Nov 23

Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.

“How Do You Expect Me To Work?”

“How do you expect me to work?” – OB to mother who asked if she can birth in a position other than flat on her back.

52 people dislike these words.

There are 21 comments to this post.

Nora Rae had this to say, Nov 23, 2011 @ 2:18 pm (Quote)

If that’s oh so difficult for you, doctor, I can do it myself! No problem!

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Paula had this to say, Nov 23, 2011 @ 3:10 pm (Quote)

The same way midwives have since the beginning of man?

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Sheva had this to say, Nov 23, 2011 @ 3:18 pm (Quote)

Uh, doc, how do you expect ME to work?!?! Because I’m the one doing all the work here.

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Jane had this to say, Nov 23, 2011 @ 3:34 pm (Quote)

I expect you to intervene in case I can’t do it myself, not to prevent me from doing it myself.

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Mama Wrench had this to say, Nov 23, 2011 @ 3:37 pm (Quote)

Not my job. Not my problem. YOU’RE the one who went to medical school. Since I keep being told I must go to the hospital because doctors are more knowledgeable about birth than I am, shouldn’t YOU be the one to come up with the ideas?

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Angela had this to say, Nov 23, 2011 @ 3:40 pm (Quote)

1. Find woman in labor
2. Figure out where the baby will be arriving
3. Get ready to catch the baby.

Not super complicated!

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Robyn Reply:
November 25th, 2011 at 4:44 pm Robyn(Quote)

Maybe not in a hospital, but I remember awhile back in my birth group someone posted a link to a group of midwives they were looking into. They had a picture on their page that said something along the lines of “You birth in whatever position is most comfortable for you, even if we have to crawl under the bed to catch.” The picture was of a mom with her back up against the dresser with her feet pressed against the bed and the midwife was halfway under the bed so she could catch. I wish I could find the link.

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Tee had this to say, Nov 23, 2011 @ 3:45 pm (Quote)

Oh, good point! In that case, why don’t you just stay home, doc? I’m sure someone else that hasn’t had years of medical training can figure out how to put out their hands and catch the baby.

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Sarah had this to say, Nov 23, 2011 @ 4:19 pm (Quote)

Yes, heaven forbid you be the least bit uncomfortable or inconvenienced while I’m pushing a human being through my pelvis. :massive eye roll:

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Tar Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 4:40 pm Tar(Quote)

This.

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jaed had this to say, Nov 23, 2011 @ 6:38 pm (Quote)

Well, think about it!

How is he supposed to use the forceps and extractor if she’s not on her back?

How is he supposed to cut her perineum if she’s not on her back?

How is he supposed to establish the sterile field if she’s not on her back? For heaven’s sake, you can’t allow a baby to be born without establishing the sterile field first!

Remember, birth is a medical procedure. That’s why a doctor must deliver the infant. (I suspect that’s another reason why it’s a bad thing for a woman to not be on her back – because if she’s upright, “the baby might fall out” as we heard recently, and would have to be put back or something in order to allow the OB to perform the birth procedure properly. And that would be dangerous!) Because the doctor is the person who performs the medical procedure known as “birth”, his comfort is of course paramount. The birth cannot occur until the doctor arrives, and when he does, the patient should be positioned for his convenience. Just as with other procedures.

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Mama Wrench Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 7:52 pm Mama Wrench(Quote)

My son recently had the croup, and we ended up taking him to the hospital for an extremely swollen airway. They kept trying to get an x-ray of his lungs, but being a sick 2 year-old, he didn’t want to stay still. Finally my husband suggested sitting on the exam table with our son and holding him in his lap and taking the x-ray that way so our son wouldn’t feel scared and alone.

The radiologist thought it was a genius idea, even took the screen off the stand and held it behind our son to make it happen. End result: Happy toddler, perfect shot, in much less time than it would have taken to take another three or four x-rays trying to make him sit still. The radiologist even said he was going to suggest it to other parents from now on.

Moral of the story: Sometimes when you put your pride as an All-Exalted Doctor aside for ten damn minutes, you’ll learn things that will not only make for a more pleasant AND healthier experience for your patients, but that can benefit your future patients, too.

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K Reply:
November 24th, 2011 at 1:44 pm K(Quote)

Seems like there’s a lot of those kinds of stories coming from non-OB specialties. I don’t know why. I have a non-OB doc in the family, and he took a look through the green journal (ACOG’s publication) and was really surprised/disgusted at the tone of the editorials, not to mention the poor quality of some of the papers.

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Mama Wrench Reply:
November 24th, 2011 at 4:26 pm Mama Wrench(Quote)

The sad thing is that most OBs think the ACOG is TOO extreme when it comes to patient autonomy. I read somewhere that only about 5% of OBs subscribe to the ACOG and follow all of their guidelines in their practices.

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GAMZu had this to say, Nov 23, 2011 @ 9:44 pm (Quote)

This isn’t mine, but I have been told the same exact thing! One of my quotes was on here about a year ago, that my OB said “Where do you get all these strange ideas?” upon reading my birth plan. Then when she began to tear apart the plan line by line, she asked me how I expect her to deliver the baby if I’m not flat on my back.

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Susan Peterson Reply:
November 24th, 2011 at 2:18 am Susan Peterson(Quote)

What inspires these people to go into OB, when they simple have no clue about birth?

I guess the answer is, “Doctor, I DON’T expect you to deliver the baby, I expect you to catch it. Sort of like an outfielder. You know, he looks where the ball is coming from, and moves around until he is under it. ”

My midwife could do it. Even my husband was able to do it. So why can’t the doctor do it?

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BeckyJ had this to say, Nov 24, 2011 @ 4:29 am (Quote)

I just birthed completely naturally the other day, in contrast to my first two births, and I feel so bad for women who went through it naturally and were forced to be on their backs. I KNOW it would have been unbearable for me to be on my back. I HAD to be on all fours. It hurt to be any other way.

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K Reply:
November 24th, 2011 at 1:45 pm K(Quote)

Congratulations!!!

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Dorothy KernaghanBaez- had this to say, Nov 24, 2011 @ 12:09 pm (Quote)

Try being physically forced on your back and “pushing a person” through your pelvis….with scoliosis and the beginning of arthritis in your back…. I felt like I was in a torture chamber.

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