Nov 8

Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.

“I’m Away On Vacation So Don’t Give Birth During That Weekend.”

“I’m away on vacation so don’t give birth during that weekend.” – OB to mother.

43 people dislike these words.

There are 28 comments to this post.

Tiffany had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 10:58 am (Quote)

Yeah, I’ll just squeeze my thighs shut until you’re back. :rolls eyes:

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Amber had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 11:00 am (Quote)

I’d actually smile and chuckle at this- at least the doc wants to be there for you when you’re giving birth, not have you with some on-call you’ve never met!

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Sarah Reply:
November 9th, 2011 at 8:56 am Sarah(Quote)

My doc said something similar to this to me except he wasn’t going on vacation, he was working at another hospital out of town that week. He was so excited to help me deliver my baby that he didn’t want to miss it. He was scheduled to be in surgery the day she was born and even went out of his way to check on me many times while I was in labor and handled nearly all of my care and even had his wife bring dinner to the hospital so that he would be able to be there when she was born.

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Jane had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 11:05 am (Quote)

I read this as a joke.

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KDB Reply:
November 8th, 2011 at 11:19 am KDB(Quote)

Yeah, I don’t see this as all that bad, either.

“I want to induce you the Thursday before since I’m going on vacation that weekend.”

See, it could be worse?

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jaed Reply:
November 8th, 2011 at 2:55 pm jaed(Quote)

I hope it’s a joke. As a joke, it’s kind of cute… but this isn’t Thursday so I’m guessing there is some sort of backstory.

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Details had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 11:12 am (Quote)

Any doctor that will give you a heads up when he is going to be away two days maybe three because he doesn’t want to miss your birth is okay in my book. Of course this could have been followed by something else to make it horrible. But compared to scheduling an induction or c-section before he leaves. Woot Woot.

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AmandaPN had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 11:16 am (Quote)

It must be the way it was said? I wouldn’t expect an OB to never take a vacation… even midwives and doulas do. Like other commenters have said, at least the OB is letting the mother know. So yeah, maybe there was an attitude that went along with this to make it so bad?

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amelia had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 11:24 am (Quote)

Ok, I’ll pass on the memo to the baby

“Hey you in there! Don’t decide to be born between these dates. Kick to the left if you agree.”
(Yes, I frequently had conversations like this with my baby lol)

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YaraC had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 11:29 am (Quote)

I would have to hear a lot more of this story to read that as anything but a joke and good sign that the OB actually wanted to be there.

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Kim had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 11:29 am (Quote)

Doesn’t sond bad to me! My ob once said “I’m the on call doc this weekend, so it would be a good time to go into labor” it was said as a joke, but guess who decided she wanted to be born Saturday night? Lol.

At least doc didn’t say “I’m going on vacation, so let’s induce you before I leave”

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Kylie Reply:
November 8th, 2011 at 12:24 pm Kylie(Quote)

My doc always joked in the last weeks about which days (i.e. her on-call days) I should go into labor. She did end up sending me for induction at 40 weeks though. And guess who was the scheduled baby catcher for the next day? Coincidence, I’m sure.

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Heather P Reply:
November 8th, 2011 at 12:37 pm Heather P(Quote)

I read this as a joke and not serious either.

My doctor DID try to get me to schedule an induction around his vacation. He had a vacation the week before my due date then he was going to be in town two days and gone again on labor day weekend. He wanted me to schedule the induction for the friday before. I passed and baby was born when he was out of town. http://myobsaidwhat.com/2009/11/18/pitocin-isnt-that-bad/

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Heather had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 11:33 am (Quote)

That’s pretty much the exact words that put me into labor finally XD My OB said she was going out of town (hers was a medical conference) and not to go into labor on Saturday. Went into labor Saturday, had my baby Sunday, LOL.

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Julie Reply:
November 9th, 2011 at 6:09 am Julie(Quote)

Same with my last baby! My doctor let me know at my 39-week appointment that she’d be out of town the next week (she didn’t say why, and I didn’t inquire). I think we both figured that being still barely 1cm dilated and high and hard, I wouldn’t go into labor. Nope! Baby came Wednesday the week she was gone!

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Nica had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 11:34 am (Quote)

This isn’t horrible, but it all depends on context of course…

I still joke with my OB because I went to labor on a Wednesday morning when she was already at the hospital for two scheduled surgeries. I didn’t go into active labor until both her surgeries were completed. She didn’t even have to make a special trip to the hospital for us! LOL!

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Erica Douglas had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 11:37 am (Quote)

If the doctor and patient had a good relationship, I could see this being a fun joke. My doula was out of town for a week during my 36th week of pregnancy and she said something similar to me. HOWEVER, she also made sure I had her back-up doula’s phone number so that if I did go into labor, I had support. If this wass a true command, it’s just creepy.

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xanthina Reply:
November 8th, 2011 at 2:48 pm xanthina(Quote)

When my OB went was going on a vacation near the end of my pregnancy. It was before I was due, but she offered to transfer me to a midwife so that I would be sure to get the care that I wanted. I decided not to transfer, and of course she was back before baby showed up.

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Liz had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 12:59 pm (Quote)

My Dr’s wife surprised him with an anniversary getaway weekend the week I was due. My Dr apologized profusely. I have found that when I am stressed I won’t go into labor. Baby waited till he was back from vacation. My body even waited to go into full on labor until my hubby got home from work. I had the baby 2 days after my Dr got off vacation and 2 hours after hubby got home.

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Jane Reply:
November 9th, 2011 at 9:08 am Jane(Quote)

I was thinking along these lines too. Sometimes the mind can hold off on labor until the mom feels safe. If she would only feel safe with a certain doctor, she might hold off labor until then.

And frankly, isn’t that a lot of why labor stalls when we go tot he hospital? Because suddenly we’re no longer able to be safe in our nests; instead we have to be under bright lights where anyone can walk into the room at any time and start asking pointless questions or take blood or take vital signs or talk to the beepy machine or stick their fingers in us.

I vaguely remember a story about a woman whose labor stalled out whenever the husband came home. She’d be in full-blown labor right up until the minute he walked in the door, and then contractions would stop. The midwife asked later and found out the marriage wasn’t good.

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Ruth had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 1:49 pm (Quote)

I don’t see this as being a bad comment either. My midwife, before her vacation, told me, “Keep the baby in!” with a smile. I just took it as she wanted to be at my birth rather than me get her back up.

Her vacation was over 2 days before my due date, and I ended up going almost to 42 weeks, so she was at my birth.

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Wendy had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 1:53 pm (Quote)

I trust the OP’s on this site to know the context of their situation better than any of us ever will. The OP would not have posted this if there weren’t something wrong or “off” about this comment’s delivery or context. Looking forward to the pink link…

On a slightly related but sweeter note, I had both of my babies at a CNM/CPM practice. The MW who caught my first told me in regards to my second, “Well, I’m on duty next week and leave for vacation the week after. So try to go into labor next week so that *I* can attend your birth.”

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Dreamy had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 3:53 pm (Quote)

This would be bad coming during a first appointment, though, don’t you folks think? Especially if doc is supposed to go on vacation for an extended period of time, like this woman’s Week 39-42 or something. I mean, what’s the point? Might as well refer you to someone else.

That’s the guess that makes the most sense to me.

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Silja Reply:
November 9th, 2011 at 9:17 am Silja(Quote)

Both the doctors I had (a OB for my first birth-twins- in Ireland and a Family Practitioner for my subsequent VBAC in a ban hospital in Arkansas) scheduled their vacations a year in advance and did not take clients due within two weeks either side of their time away. It never occured to me doctors would do otherwise, but then, I’ve also never attended a large office with many rotating doctors.

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Ashley Reply:
November 10th, 2011 at 3:37 pm Ashley(Quote)

Family practioners don’t have that flexibility. My sons and daughter were delivered by our family doctor at a small town hospital. She was part of a practice (one of two in the whole town) of eight doctors. We did a rotation of ob visits to become familiar with each doctor. I still preferred my doc but also got a feel for each of the other. And they varied from very progressive to old fogies.

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Dreamy had this to say, Nov 8, 2011 @ 3:54 pm (Quote)

Whoops! Never mind– I didn’t see “weekend.” Well, IDK then. Must be some other context.

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