Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Aug
16
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“…Going To 42 Weeks Is Really Passé.”
“We don’t let anyone go past 41 weeks anymore. Going to 42 weeks is really passé.” -OB to a mother who was not willing to be induced just because she was past her estimated due date.
There are 42 comments to this post.
We don’t “let” anyone go to 42 weeks??!! I didn’t realize I needed your permission to be pregnant!
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sarah Reply:
August 18th, 2010 at 10:22 pm (Quote)
They don’t let anyone go past 41 weeks because it’s increases infant mortality. It’s not a ‘permission’ thing, it’s a ‘lets try to make sure the baby is alive’ thing.
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Rebecca Reply:
August 20th, 2010 at 9:49 am (Quote)
Again, the “let” term your using implies that consent is not needed. It’s still up to the mother.
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Jane Reply:
August 20th, 2010 at 10:15 am (Quote)
Mom has the right to assess the risks herself and decide on the best course of action. The doctor can/should say “We recommend not going past 41 weeks because of risks to the baby.”
Saying, “We won’t let you go past 41 weeks” implies the DOCTOR has the right to decide on treatment and that the mother needs to ask permission to break it. In reality, the MOTHER needs to decide on the treatment option and the doctor needs to ask permission to initiate it.
The whole “we won’t let you” construction inverts the power chain so the mother is subservient to the doctor.
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Kat Reply:
August 20th, 2010 at 10:20 am (Quote)
Will you please post the peer-reviewed studies that prove conclusively that induction at 41 weeks improves outcomes significantly over monitoring for complications and only inducing if the baby or mother show signs of complications?
Can you also please post the studies that show every woman and every pregnancy can be accurately assessed by a cardboard wheel in a doctor’s office, regardless of ovulation date, and mother’s cycle history?
Can you also please point to any source that states being 41 weeks pregnant with no health problems and no distress in the baby revokes a woman’s legal right to *consent* to medical procedures?
Thank you.
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frillypants had this to say,
Aug 16, 2010 @ 4:29 pm (Quote)
Well, not after labor day, daaaahlink. It’s so 2009.
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Alyson Miers had this to say,
Aug 16, 2010 @ 4:39 pm (Quote)
“Let” anyone go past 41 weeks?
What’ll you do if she doesn’t show up at the hospital, then? What’ll you “let” her do in that case?
Oh, not so tough now, are you, Doctor Stabby-Hands!
Ugh. I’ve never given birth (never been pregnant, even), but this is definitely NOT how I would want to be treated if I were trying to bring a child into the world. Spontaneous labor is never passe.
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Lindsey Carr-Ruck had this to say,
Aug 16, 2010 @ 4:46 pm (Quote)
Going to 42 weeks isn’t, but the doc is! Did that office not get the birthing trend memo? More and more women are educating themselves and demanding choices in childbirth. It’s all the rage!!!
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Right…we want you to pay loads of money for those maternity clothes that are SO FASHIONABLE, but we want you to wear them for as little time as possible…
I seriously WISH that someone had told me ANY of these things at my OB office when I was pregnant…my visits just seem so boring now.
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Cmat Reply:
August 16th, 2010 at 7:22 pm (Quote)
I wasn’t told any of that stuff either, but then I didn’t even make it to 40 weeks. I guess all that education just makes us more opinionated about what should happen. That just won’t do.
Anyone for twinkle lights and incense..?
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Lynette Reply:
August 16th, 2010 at 7:50 pm (Quote)
My husband set up the twinkle lights for my HBAC last summer. No joke. Our daughter arrived in her nursery amongst twinkle lights and much joy.
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Heather P Reply:
August 16th, 2010 at 11:08 pm (Quote)
I wish that I’d thought of twinkle lights during my last birth. The ambiance would have been nice. Maybe I’d have got a better video with some mood lighting too.
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Oh yeah, unnecessary interventions are totally “a la mode” these days! Why else would the c-section rate be so high?
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Ohhhh I get it, this is a one up game.. right? I won’t LET you induce me, so you won’t LET me go past 41 weeks. That game is so middle school. Can’t induce me if I don’t show up.. try to start a pit drip on a moving target doc. It has been years, but I’m sure I can still move as fast as I did in highschool basketball 
.
OP- what ended up happening?
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Sure, it’s “old school” but old school is cool these days. Get with the times, doc. 
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Cmat Reply:
August 17th, 2010 at 5:58 am (Quote)
Hence the return (although somewhat brief) of bell bottoms etc..
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cheeks023 Reply:
August 17th, 2010 at 10:51 am (Quote)
not to completely derail the subject. But I went Back to School shopping with my 9 year old yesterday, and what did she fall in love with? Tie-dyed, skinny jeans…a-la 1986!!! She paired it with a long brushed cotton blouse with a belt around the middle! I also saw acid wash too! LOL
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Great. Now I have to worry about what’s fashionable in pregnancy timetables? Good thing I’m not that good at following trends anyhow.
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Wendy Reply:
August 17th, 2010 at 1:49 pm (Quote)
Actually, ACOG referred to home birth as “trendy” and a “cause celebre.” So if we’re supposed to be trendy, home birth is the way to go.
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Heather P Reply:
August 19th, 2010 at 9:09 am (Quote)
Yep, ACOG and its predecessors worked so hard to stamp out midwife attended births in the past that its resurgence is quite alarming to them. They’ve forgotten that hospital birthing is the recent trend and not the other way around.
I guess I’m retro. 
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qtberryhead had this to say,
Aug 16, 2010 @ 9:26 pm (Quote)
“Ya know doc…I don’t like being like everyone else. I’m thinking maybe we could skip all that induction nonsense and all it’s associated risks, and let this baby decide when it’s time to come. Don’t call me, I’ll call you.”
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And how did the doc calculate the EDD? By the scan? That can be a week off (at least in my experience). By the LMP? That can be more than a week off. And even if the doc actually listened the mother (if the mother knew when she ovulated), it still isn’t exact, since there’s still variation.
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Because I’m so worried about being fashionably late to my labor…if we go past 41 weeks is that an automatic bottle of wine or a pie? What does it say in Emily Post?
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Katie Reply:
August 17th, 2010 at 8:45 am (Quote)
After being a regular visitor to this site, I was considering writing “Emily Post’s Guide to Good Manners: A Health Care Practitioner’s Guide to be Respectful, Kind, and Considerate”.
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Katy Reply:
August 17th, 2010 at 8:51 am (Quote)
You certainly should. It would certainly help to have something that reminded professionals that they are part of something special and delicate – even if they don’t think so.
Heck, they have etiquette patients have to follow when we write our birth plans…why not etiquette for the opposite side?
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Sarah from Mindful Birth Options had this to say,
Aug 18, 2010 @ 11:33 am (Quote)
I know I always base my medical decisions on what is trendy.
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“….dahling.”
Because waddling around town USED to be fashionable, but nowadays it’s fallen out of favor.
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