Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Dec
10
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“…Women Of Your Size Just Don’t Birth Babies Like Slender Women Do.”
“Well, the use of interventions in your case is classic. Women of your size just don’t birth babies like slender women do.” – OB to mother while going over previous births.
There are 31 comments to this post.
Ashley Bean had this to say,
Dec 10, 2011 @ 7:20 pm (Quote)
So then whats your excuse to “slender women” when they “need” unnecessary interventions? This logic…or lack there of…is just mind boggling
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Kate, Ren's Mama had this to say,
Dec 10, 2011 @ 7:24 pm (Quote)
Based on what, exactly? How is the extra weight interfering with the ability to birth a baby?
I am a very overweight woman, and I had no trouble pushing out an almost 9lb baby with a nuchal hand on my back after 36 hours on mag-sulf and pit.
Fat != weak
Fat != lazy
Fat != broken
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“excuse me??!!!” that is so rude of the OB. What does slender and fat have to do with ability to birth? I used to be overweight both times before each of my two kids, and now I am not. I didn’t need any interventions, well didn’t know about stuff the first time, but still, that is shallow of the OB. It has to do with the muscles not the body weight. Just like you would think a skinny person would move faster than a big boned person. Not true at all.
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Heather P had this to say,
Dec 10, 2011 @ 8:27 pm (Quote)
Amusing that they used the word “classic”. Like the renaissance statutes of curvy women depicting feminine beauty. Or we could go back even further where stone-age carvers made goddesses out of limestone that resembled heavy women. The very picture of fertility and beauty.
Women haven’t changed much in the millennia since, only the perception of them.
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Now the thing is that if the OB had stopped after the first sentence, this would actually make sense. Interventions are more common when fat mothers are giving birth. It is an explanation for what happened – medical practitioners generally do use more interventions in “women of your size”, and the cascade is more commonly seen because of it.
And then the OB goes right off the rails with that second sentence. Buh?
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Jane Reply:
December 11th, 2011 at 4:02 am (Quote)
“Well, the use of interventions in your case is classic. Doctors meddle a lot more with heavier women than they do with smaller women because they’re been subtly programmed by our culture to believe slender women are perfect and heavier women are broken. Therefore we’re more likely to force a heavier woman to submit to unnecessary interventions and we’re more likely to bring more pressure to bear, which you have to admit is unfair because many women with weight problems already have self-esteem issues AND also believe their bodies are broken. So we reinforce that sense of brokenness and get the women to admit their bodies don’t work and they need us to save them. Women of your size just don’t birth like slender women do because we don’t let them.”
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Jenny Islander Reply:
December 11th, 2011 at 10:28 am (Quote)
This should be printed on a card and sent to every OB in the entire United States.
I had a midwife for all three labors. I had shadow care at a medical practice. I had an OB tell me that just because I was visibly fat he knew for a fact that I had lots of fat deposits in my vagina–like the fat deposits just inside a roasting bird, I suppose–and therefore I could not give birth without his tools and skills, but mostly the tools of course.
My longest labor was 12 hours and neither I nor any of my children have suffered any sequelae from having given birth at home under the care of a midwife.
I counsel every expectant mother I know against going to that particular OB. I would not put my life or my baby’s life in the hands of somebody who cannot tell the difference between a woman’s vagina and a turkey’s ass.
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Jenny Islander Reply:
December 11th, 2011 at 10:33 am (Quote)
Forgot to add: People who go to the only hospital in town to give birth have to get whoever is on rotation. So they may get Doctor Fat Twat.
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A nurse friend of mine said to me today, “You know, you’re going to have a really hard time having your baby. You’re so short, and your feet are so tiny. They say you can only birth a baby that’s as many pounds as your shoe size, and you wear a 5.” So, if you’re too fat, too skinny, too tall, or too short, you’re going to have a terrible time of it! How has our species existed for so long?!
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Jena Reply:
December 10th, 2011 at 10:41 pm (Quote)
Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!
At least I wear a size 10, but WHAT?!
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Bonita Reply:
December 10th, 2011 at 11:12 pm (Quote)
Tell your friend that this woman with size 8 feet has given birth to a 9lb 2oz baby, a 10lb 4oz baby AND a 10lb 6oz baby! All vaginally, the last two at home!
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Jena Reply:
December 10th, 2011 at 11:30 pm (Quote)
The things I’ve heard some nurses say blows me away. (Before a recent minor procedure, I overheard one nurse telling another that feeding her sons regular store-bought eggs could make her boys gay, and the nurse was thus convinced that she had to buy only free-range eggs, preferably from a local farm.)
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Holly Reply:
December 11th, 2011 at 9:05 pm (Quote)
HAHAHAHAHAHA That’s funny.. and reminds me of what I told my husband.. I reminded him that what baby eats *now* shapes their taste buds for the future (in utero and while breastfeeding = now). So I told him that I couldn’t *swallow* (YKWIM!!!) or the boys would be gay. HE BELIEVED (still does) me!! He quit pressuring me! I don’t swallow due to childhood triggers but he doesn’t get that. He likes it, I don’t.. huge issue our entire marriage. 
So this was/is my excuse and has worked well for four years now !:) LOL 
The free range chickens just reminded me of this lol
PS.. there is nothing wrong with gay, I love my children either way..
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jaed Reply:
December 11th, 2011 at 12:52 am (Quote)
Why don’t the Old Nurse’s Tales (and Old OB’s Tales) ever go the other way and describe some irrational belief about birth being easier instead of harder?
“Wide feet are a sign of a broad pelvis!”
“Women with small noses never get GD – it’s a fact!”
“It’s well known, green eyes make for an easy labor!”
If people are going to make things up, why not make things up that are encouraging? 
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Mama Wrench Reply:
December 11th, 2011 at 4:32 am (Quote)
Tell her that makes your feet a size 21 in Japan; you’ll be fine
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Lexie Reply:
December 11th, 2011 at 5:27 am (Quote)
Wow how did my mom ever have her 3 children, with her size 6.5 feet? #1 was 8.8, #2 was 9.5 & #3 was 10.2
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genniemom Reply:
December 11th, 2011 at 5:42 am (Quote)
I frequently make up stories about why women will have easier births. I think it worked with my aunt. Every single time I saw her I told her a reason why her birth would be easy or that I had a dream that her birth was perfect. She had a horrible first birth, but her second went perfectly despite how much fear and worry she had. I have no regrets about the lies, although I was clear that they were not medical facts.
About the shoe size thing-my babies are of course much larger than my shoe size, but my feet did get bigger during pregnancy. I guess that was why!
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Toni Reply:
December 11th, 2011 at 8:15 am (Quote)
I’m 5’8″ but only wear a size 7.5 shoe. My babies were 8 lb 4 oz and 9 lb 2 oz. Both born vaginally, with no complications. Heck, the second was way easier than the first (was induced the first time).
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Laura Reply:
December 11th, 2011 at 10:42 am (Quote)
Good grief! LOL. I’m a size 9 – my second, smaller baby was 10 pounds 8 ounces. And once I hit transition, it was about 50 minutes until he was skin to skin on my chest. Pretty sure my shoe size was irrelevant. (Good thing the on-call OB had been expecting that rapid a delivery and had *her* running shoes on, though.
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Patricia Reply:
December 11th, 2011 at 4:39 pm (Quote)
Eeek. After 2 kids, I wear a six, used to prefer a 5, but had a hard time finding them, so I’d look for small 6′s. Even with swollen feet at 41 weeks, my running shoes fit. My son was 8lb15oz, and pooped on the way out. Too bad, I’d like to tell people my 5’1″ body birthed a 9+lb baby with no meds! I love it when I get to look at people and say “what epidural?”.
Seriously, women of many sizes and shapes have been giving birth for how many thousands of years?
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The Deranged Housewife had this to say,
Dec 11, 2011 @ 11:40 am (Quote)
Well, unfortunately the use of interventions for EVERYONE – regardless – is classic. So I don’t think he has much of an argument.
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The Well-Rounded Mama had this to say,
Dec 12, 2011 @ 9:39 pm (Quote)
Research clearly shows that the labors of women of size are intervened in more often. (More oxytocin, more early epidurals, and an earlier decision to go to CS.) When adjusted for, these greatly attenuate the relationship between BMI and CS rate.
Abenhaim and Benjamin 2011, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21639963
“When adjusted for these differences in the management of labour, the increasing rates of CS observed with increasing BMI category was markedly attenuated…Women with an increased BMI are managed differently in labour than women of normal weight. This difference in management in part explains the increased rate of Caesarean section observed with higher BMI.”
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The Well-Rounded Mama had this to say,
Dec 12, 2011 @ 9:45 pm (Quote)
Oh, and shoe size doesn’t mean squat.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12623477
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9136429
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3139180
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Hmmmm . . .
#1 – 9lbs 2oz – c/s for breech presentation (234lbs)
#2 – 7lbs 10oz – Hosp VBAC / 3hr L&D (240lbs)
#3 – 9lbs 8oz – UC WB/ 1hr 45min L&D (250lbs)
#4 – 8lbs – UC/ 2hr 40min L&D (260lbs)
#5 – 7lbs 10oz – UC WB/ 1hr 30min L&D (240lbs)
#6 – 10lbs 9oz – UC WB/ 45min L&D (270lbs)
#7 – 7lbs 15oz – UC WB/ 2hr 45 min L&D (300lbs)
#8 – 7lbs 3oz – UC WB/ 3hr L&D (175lbs)
Sorry according to my data, slender women just don’t birth like me! Simple, easy and FAST!
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Add Your Comment.
Well then what did we do before interventions? “Fat” women just didn’t birth?
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