Gross.

I really hope the poster RAN from this practice. Wow. It sounds really barbaric. Makes it sound like NO woman can birth without an OB doing all the work.

Anytime someone says they won’t “let” me do something, that automatically means I’m going to do it just to piss them off.

Okay then I’m outta here. Not what I was looking for at all. And who is teaching them this? This is crack pot medicine! Now we are inducing by 39 weeks! WTH happened to 40 weeks. I go almost 41 weeks if I remember to adjust for late ovulation. If I give my true LMP I go longer than that. F you, but thanks for the heads up! No seriously F you. I AM NOT A LIBRARY BOOK!

Oh my God. This is horrifying. But at least they’re honest. If the OP stayed with this practice, I hate to say it, but they had fair warning.

Wait– internals to “stretch things out?” WTF? I only had two internals my whole pregnancy. One to check for amniotic fluid leak (false alarm), and one minutes before pushing. The L&D nurses didn’t appreciate it that I arrived at the hospital fully dilated, LOL. But my reasoning was, I’ll give them less time to do unneeded stuff to me.

The NP at my OB’s practice said something similar… they “wouldn’t let” me go past 41 weeks. My thought was “just try and stop me!” I ended up going into labor at 40w3d, so it was a nonissue, but still… kind of upsetting.

I didn’t know you could mechanically ripen a cervix. Is that like smashing a banana with your fist until it turns brown so it looks ripe?

Sounds like she could have been warning these parents. Given the way the physician she works with practices, it’s probably the best thing she could have done for the family.

Midwife really means:

“The doctor will induce by 39 weeks because there is too much risk after that of spontaneous labor, which might happen at an inconvenient time and the baby just keeps getting bigger, which makes Dr. Stabby-Hands really uncomfortable because babies over 8 pounds are totally passe.”

so this guy must induce every one because not many women go into labor on their own by 39 weeks. jeez what are they afraid of?

I usually try to come up with something witty to say, but this is so horrifying I can only think “OMG, GIMMIE MY CHART AND I’LL BE ON MY WAY PLEASE! THANKS BYE!” followed by zooming the heck out of Dr. Stabby’s office. Aaaaaiiieeeeeee!

my god, what was the c/s rate in this practice for Failure to Progress?!?!?!?!?!?

It really angers me that a nurse-midwife said this and seemed to think it was okay. In addition to hoping OP ran like crazy away from this practice, I wish the CNM had also. What a crock!

Certified Nurse MEDwife….

And the baby just keeps getting bigger……..
Aaaaaand what’s wrong with that, what with all the news about preemies and tiny babies not being able to nurse or regulate their temperature?
I should think docs would be happy to see big babies!
I’m glad this couple had fair warning of this doc’s practices, but it’s sick to think that he has a practice at all, which means there are women out there who think they’re broken, and can’t birth on their own without a sci-fi horror movie happening to them.

Weekly internals at 37 weeks? That sounds stupid. How many infections do they have to fight since they keep sicking their hands where they don’t belong? And what if the “due date” is off by a week or more (been known to happen)…how many babies come out to early? This one really ticks me off. I sure hope the CNM was telling the parents as a warning so they could find someone sane.

Oh my Lord… I don’t know what else to say.

I wonder what’s their rate of iatrogenic prematurity, since they’re monkeying around with the system and stripping membranes at 37 weeks. If their dating is off, the baby could be born early enough to require NICU and breathing assistance.

And this is better than waiting for spontaneous labor because as we all know, any natural system is inferior to the artificial replacement provided in the hospital setting. :-b

Run for the hills when you hear something like that.

What are these people *thinking*????

I still want to know where this consent form is that strips mothers of all physical autonomy once they enter a doctor’s practice. I don’t remember ever signing that one.

Ugh.

I admit I’m a tiny bit concerned for my best friend, who is low-risk and due with her first in March/April. She saw BOBB and chose a hospital-based CNM practice, which is cool (I’m a HB person myself and didn’t want to be pushy). But when she said “I think where I give birth is less important than who I give birth with, you know?” I thought, “I hope she knows about medwives.” I’m not saying her CNMs are medwives (nor that HB MWs can’t be “medwives” too), but if she’s going by Ricki Lake’s birth* and thinks a midwife is a midwife is a midwife, well…

*I haven’t seen the movie– I just mean I know she had a HB.

I guess it’s a good thing I’m not asking for permission then, isn’t it?

I hope all the patients that come into this practice lie about their LMPs, or better yet, RUNNNNNNN..
(41 weeks today, BTW)

A midwife said this? More like a “med”wife. This just pisses me off. I’m glad you had the sense to run!

On a side note: My midwife had 2 c-sections. That’s why she became a midwife. She knew that she would have been fine with both of them if she’d just been left alone. She let OBs do what they do best (scare and treat non-existent issues) and it ended up in emergency. Sadly, 7 years into her practice, my son was the first all-natural birth she attended. My daughter, 3 years later, was her third.

Guess my 42 week 8 lb 10oz VBAC would have made this practice pee itself out of fear. Glad I’m a little braver than that.

They would have been really excited about my 38 week 5 lb 13oz C/S that required a week in the NICU- I guess that’s how they like ‘em…

Personally I love both of my children, but the “big” (for real- they actually think 8 lbs is *big*?) one has been happier and healthier from the get-go (which makes for a happier momma too…).

39 weeks?!?! Holy lack of patience, Batman!

My *former* OB that I had during my first pregnancy wouldn’t let women go to their due dates to prevent stillborns… He said that every 3 years or so of him allowing women to go to their due dates he has seen a stillborn or two and now induces everyone at 39 weeks to avoid it… thankfully I went into natural labor beforehand but regrettably ended up with a csection because of too many interventions and a very impatient delivery doctor…

I am so happy that my midwife is letting me go to around 42 weeks!

It ticks me off to no end that doctors get all panicky at the (SLIGHT increase in) risk as babies go beyond term (that’s 42 weeks, btw). These are the same doctors who have NO problem with the vastly increased risks of prematurity. 2 weeks early is a heck of a lot more risky than 2 weeks late.

On Facebook, there’s an ongoing discussion on a fan page for homebirth regarding a blog by an otherwise level-headed midwife who, in that one particular entry in her blog, says that midwifery care should not be framed as superior to obstetric care, because that’s divisive, but rather be acknowledged as merely “different.”

I disagreed heartily with that opinion. I think this MOBSW submission in particular is a perfect example of why the midwifery model of care is superior to the medical, not just different – and an even better illustration of how doctors LOVE midwives, provided the midwives act as assistants and “support” rather than as independent care professionals and competitors.

Not that MEDwives will go away if direct entry midwifery is legitimized and protected everywhere, but the current system encourages a lot more medwifery. Like this. And obstetricians know a good thing when they have it. They love CNMs like this one, because they have a partner who can offer all the emotional support, personalized care, and labour-sitting that they themselves have no time or inclination for, and meanwhile, the medwife who lures mothers in can be the enforcer and push all the interventions the doctor orders.

I have to parrot an excellent zinger that one of our regulars posted in a similar thread: “Gee, I didn’t realize I needed anyone’s permission to be pregnant.”

Wow, No I think I have lots of other options, trusting my body to do what it knows to do it the main one…. thanks but NO Thanks….