc just wall in at that point?Because if so, cool your heels, doc, this isn’t a race or something. This is about a baby coming through a pelvis, and, judging from your lousy attitude, mom is probably on her back.
Why don’t you go out and have some breakfast, we’ll call you if we need you, ‘kay?
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cmat Reply:
July 6th, 2010 at 8:13 pm (Quote)
“But don’t hold your breath, we probably won’t call you!”
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
July 8th, 2010 at 8:15 am (Quote)
Oh, I’D tell the OB to hold his/her breath. Next time a bowel movement beckons. I’d say, “Deep breath. Now hold it. And PUSHPUSHPUSHPUSHPUSH!…” Better yet, I’d have a team of onlookers in the loo watching the doctor, saying “You’re doing great, I can almost see it… PUSH! PUSH! PUSHPUSHPUSH! Hold your breath and PUSH HARD!”
And if the bowel movement stalled (which if it was not diarrhoea, it probably would, under such circumstances – most mammals do not like to be observed while eliminating, especially when defecating, which takes a long enough time to leave the animal in question vulnerable to predators) then I would say, with an evil little smile, “Okay, you get one more push. And then I’m coming in after it due to apparent bowel obstruction.”
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Is the baby okay? Is there any indication of fetal distress whatsoever? If the answer is no then the Doc can go F himself or herself with his or her scalpel!
Doc, we all want what is best for our babies. Tell us the truth. Don’t threathen us. If you can’t bring yourself to speak to me like a rational adult, get out of my room. Your threats of bodily harm make you look like an idiot. Besides that they fall under the definition of assault. You didn’t touch me. No look it up that is battery. The threat is technically assault. You were hired as a consultant. You don’t get to make the final decision. Remember that!
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch had this to say,
Jul 7, 2010 @ 10:17 am (Quote)
Hey, what a great idea! Bully the mother, make threats to “motivate” her, stall her labour, cut her open, and then say you tried to be supportive but it was all her fault for being a wuss! WAY TO GO!
Hey, Doctor? You get one push, and then I fire you and ask for a new care provider on the spot. Or just lock myself in the bathroom. Either way, it’s an improvement.
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CCindy Reply:
July 7th, 2010 at 10:45 am (Quote)
When locking yourself in the hospital bathroom is an improvement you really have to ask yourself why you set foot in the place at all. (BTW there may not be a lock anyway.) What has obsetrics come to in the last 30 years! Oh wait is wasn’t that great 45-50 years ago either.
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
July 7th, 2010 at 6:14 pm (Quote)
I was trying to put myself in the position of the person making the post.
You probably know from my other posts that unless it were a life and death situation, I wouldn’t be anywhere near the hospital in the first place 
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Jane Reply:
July 8th, 2010 at 2:06 pm (Quote)
Obstetrics is a LOT better than it was 30 years ago. No forced shaving, no separating the parents, no enforced bottle-feeding, etc. Private rooms, labor tubs (even when we can’t deliver in them) etc. In other ways, it’s a lot worse, as seen by a 35% c-section rate with no improvement in infant mortality or morbidity and an increase in maternal mortality.
Thirty years from now, if women keep speaking out, it may keep improving. Or if women keep voting with their wallets by going to midwifery care.
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Add Your Comment.
Whaaaaaaaaaat???? Some babies take longer in the pushing phase than 30 minutes; so what?? Grrrrrr.
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Aria Reply:
July 7th, 2010 at 9:15 pm Aria(Quote)
I was in labor for 14 hours, and then have 5 1/2 hours of active pushing! Thank the gods I had a homebirth. No hospital would have allowed me to go so long. My daughter was chin-first, sunny-side up, coming at an angle. No hospital would have allowed me a minute because, like a breech, this kind of birth is “impossible.” Notice the quotes.
Half an hour is no time, and forcing c-sections should be assault punishable by jail time.
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
July 8th, 2010 at 7:57 am Sarah Dorrance-Minch(Quote)
Technically, I think forcing c-section (like any other kind of assault and battery) is against the law, and depending on the state laws, could be enforceable to the point of including prison time. However, if nobody is interested in enforcing the law, the law doesn’t mean much.
Then there are the instances of court-ordered c-sections. They’re rare, but if you’re one of the mothers who has had a judge or hospital adminstration declared temporary power of attorney, it sucks to be you. Scary.
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Aria Reply:
July 8th, 2010 at 1:37 pm Aria(Quote)
Hospital workers can call in CPS if they think you’re endangering your baby by not doing as they say, and usually a baby will be taken away pending investigation. With this sort of situation, a mother’s hand is forced. C-section or risk losing the baby for a while. Coercion is used to force a woman.
Court-ordered sections should also be against the law. Not only does a woman have no chance to present her side, but it’s her body anyway and without her competence being proven gone, she’s being forced to submit to being cut open. This is wrong.
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