Aug 25

“Well, That’s Just Not An Option.”

“Well that’s just not an option.” -General Practitioner to mother who was considering a home birth after meeting with the OB recommended by her doctor.

87 people dislike these words.

There are 28 comments to this post.

Samantha had this to say, Aug 25, 2010 @ 4:16 pm (Quote)

Not an option, a right!

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Wendy had this to say, Aug 25, 2010 @ 4:23 pm (Quote)

Oh? So now I need your permission on where I birth?

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Bonita had this to say, Aug 25, 2010 @ 4:37 pm (Quote)

Does this dr have his head so stuck in the 1950s that he truly believes that a homebirth is not an option? Or is he lying through his teeth and hoping OP believes him?

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Cmat had this to say, Aug 25, 2010 @ 4:52 pm (Quote)

Hm, according to my OB (while reassuring me that I had the last say in a non-emergency situation) I can birth at home, in a field, in my car or wherever I want to. He didn’t say it with an attitude either.

Hey OP: You can have your baby wherever you want!

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alice had this to say, Aug 25, 2010 @ 5:16 pm (Quote)

Oh really? Would you mind explaining to me why?
Do the labour police come and forcibly remove me from my home?

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Jena had this to say, Aug 25, 2010 @ 5:56 pm (Quote)

But “not managing” to arrive at the hospital is, right? Uh huh, that’s what I thought.

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Heather P had this to say, Aug 25, 2010 @ 8:53 pm (Quote)

If she’s seeking OB care or prenatal care with a GP, then the doc may be correct. Not an option with them. She just needs to look outside the OB system to find a homebirth option.

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Elizabeth had this to say, Aug 26, 2010 @ 6:08 am (Quote)

B***h please!! I would’ve felt completely insulted and that doc would not have been very happy by the time I left that office!

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fuzzy had this to say, Aug 26, 2010 @ 10:26 am (Quote)

Might not have been an option: lots of primary care docs are the gatekeepers for reimbursement. AND many systems don’t pay for statistically risky medical care.

Was she asking for the doc to follow her care? Providers are certainly within their rights to refuse to give care they see as risky. They aren’t obligated to follow along with any fool scheme you think up.

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Elizabeth Reply:
August 26th, 2010 at 11:37 am Elizabeth(Quote)

She certainly wasn’t asking that doctor to attend her homebirth. If she’s seeing an OB I’m not quite sure why she’s going back to the GP, but either way no matter whom she stays with she’s obviously only planning on being with them for prenatal care. He has not right to say homebirth is not an option for her, when he will have absolutely NOTHING to do with it! And btw, homebirth is NOT statistically risky.

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fuzzy Reply:
August 26th, 2010 at 4:14 pm fuzzy(Quote)

BS….homebirth is statistically and actually risky. That 5 min ride to hospital with blood pouring from hell to breakfast isn’t a good thing, dear. 5 min with a breech who’s head won’t deliver and which has compromised cord circulation = dead brain cells. Ask any one of a number of whose baby has died at home whether homebirth is risky…..

Had my first birth been at home, I would only have 2 children.

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Alyson Miers Reply:
August 26th, 2010 at 4:28 pm Alyson Miers(Quote)

The plural of anecdote is not data.

Nice display of condescension, though.

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Charity Reply:
August 26th, 2010 at 4:47 pm Charity(Quote)

For breech babies, homebirth is risky, but not impossible. In America, OBs and midwives are taught not to deliver breech babies vaginally because of the risks you’ve mentioned here. In Canada, midwives are being trained on safely delivering breech babies. The TYPE of breech has a lot to do with the decisions made…

All that said, I have a friend who birthed a footling breech at home and unassisted (other than her husband) and had no problems. Yes, there are precautions she took, but her baby is healthy and happy.

While I can see where you’re coming from and the fear that was installed after your first birth experience, you can’t generalize like that. Just because one mother has a tough time with a breech doesn’t mean another will. Breech is NOT an automatic hospital sentence anymore.

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Elizabeth Reply:
August 27th, 2010 at 1:43 am Elizabeth(Quote)

Also had a friend deliver at home unassisted 2 days ago with butt-first presentation. The breech was a surprise, but all went perfectly!

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Honeybee Reply:
August 27th, 2010 at 3:08 pm Honeybee(Quote)

Birth is inherently dangerous. In some cases yes, hospitals are necessary. (High risk births.) However, with most births, having a baby in the hospital is more dangerous. Doc’s are intervention happy, and interventions lead to more interventions. Women have been having babies since Creation, without doctors, at home, in fields, in cars. And humanity survived. You don’t have to have your baby at home. That doesn’t mean I don’t have the right to.

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K Reply:
August 28th, 2010 at 12:06 pm K(Quote)

Read the article from the British Medical Journal, 2005. Homebirth with a certified professional midwife (with a sample size of over 3000 homebirths and a comparable number of low-risk hospital patients) resulted in no significant difference in safety to the babies. Moms, however, were less likely to be sectioned or tears/episiotomies. Equal safety for babies, less for moms.

Anecdotes do not substitute for data, and bias does not equal reasoned analysis.

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Heather F had this to say, Aug 26, 2010 @ 1:08 pm (Quote)

Is he saying that home birth isn’t an option at all, or that he’s not able to attend a home birth? Why would an OB be at a home birth anyway? Wouldn’t a midwife or doula be good enough?

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Kit Reply:
August 27th, 2010 at 7:30 pm Kit(Quote)

A friend of mine had her second baby’s birth attended by a licensed OB, who did not have a practice at the time. (a family friend who was mostly retired but still does the occasional birth)

Who proceeded to sit on her couch and check on her every hour or so and ask “Are you still okay? You want something for pain? No? Okay, yell if you need anything sweetie.” He came in after the baby was born to check things out, make sure there was no tearing (there was, but he looked at it and told her “I can’t put in a stitch. You’ve just got a little booboo.”) and sign the papers. Then he went and got a camera, took some pics of the baby for the new parents (and requested one for his “Baby Album”) and offered to take her out to eat if she thought she was up for it.

He’ll be attending birth 3 sometime in march we think.

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Kit Reply:
August 27th, 2010 at 7:33 pm Kit(Quote)

forgot to add, Baby2 was feet first. Its not a breech(although for the life of me I do not remember what its called) and the OB decided that it was okay for Friend to deliver alone in the room, but told her that any ‘abnormal pain” needed to be checked out by him because he was a bit worried about the baby’s elbows gettign stuck. (oddly, the feet first presentation is when he decided that he would prefer her not get any pain relief, because he says that a unmedicated woman can ‘sometimes feel problems that a medicated woman just can’t')

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Alyson Miers Reply:
August 27th, 2010 at 8:45 pm Alyson Miers(Quote)

I thought any head-last presentation was a breech. Feet first is a footling breech, y/n?

Either way, that doc sounds awesome.

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K had this to say, Aug 27, 2010 @ 11:06 am (Quote)

Breech at home is pretty irresponsible.

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Lisa Reply:
August 27th, 2010 at 5:46 pm Lisa(Quote)

I say the skill level of the person attending the birth has more to do with the level of responsibility than the location does.

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Elizabeth Reply:
August 28th, 2010 at 2:30 am Elizabeth(Quote)

Ok, so which is more responsible, a breech birth at home where either the mother or a midwife knows to leave well enough alone and follow instincts to ensure a safe arrival, or go to the hospital to almost 100% of the time be forced into an unnecesarean simply because doctors are no longer trained to attend vaginal breech births, or if you’re lucky allowed a vaginal birth but have the doctor forcefully pulling your baby out risking breaking bones and severe neurological damage? hmmmmm……

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Dee had this to say, Aug 28, 2010 @ 3:49 am (Quote)

all this stuff is really, really scaring me.

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Krista Reply:
September 10th, 2010 at 10:54 pm Krista(Quote)

Dee,

What about it is scaring you? In my experience, not having all the information is the scariest part of having a baby. If you’d like to talk about it and don’t feel comfortable here, email me. shortcake343567@gmail.com

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Dee had this to say, Sep 11, 2010 @ 10:19 pm (Quote)

Thanks for you response Krista : )
I am a heavy mother to be, and although I havent had a major fat-biased OB horror story just yet, I have been getting told that vaginal birth may not be possible and my baby is at risk for a variety of things, even though all of the tests they give me come back negative and im very healthy. my midwife is actually a heavy lady herself and shes quite comforting, and lets me know that just because im heavy does not mean i cant have a healthy baby.her telling me that was a sigh of relief. I honestly think im just worrying myself a bit too much, but thats normal for a first time mommy to be right? I really just want a safe delivery and I want to avoid a c section at all costs.
I hope I made sense : )

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Liss had this to say, Nov 30, 2010 @ 6:01 pm (Quote)

Hi Dee,
I weighed 223 pounds before I conceived and went on to have an incredibly healthy and comfortable pregnancy, culminating in the peaceful home water birth of my perfect baby. I’m glad your midwife is encouraging you, and I hope that she will be attending your delivery in a setting that is free from fatness-bias. Books like “Does this Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat” (Mysko and Amadei) and “Big, Beautiful, and Pregnant” (Van der Ziel and Tourville) helped me a lot. p.s. my weight gain was not restricted – I followed the Brewer Diet. Best of luck to you!

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