Asshole.

“If you schedule a cesarean, I’m going to fail to show up at the hospital.”

wow. how about “if you talk to me like that i will talk to your superiors. threatening to cut someone for their opinions is not okay, nor is it legal.”

Sounds like a great reason not to walk in there at all.

Thanks for giving me a reason to report you to a medical board because I believe you saying this is completely unethical.

God complex anyone?

I still don’t understand this thinking, that birth plans are useless and lead to bigger and bigger interventions. The first place I ran across it was in Baby Catcher, which really surprises me, looking back on it now.

Can someone explain “why”: having preferences for what you do/don’t want to happen -> writing a birth plan ——> induction and/or cesarean, which are not ON the birth plan, or are specifically wanting to be avoided?

In my experience it’s simply because they don’t want to be told what to do. THEY are the ones with the medical degree, THEY are the ones that want to be in control, and if you tell them not to do something, they’ll do that and whatever else they can possibly do just to spite you. It’s sort of like him saying something like: “You want to tell me how to do my job? I don’t think so! AND I’m going to do any and all interventions I possibly can just to put you in your place and teach you a lesson.” It’s really quite disgusting and I’ve seen it happen several times in my 4 short years being a practicing doula…

“Thank you, Doctor Stabby-Hands! Now I will walk out of your office and find a new caregiver!”

And if you do, I will find a new provider.

UGH!!! Who died and left this OB God???

I hope this was at the start of prenatal care and the mama had time to move on! I keep thinking, “Well, at least she got honesty up front.” It’s better she be told the OB thinks like this NOW instead of during labor, right?

This is so crazy! It is censorship. They just don’t even want to hear or see what it is mom wants.
This would be such a huge red flag for me!

This seems to be a recurring theme…

I *had* to have a birth plan. I knew I wasn’t going to phone the midwives until I was fully in labour and needed to convey that I wanted *no* interventions what so ever without having to break my trance.

Also should I have had to transfer I had a legal document there saying what exactly was to happen to my baby I.e NO formula what so ever my husband knew where my breasts are and could put baby to them.

I did not trust the hospital to respect my wishes should I have had to transfer there, so there was lots of evidence based info there showing I knew my stuff.

As it was I didn’t have to transfer so it wasn’t needed.

Wow. At least doc was honest but really, having a birth plan at all means you’ll end up in a section? Puhlease.

I had a very long, detailed birth plan because at the beginning of my pregnancy I was faced with a stupid OB like many of these. She was very controlling and constantly downed my desires for a natural birth. After she refused to see me (ironic, right? I only saw her twice too. What an impression I must have made. Lol) I was so paranoid about not being “allowed” to birth the way I wanted that I put everything in writing. And made the midwives sign it at the practice I ended up using (which they didn’t mind because they found wonderful I had a BP so detailed. Lol). Granted, I won’t need that long birth plan any more because 1. I’m birthing at home from now on, and 2. I know more about *legalaties* so I know they can’t do anything to me without consent. Unfortunately I had listened to friends and family (who also inspiredy need for a detailed BP because of their outcomes) that had scared me silly.

Can I get that in writing? I don’t think the medical board will believe me.

“Are you threatening me?” said in my best Beavis and Butthead voice. LOL Seriously, as if!

These things make me appreciate my doctor and my hospital so much! My doctor ASKED for a birth plan and the last two days I spent in L&D in our hospital (kidney infection) everyone was so nice, even when they were really busy.

here is a blog post from a midwife about birth plans, which has a great response to the “controlling the uncontrollable” argument:

http://www.nurturingheartsbirthservices.com/blog/?p=967

Just an idle thought. If the doctor scheduled said cesearean and had the OR and staff all ready to operate on a patient who didn’t show up, would the mother still be billed for the readiness of the surgery she didn’t want or consent to.

I have also written quite a bit on birth plans:

http://navelgazingmidwife.squarespace.com/navelgazing-midwife-blog/2008/10/25/updated-birth-plan-template.html

and

http://navelgazingmidwife.squarespace.com/navelgazing-midwife-blog/2007/8/21/birth-plan-lemme-fix-it.html

I also coined the phrase: “If you buy the hospital ticket, you go for the hospital ride.”

I’ve seen too many nurses snicker at birth plans (and god forbid they came off the Internet with fill in the blanks!) and doctors take it out of mom’s hands and toss it back to the nurse without even a glance… but I can see the heavy sigh and the not-so-subtle roll of the eyes.

Over and over and over, some women are “tagged” for an eventual cesarean… women with birth plans (the longer the more likely), women who’ve taken Bradley classes and anyone who wants to do anything but lie in the bed, birth plan or not. And sure as shit, they end up with one more times than they don’t.

Projection? Set-up? The failure of extreme rigidity? a woman’s worst fears realized? Pick one -or all.

I tell women a birth plan is for the birthing family to get on the same page, let their doula know what the deal is and she can remind mom and partner as labor unfolds. Midwives are generally, though not always, less nasty about birth plans. But, I cannot fathom ANY PROVIDER signing one in this day and age.

Watch, as soon as I say that, someone will say their doctor did! *laughingwink* If so, rare, rare. But, even though they sign it, it does *not* bind them to your wishes any more the signing of the hospital’s consent to do anything they want requires YOU to do everything on *their* list.

And on the other end, this really is the birth plan from Hell:

http://philangelus.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/the-birth-plan-from-hell/

I guess I am very lucky this time (although it took 2 very disappointing experiences to get me here, lol). I just saw my OB today, and expressed my concern that we may not be able to afford the homebirth midwifes fee, and if that happened, I wanted to know how he would be willing to work with me to get the birth I wanted. He said to write out a detailed birth plan, and we would go over it at my next appt. He said I need to be prepared to compromise on a few things, but that he knows this is important to me, so he only asks that if there is an issue with my or the baby’s health, I let him do what he thinks is best.

I even mentioned my concern about being given pit just because my water has been broken for more than 12 hours. He said that isn’t needed unless I show signs of infection or the baby is in distress, and that I don’t need IV fluids unless I can’t hold anything down!

Considering his wife had 3 natural bradley births, and he is supportive of homebirth, I think I am FINALLY in good hands.

Contrary to popular belief, a birth plan is not about “planning birth” or creating the “perfect birth.” It’s about establishing much-needed TRUST between a woman and her provider. In today’s obstetric climate, you cannot trust your own care providers to ask for your consent before rupturing your sack, slipping pit into the IV, or slicing your perineum. You cannot trust them to respect your dignity and autonomy. Apparently, however, some doctors believe that women who seek this trust need to be punished with cesareans…

Yes there should realize the opportunity to RSS commentary, quite simply, CMS is another on the blog.