Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Jul
9
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“…I Was In The OR Sharpening My Knives…”
“You really surprised me here! Six hours into your labor, I was in the OR sharpening my knives–but you actually pulled it off.”-OB to a VBAC mother.
There are 32 comments to this post.
Having had a C-section and a VBAC….this literally made me want to vomit. OMG.
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Heather Reply:
July 9th, 2010 at 9:57 am (Quote)
Yeah, my stomach cramped up reading it and I teared up. I’d have called him an a-hole to his face right there and told him to get out of my room and never come back. Or laid there shivering in terror and gone online to warn everyone I knew to stay the he-yeck away from him would be more like me.
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The Deranged Housewife had this to say,
Jul 9, 2010 @ 5:35 am (Quote)
“You actually pulled it off…” Those words bother me more than the knife comment.
I remember when my OB came in after my VBAC baby was born. I said to him, “We did it!” implying my daughter and I, not him. He just kind of gave me a blank look. 
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Lauren Reply:
July 9th, 2010 at 5:41 am (Quote)
They just don’t get it. 
I was blessed by the dr I had when I VBACed; she was thrilled by the whole thing and encouraged me tons. I was her 4th VBAC that week; and her VBAC rate is like 96%. Granted she hasn’t been a dr for decades or anything, but damn she’s good. 
She trained with midwives and knows the Gaskin maneuver!
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cathi Reply:
July 9th, 2010 at 6:32 am (Quote)
Wouldn’t happen to be Heidi R, would it? I knew her from a suturing training we had in TN…:) She and her hubby are both OBs and they both HOMEBIRTH! 
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Heather Reply:
July 9th, 2010 at 10:01 am (Quote)
My VBAC took me 23 1/2 hours and I went in after 9 hours, so whatever the math on that and my OB hadn’t been home in two days (and it was New Year’s Eve when I went in) and never once did he come in and mention cesarean. He helped me catch my own baby and congratulated me and told me I did great.
He also works with midwives and HAS been practicing for over a decade (not sure how many, but he has a VBAC rate about the same as your OB).
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Heather Reply:
July 9th, 2010 at 10:00 am (Quote)
My VBAC took me 23 1/2 hours and I went in after 9 hours, so whatever the math on that and my OB hadn’t been home in two days (and it was New Year’s Eve when I went in) and never once did he come in and mention cesarean. He helped me catch my own baby and congratulated me and told me I did great.
He also works with midwives and HAS been practicing for over a decade (not sure how many, but he has a VBAC rate about the same as your OB).
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This entry is just creepy. Poor Mom. Even after having her baby and knowing she was in the clear for that particular thiing that probably freaked her out. I know it kinda freaked me out and all I did was read it.
This doctor belongs on Saw movies, not in an office dealing with women who need motivation and compassion. Let me rephrase that actually.. POSITIVE motivation and compassion.
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
July 9th, 2010 at 8:54 am (Quote)
Or maybe in a Weird Al video. Look for the “Like A Surgeon” video on YouTube if you’ve never seen it. Oh, my…
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch had this to say,
Jul 9, 2010 @ 8:48 am (Quote)
Run away! It’s the Samurai Surgeon! (No, seriously, I had visions of John Belushi in scrubs when I read this. Either that, or the late Billy Mays selling Ginsu knives.)
NOT a vision inspiring confidence, in either case.
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Mama Mirage had this to say,
Jul 9, 2010 @ 8:50 am (Quote)
Wow… *shudders* That’s nice, Doc.
Such a great OB – he’d have written me off on both my previous labors I guess. The first one was 24 hours and the second was 12.
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Guggie Daly had this to say,
Jul 9, 2010 @ 12:10 pm (Quote)
No, I disagree. I don’t think this was meant as a joke. Or as a way to break the ice. Or whatever.
This reminds me of emotional abuse in a relationship. It was a way of putting the woman in her place, reminding her that she really wasn’t safe and capable the whole time, that he could have hurt her whenever he wanted to but he didn’t.
It comes with really specific markers:
~You surprised me (aka you tried to have autonomy)
~six hours (a way of showing he was keeping tabs on her)
~I was sharpening my knives (a threat and show of power)
~you actually pulled it off (a put down, a subtle way of saying it was an accident that she succeeded)
Whoever this OB is, they are messed up big time.
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
July 9th, 2010 at 5:07 pm (Quote)
I’m kind of leaning in your direction, Guggie.
I have been told that I am too suspicious and don’t give people enough chances. Well, I’ve also been in abusive situations. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
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“That’s where you were? No wonder everything went so smoothly here. Maybe you should just stay in there and look at your pretty shiny knives and never ever touch another person AGAIN.”
I’m totally onboard with the abusive theory. Somebody should check on this OB’s family and make sure they’re all OK.
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Sharpening his knives?!?!
I know that’s “supposed to be a joke” but you should NEVER joke about cutting someone’s body open.
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
July 9th, 2010 at 8:52 am Sarah Dorrance-Minch(Quote)
Yes. I am allowed to crack sick jokes like that about my own body, because it’s my body and my peculiar sense of humour.
Other people do not get to start the macabre jesting, especially not when they have access to sharp, pointy things. They have no way of knowing in advance if I’m going to find something funny in context or not. They need to follow my lead.
Otherwise, they don’t get to play with knives.
Those are my rules.
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Jane Reply:
July 9th, 2010 at 9:00 am Jane(Quote)
Add to that how the doctor gets in a shot at the woman’s ability to do the very thing she’s just done (“actually”) and it’s really…ugh.
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
July 9th, 2010 at 5:04 pm Sarah Dorrance-Minch(Quote)
Oh. Well. I wouldn’t be choosing the hospital as a place to VBAC in, these days, but if I were there, and he’d said that to me, I would have just given him a withering look and said, “Well. Duh.” Of course I can push my babies out. I don’t need a doctor’s vote of confidence for that.
But again, these days, I’d only be going to the hospital for the birth if it were an emergency requiring surgery, anyway. If it’s not an emergency, I’m staying home. I’m forty years old. I don’t have any more patience to waste on abdominally obsessive, incision-happy obstructionists. Oops, I mean obstetricians.
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