Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
May
25
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“…I Just Wanted To Pop It…So Your Baby Doesn’t…Suffocate…”
“Your bag of water isn’t completely broken. I just wanted to pop it the rest of the way so your baby doesn’t have the sac over his face and suffocate when he’s trying to take his first breath, but if you’re going to be such a baby about it…” – OB to mother who had her membranes ruptured during her labor without her consent.
There are 24 comments to this post.
Like people have said on other posts, when the doc resorts to name-calling and shaming to convince the mom to do something, he’s lying.
What a jerk.
And, suffocate? Really??
You mean your reflexes aren’t fast enough to pull the caul away from the baby’s face after the birth? You know, like the dumbest animal knows how to do? Way to go, doc.
[Reply]
Jane Reply:
May 25th, 2011 at 6:12 am (Quote)
I was wondering that. If my cat can figure out how to open the sac on five kittens, how come a doctor can’t figure it out after all those years of medical school?
And nice to blame the mother for the doctor’s failure to obtain consent.
[Reply]
Heather Reply:
May 25th, 2011 at 11:05 am (Quote)
I actually had a cat too dumb to do that. She just stared at the kittens like “WTF is that?” and I, at 12 years old, was intelligent enough to tear the sacs over their faces so they could breathe until she got the idea of what to do (I actually had to encourage her to lick them, etc.). But she was a kitten herself (she got out and pregnant in her first heat) and it was her first litter.
But, seriously, if a 12 year old knows you just break the sac AFTER the baby is born…
[Reply]
beth had this to say,
May 25, 2011 @ 6:06 am (Quote)
My third was born in the caul and my midwife had no trouble ripping the bag open after my son was born.
[Reply]
Jane Reply:
May 25th, 2011 at 6:13 am (Quote)
Was she a unicorn midwife? They use their magic sparkly horns. 
[Reply]
Beth Reply:
May 25th, 2011 at 7:38 am (Quote)
I wish. I’m actually pretty jealous of anyone who has had a unicorn midwife.
It was funny though. She was trying to rip it as he was crowning, because he was having serious decels. We think it was a cord compression, but we were definitely trying to speed up his exit at that point, because we were on the verge of transferring. Her little amnihook couldn’t break it, so she had gauze in each hand to try and get some traction on it, but it just wouldn’t let go until he was out. I do think if it had broken earlier (i like just before the urge to push) i would have been able to push him out faster.
[Reply]
Babies are born with the membrane over their face all the time. Animal and human babies. They don’t suffocate.
Why is this? Because the placenta is still attached, and oxygenated blood is still getting to the baby during the ten seconds or so it takes to remove the membrane.
It’s only human doctors with a hero complex who can turn something that is so biologically simple and elegant into something that is a Life! Threatening! Emergency! in their own mind.
[Reply]
Are you going to cut the cord the instant the baby is out? Hold your hand over his nose and mouth? NOT remove the membranes from his face? No?
Then shut it. The baby is not going to suffocate. Come up with a different reason you want to rupture my waters. But I’m pretty sure that even if they don’t break on their own, my baby will be just fine. And I’m not being a baby, you’re being a bully. And a stupid one at that. *Mutters under breath* “Tries to tell me my baby will suffocate… How dumb do you think I am…”
[Reply]
The story behind this one:
My water had already broken, and what seemed like 5 gallons of fluid had gushed everywhere. During the internal exam, the OB muttered to the nurse for an amniohook. As a rape survivor, I had already told him not to do any procedures, especially internal ones, without my express consent (to keep my PTSD under control for the birth). Not being either deaf or an idiot, I heard him and started saying “no, no, please don’t!”. The awesome nurse stalled and took forever handing him the hook, by which time my husband understood what was going on and started saying “Stop! Don’t do anything!”
The OB then pulled his hand out of my and gave the little gem of a speech above, saying that my sac was only partially broken and he needed to finish the job so my baby didn’t suffocate. Idiot. Unfortunately, there were no other OBs avaialable to replace him, but the awesome nurse took him out of the room and gave him a good talking to. After that, he didn’t do anything without my express consent.
[Reply]
Melissa Reply:
May 25th, 2011 at 7:51 am (Quote)
Uggggggggggh. What a piece of work. Glad your nurse was protective and then “explained” things to him.
[Reply]
details Reply:
May 25th, 2011 at 8:08 am (Quote)
“Not being either deaf or and idiot” ROFLOL
You go girl! and yea for the nurse and your husband. What a dumbass doctor to pull that stunt on anybody but a rape survivor he has already been warned about! Geez!
BTW it was 3 quarts of water when by bag broke- calcualted based on weight loss from earlier that day and the density of water. Go pour 3/4 of a gallon of water all over your bed out of a milk jug sized hole and see if that looks about right and takes about forever! I remember laying in bed waiting for it to stop and then getting up to go to the shower and it started again. The second time I got myself to the toilet asap rather than continuing to leak all over the mattress.
[Reply]
Alison, I’m sorry the OB was an ass, but way to go with your husband and the nurse for getting him to straighten up and friggin fly right.
Dear Doc, Um, why does exiting my vagina suddenly turn the caul into a plastic bag? It used to be considered good luck to be born in the caul, and you have right up to the point that the cord stops pulsing to pull the bag away from the baby’s face. Breathe. It’ll be OK. It’s not an emergency situation.
[Reply]
Alison Reply:
May 25th, 2011 at 7:15 pm (Quote)
That nurse was so awesome. She was almost as thrilled as I was that I was *finally* dilating after weeks of every-three-minute contractions and misery. I was so glad I delivered right before the end of her shift so she could see the baby. She put him right up on my belly so he could nurse almost immediately. The awful doc was even a little afraid of her!
[Reply]
Lindsey had this to say,
May 25, 2011 @ 8:18 pm (Quote)
@Heather, I only recently heard of being born in the caul being a sign of luck or a ‘third eye’ type thing. I was talking with my grandma about how my daughter does or says things that give me the heebie jeebies sometimes (ie: “mommy, that baby in your belly sure is going to be cute” said to me when I was 6 weeks pregnant and had not a clue about it yet, or telling me she was sad that my parents dog was going to heaven (hours before it was hit by a car) for example). My gran filled me in on the ‘old wives tale’ and I am totally a believer now.
[Reply]
Trish Reply:
May 27th, 2011 at 9:42 pm (Quote)
WOW…that gave me the heebie jeebies! I will have to ask my mom if I was born in the caul…cause I have a way of knowing when people pass too…not that I want to, but I have told my husband “so-and-so is gonna die today” and they did (it’s only happened 2 times, and to be fair they were old & sick, but we didn’t know FOR SURE, it was just a feeling) I’m worried because today I actually had the thought my MIL was going to pass on my husband’s b-day (june 26th) she’s fighting stage IVb cervical cancer 
(
[Reply]
Add Your Comment.
Previous Post
« “Pop Goes The Weasel!” Next Post
“…It’s…Her Stool. It’s All Over The Baby! What A Huge Mess!” »
« “Pop Goes The Weasel!” Next Post
“…It’s…Her Stool. It’s All Over The Baby! What A Huge Mess!” »
Now, Doc, if you had just sheepishly admitted that you “just wanted to pop it”–and stopped there–that might have been shameful, disrespectful, and unprofessional , but to then make up a risk that the baby would suffocate?
So, you started to tell the truth (even though it made you seem like a twelve year old with a zit) but couldn’t manage it, so went to the default “but really, I’m a hero” imaginary danger scenario, so you could turn the tables on mom’s just anger and make it all her fault for being “a baby” about it.
Nice.
[Reply]
Jane Reply:
May 25th, 2011 at 7:25 am Jane(Quote)
But he didn’t start with the truth. He stared by saying the membranes weren’t completely ruptured. Yes, there’s still SOME fluid in there, kind of like there’s still air in a balloon after you pop it. But the whole thing was minimizing the woman’s objection to his non-consensual intervention.
[Reply]
Melissa Reply:
May 25th, 2011 at 7:48 am Melissa(Quote)
Right…”but I only popped it a little!”
[Reply]