Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Jul
12
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“…Babies Born Underwater Die!”
“Because babies born underwater die.” -OB when informing mother to be sure to get out of the birth tub prior to birth.
There are 56 comments to this post.
Well, it’s a good thing son #2 didn’t know that!
Or – wait. He must be another one of those zombie babies. My bad.
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Lisa in Texas Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 5:39 am (Quote)
I’ve had 2 out of 4 babies born in the water. I guess they are zombie babies, too.
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Tara Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 8:39 am (Quote)
2 out of 3 here.
Poor zombie babies. 
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 4:57 pm (Quote)
“BRAAAAAAIIIIIINS… WE WANT BRAAAAAIIIIIINS…”
Oh, wait, that’s zombie babies, not zombie surgeons.
I have to wonder, though, if the OBs who believe this nonsense were victims of some tragic accident involving an uncut umbilical cord that drained blood away from their brains before it was too late. Such a tragedy. Apparently the OB who “delivered” these doctors-to-be didn’t know he had to elevate the babies above the placenta if he wasn’t going to cut their cords immediately.
Or maybe they were “delivered” in water, but there was a tragic accident involving twinkle lights coming into contact with the birthing pool, causing traumatic electrical shocks.
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…So… How do babies ever survive in all of that amniotic fluid for 9 months? No, really. I want to know. *eye roll*
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TopHat Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 11:03 am (Quote)
And then there’s my 2 year old- who was born in the water AND in the caul. My water broke when her feet came out- while the rest of her was in the tub!
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 5:00 pm (Quote)
In parts of eastern Europe, that means she’s destined to be a vampire.
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Kit Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 6:47 pm (Quote)
And in other parts of Eastern Europe it means your baby will be a vampire hunter.
Course, if you ask my great uncle, it just means your baby will never die in a ship wreck, and could you submit your daughter’s resume to his ship at your earliest convience.
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Liz Chalmers Reply:
July 13th, 2010 at 8:22 am (Quote)
I’ve also heard it means that she’s destined to become a midwife
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My daughter was born in the water and it wasn’t planned. I was told to relax in the whirlpool and I relaxed a little too much. haha. She seems to be doing fine 10 years later. OH… we named her Ariel, after the mermaid.
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Heather Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 9:29 am (Quote)
Heh, that’s awesome. Funny, though, since she was named after an Archangel and before her, it had been an exclusively male name, like Gabriel and now everyone considers it female (like the change in mindset that happened because of Whitney Houston). BTW, I like the name, just some interesting history on it 
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 5:02 pm (Quote)
It was also the name of the wood sprite in Shakespeare’s _The Tempest_, and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s nickname. (One of his nicknames. He was also nicknamed Shiloh at one point in his life.)
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Now my question is does the doctor really believe this or does he/she just not want to get wet while trying to help deliver a baby that is born under water? It seems to me that it is safer to stay in the pool/tub than to be walking from tub to bed: wet feet, baby crowning. I’m seeing a baby born on the floor as a big likelihood. Which while that wouldn’t be a problem at home, sounds really gross in a hospital situation.
And they say (or used to say) that midwives were superstitious ninnes!
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Nichol (@faedemere) had this to say,
Jul 12, 2010 @ 6:27 am (Quote)
Um yeah right. I am surrounded by friends with walking, talking, healthy children all born underwater. (my daughter included) that doctor needs to loose his license for being so stupid.
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I wonder if this doctor is just gambling that the Mom will be undereducated on this subject and believe him. Playing the dead baby card for something as innocent as accidentally delivering in the water is a great way to ensure someone not in the know gets out of the water quick so the doctor is more in control.
What a yutz. If this wasn’t so stupid I would be laughing. I hope the Mother was well educated on the subject of water birth and newborn breathing reflexes and schooled the good doctor into utter humiliation.
I would have loved the doc to say this to me. I researched water birth long before getting pregnant!!!
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch had this to say,
Jul 12, 2010 @ 9:11 am (Quote)
Well, gee, dingbat, if you don’t cut the cord while it’s still pumping oxygenated blood to the baby, you won’t have a thing to worry about, now will you? And there are PLENTY of underwater births going on, none of which involve the mother frantically getting out of the water to scurry to a bed to push.
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cheeks023 Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 9:29 am (Quote)
Well, and not just that…but a baby won’t try to breath until they are exposed to air…and last I checked, water isn’t all that plentiful of air!!!
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 10:05 am (Quote)
Nope. No air. Plenty of oxygen, but it’s bonded to hydrogen molecules and it’s in decidedly liquid form.
Reflexes, fortunately, work.
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Nikki Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 2:05 pm (Quote)
Now, that scenario would GUARANTEE a dead-zombie baby! Cuz if the water didn’t do it, the life-sucking cord would! 
Geez…maybe I should stop training as a midwife and become an OB…seems to require much less education and the pay is so much better! ::gag::
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You know, we ought to compile a list of these “cards” and make a playing deck. Pick four categories and 13 sayings that go under them.
Makes for a hilarious/disgusting/frustrating/head-shaking game of poker. Or Bull S***.
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cheeks023 Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 10:31 am (Quote)
Well…the obvious one would be the dead baby card.
After that there is the severe lifetime impairment card
I think a third category would be something along the lines of The body’s inability to do “X” card.
A last one could be something about the ridiculous statements we here…but I can’t put a name to the category…I was thinking for example the nurse who said that gravity doesn’t exist when you have an epidural…
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Tracy Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 1:33 pm (Quote)
That fourth suit, well that would simply be the “just plain bull$hit” suit.
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I am the proud parent of two zombie babies, born in the water.
One of those was even born in a *Hospital* while in water! The nurses were not freaked out, the midwife was fine with it, and the pediatrician didn’t bat an eyelash.
Of course, that’s probably because that hospital is the most evidence-based facility I have ever seen in my area. E.g. primary c-section rate around 15%, VBACs supported, mothers encouraged to eat during labor, rooming in is standard, etc.
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Claire Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 10:37 pm (Quote)
In what country are you?!!! Seriously!
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Kat Reply:
July 13th, 2010 at 10:57 am (Quote)
The hospital is North Fulton Regional hospital in Roswell, GA. My awesome midwife Margaret Strickhouser told me she had spent the last however many years “brainwashing” the nurses to her way of thinking (treating birth as a normal process). She has since relocated her practice to Atlanta Medical Center, and I suppose has started the “brainwashing” process there.
As far as I know, she may be the only CNM still practicing in Atlanta area hospitals who is both trained and experienced in vaginal breech birth. That may be inaccurate, but when I was researching a few years back, I didn’t find any other names coming up in discussion of vaginal breech birth in Atlanta area hospitals.
I spoke with a woman who moved to this area from Seattle, and she said it was like going back to the dark ages as far as trying to find a trustworthy care provider for natural birth. There are NO out of hospital birth centers. The vast majority of CNMs practice the obstetric model of care NOT the midwifery model of care. I am hoping as women stand up and demand safer, more compassionate care things will change, and maybe this area won’t be such a minefield for pregnant/birthing women.
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Mistie Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 10:59 pm (Quote)
Yeah, Kat, you really need to give us all the name and place of this hospital and be promoting it everywhere you can. Maybe other hospitals will notice and start to change policy as they see a popularity increase.. kind of like when one husband on the block buys floweres and does random acts of kindness for his wife, then the other ladies on the block see and their husbands then have to step it up to please their wives too
*disclaimer: I do not believe people should do things to please their partners just to keep up status quo, but because they actually love and care about them. It was just an example I often see in movies and tv.
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Lindsey Carr-Ruck had this to say,
Jul 12, 2010 @ 5:12 pm (Quote)
Oh, for crying out loud!!! Control issue, much? “If you’re in the water, I can’t ‘manage’ your birth! I don’t want to get wet. I won’t be able to see, etc.” As a midwife, I routinely catch babies born in the water. Sure, I sometimes get a little soggy, and yeah, I’ve had to jump in if the mom needs a little extra help. Big deal! Up to the surface comes beautiful, healthy babes.
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Mistie Reply:
July 12th, 2010 at 11:05 pm (Quote)
You’ve actually had to get into the water? Under what circumstances would that be? I’m genuinely asking, not patronizing. I am starting training to be a Doula and am wondering why a Midwife would need to do such unless they were the only other person at the birth and the mother needed physical support. I’m really interested to hear your experiences Lindsey. You can message me on fb if you like, if you don’t want to share openly. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1289937453&ref=profile&v=info#!/profile.php?id=1289937453&ref=ts
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I think she also forgot that the water also helps to wash off all the goo that zombie babies are born with.
I labored (in my own home) in a birth pool, but just didnt have the right posture for giving birth in the pool, so my midwife swapped me to a stool, where she sat COMFORTABLY crosslegged at my feet, where I was, squatting on the stool, pushing COMFORTABLY. I gave birth about 15 minutes later.
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I’m astonished over how many OBs are publicly making these claims over waterbirth without providing evidence. This article on birth positions was published recently here in Nebraska:
http://omaha.com/article/20100705/LIVING/707059959
Obstetricians Dr. Pankratz (a board member of the Nebraska Medical Association) and Dr. Maureen Fleming (director of general obstetrics and gynecology at the Creighton University School of Medicine) share in the article that they’re opposed to water births: “If an emergency occurs, it’s hard to get the mother out, the baby may inhale water, and it’s difficult to stitch up a tear and stop the bleeding when the mother is in a pool.”
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Jill P. Reply:
July 13th, 2010 at 8:49 pm (Quote)
Oh my lanta. That’s as bad as that OB in The Business of Being Born asking, “How do you get someone emergently delivered (i.e. do a Cesarean) at home?” :headdesk:
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CCindy Reply:
July 15th, 2010 at 5:44 am (Quote)
From the artlicle lined above ‘She (Dr. Maureen Fleming) recalled a woman in so much pain that she angrily started to walk out of the hospital room.
Fleming had to wrestle her back. “I almost fell on the bed with her because I had to throw her on the bed.”’
You did what?!? You forcably restrained a laboring mother and threw her on a bed and you are so damn arrogant that you are not ashamed to speak of it in your local paper? Expect some backlash from that Ms. crappy female doctor!
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Hi Ladies This is mine, and I completely spaced when I got the email that my story was being published.
My CNM was sooooooo supportive, and because of my previous birth, I had hired a doula, and my CNM (to the dismay and disapproval of her OB’s) actually FOUGHT the hospital for me, and got them to allow me to bring in an aquadoula (owned by my doula), because even though the hospital “allows” women to labor in water, you have to be induced (the tub is too large to bring up from the basement and get set up, etc in time for a birth, so your birth MUST be planned) and you can’t have ruptured membranes, etc, and you can’t deliver in the tub (because of all the dead babies I suppose), so I wanted to make sure I got my way My CNM and I spoke in “code” when she told me that I wouldn’t be able to deliver in the water… (to protect herself, I assume) She said, “There is always a very BIG chance that I will “forget” to check you, and the baby will just “accidentally” be born in the tub… are you okay with this?” hehehe, I love her!
When I was at my 37 week appt, having my cerclage removed (I have an incompetent cervix), the OB looked at my chart and started asking me if I wanted to be INDUCED TODAY, to which I said no, the birth tub is not even at the hospital yet (the hospital only agreed if the tub was delivered early so it could be “inspected” to make sure it was “hospital grade”), and I am planning a natural delivery with Stacey (my CNM). Thats when she said, “Oh, YOU’RE the one with the birth tub… you know you have to get out of the tub before your baby is born right?” I responded by asking why that is exactly, and her response… “because babies born underwater DIE!”
I told her that Stacey had already informed me of the rules, but that I hoped she would do a little bit more research before telling anyone else that ridiculous lie. Water has been used for centuries as the “midwifes epidural” and that I was surprised she didn’t know that babies don’t breath until their face hits the air, and they are still receiving oxygen through the umbilical cord. She mumbled something about my medical degree and walked out of the room.
Unfortunately, my CNM was stuck out of town (water broke 2 days after thanksgiving, but 2 weeks early, and she had car trouble), and I was the proud and lucky patient of the idiot OB, and because I had mechonium in my fluid, I was not allowed to get out of bed…..
She also yelled at me when I was crowning and asked her if she would please place the baby on my stomach as SOON as he was born, as long as there was no mech in his lungs…. her response, “would you STOP trying to CONTROL every aspect of this birth?” I couldn’t even speak, but as soon as she told the peds nurse his lungs were clear, I reached down and pulled him out myself, and didn’t let go until he was 2 hours old
Needless to say, I am planning to have #3 (22 weeks! A third boy!) at home… and I am seeing a different OB for my OB care.
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Way to use factual evidence there doc. You sound like a spaz. Next time just say you want me on my back with my legs tied down so i can’t easily protest an epesiotomy or forceps/vacuum…
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