Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Dec
14
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“I Won’t Be Your OB If You Take A Bradley Class…”
“I won’t be your OB if you take a Bradley class. Bradley doesn’t allow me to practice medicine the way I’ve been trained.” – OB to mother.
There are 38 comments to this post.
My midwife was not the most “natural” care provider I’ve ever heard of (she basically told me a birth plan meant I’d probably end up with a c-section), but she encouraged me to take a Bradley class. I didn’t realize how unusual that was until I started reading this site.
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No, no ,no, you’ve got it all wrong, Doc. It’s not the Bradley doesn’t ALLOW you to practice medicine the way you’ve been trained. It just constantly reminds you of how your training FAILED to show you what birth is SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE.
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Alyson Miers had this to say,
Dec 14, 2011 @ 7:32 pm (Quote)
This is…refreshingly honest, actually.
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Is it just me or does this sound like “I’ll just take my bat and ball and go home” from someone who doesn’t realize *mom* is the one with all the necessary equipment for this game?
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I took a Bradley class with my first child, and when I told the OB that I was seeing at the time (I dumped her at 7 months) she got really nervous. According to my Bradley teacher, there was another one in town that taught her students to be a bit over-aggressive with hospital staff and doctors. I don’t know what this OB’s experience was, but maybe it was something similar?
Let’s be honest- if you buy the OB ticket, you’re going to go for the OB ride.
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me Reply:
December 18th, 2011 at 7:42 pm (Quote)
Cause let’s be honest.. If you choose an ob you deserve what you get, no matter the reason for your choice. Don’t you know a midwife or uc is the ONLY way to go,regardless of the danger to mother or baby?
Right Chara?
So sick of this attitude on this site!
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Chara Reply:
December 19th, 2011 at 6:46 am (Quote)
I’m certainly not saying that everyone who has an OB “gets what they deserve.” I had an OB with my first and when I realized that she wasn’t going to work with me, I switched to a CNM. The CNM was better, but only marginally.
What I’m saying is that we can’t just sit back and expect to get whatever we want from any doctor without doing our homework, or without making informed choices. If you see warning signs, you have to act. Telling a mother how she can or can’t prepare for her birth is a glaring warning sign.
My sister used the same OB that I left during my first pregnancy. She had three of her four babies with the woman and loved her. She liked what the woman had to offer and liked the way she managed her labor. It was what she wanted. I can respect that. My sister isn’t the kind of woman to want to be in control in that situation. She didn’t “Get what she deserved” she got what she *wanted* and that’s the point.
I would never have an unassisted birth, and probably wouldn’t ever quite feel comfortable with a home birth, but I found a fantastic practice of CNM’s that will be there for the delivery of my next baby in the next few weeks. They had no problem when I declined STD testing or GD testing. They had no problem when I told them up front that I wouldn’t be taking antibiotics for GBS if I’m positive- largely because I have such fast labors. You know why? Because I researched the practice and I knew what to expect from them before I committed to having a baby in their care. I bought the CNM-hospital-birth ticket because it’s what I wanted and I was informed.
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Just a tip doc?
Maybe you need more training.
The brain never stops learning.
Neither should you.
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Details Reply:
December 15th, 2011 at 4:32 am (Quote)
I’m thinking Doc should go take a Bradley classes as well. Pull his or her head out. Admitt that there is more to learn than what you already know and improve your practice.
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RT Reply:
December 15th, 2011 at 11:21 am (Quote)
That’s really a great idea. Its too bad more doctors don’t audit classes like this before knocking them down.
It seems to go either way, Doctors either love or hate a patient that self educated and advocates for themselves. Really, when will it be the norm that we all advocate for ourselves and our children instead of just trusting the system?
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Lisa had this to say,
Dec 14, 2011 @ 8:50 pm (Quote)
If the OB knew they were planning in a natural birth, then this comment makes no sense and they are just trying to control the birth. If the OB didn’t know they wanted a natural birth at this point, then he is simply commenting in how he works. I honestly have no idea how the Bradley Method would impede the doctor from doing his job unless he thinks the class will make her want a more natural birth experience which it seems he doesn’t do so she really needs to find a new doc regardless.
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Christine Reply:
December 14th, 2011 at 9:17 pm (Quote)
So much of Bradley is about teaching parents to ask questions, be in charge, and refuse any intervention that is not done for medical reasons. Many doctors do not want the patient participating in the decision making or going against the norm.
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Lisa Reply:
December 14th, 2011 at 9:41 pm (Quote)
I guess you’re right. When we did a hospital tour (before deciding on home birth) we and another couple had both taken Bradley and were asking questions like crazy. The other couple that was there never asked a thing and kept looking at us like we were nuts.
I still think, though, that if the OB knew they were going to do natural child birth, that taking a Bradley class wouldn’t change much in the long run. Most people wanting a natural birth do their homework.
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Wendy Reply:
December 15th, 2011 at 2:58 pm (Quote)
Wow! By that line of reasoning, then, this OB should “fire” all patients who watch The Business of Being Born or read anything by Marsden Wagner, Henri Goer, etc. Or anything from Cochrane Review, which very recently determined that women should have access to food and drink during labor. In fact, let’s just get it all done and have a book-burning party right here on the exam table. After all, informed women are dangerous women…
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Mama Wrench had this to say,
Dec 15, 2011 @ 1:58 am (Quote)
I go to a military clinic that has Lamaze and Bradley schedules in the little handouts they give all new check-ins. Why is it that the military — which one would expect to be the most regimented — is okay with a VBAC mom with a pre-existing heart condition having a natural birth, but a civilian doctor can’t be the least bit flexible in his assembly-line practice? Oh yeah… military docs get paid the same either way, have to stay for their full shift regardless of how their mothers give birth, and have far less fear of litigation. Oh, and the military encourages mothers to remain active, eat right and take care of themselves during pregnancy, so she’s NOT running a marathon after 10 months of sitting on the couch terrified of deep lunges and canned tuna.
Hate to say it but if the civilian world adopted some of those policies things would get a LOT better (and that’s just about the ONLY good thing I’ll ever say about military health care.)
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Laurel Reply:
December 15th, 2011 at 9:10 am (Quote)
I would say your experience with the military system was not indicative of a “friendly” system though, because Bethesda was ready to declare me “high risk” for having had a c-section (and told me that even though I had a VBAC it didn’t mean I could have another) and PIH with my first, plus “recurrent headaches” and controlled preterm labor with my first. My OB at our last duty station recommended normal OB (or midwife) care.
Bethesda said that I could schedule a c-section then (for when I was 38 or 39 weeks) or I’d have to listen to a doctor tell me how dangerous VBAC was so they could document they had told me. I had to be seen in the high risk category, which was triple booked and I didn’t have the option of seeing a regular OB first to even assess if I was in fact high risk, I had to wait to see the high risk doctors.
The fact that I had a successful VBAC didn’t matter, and it was left off of the referral completely. The main reason I was being sent to high risk was that I WANTED to VBAC and they needed to “clear me” first.
I’d love to know where you had your baby though, because if I have to deliver at an MTF in the future that would be my first choice!
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Laurel Reply:
December 15th, 2011 at 9:11 am (Quote)
controlled preterm labor with my second*
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Mama Wrench Reply:
December 15th, 2011 at 11:26 am (Quote)
I’m at Andrews AFB, though I had my first in a Navy hospital. So far no one’s even mentioned “high risk” to me once, I’ve been seeing a military midwife or NP, and they’ve all been really supportive of VBAC over repeat c-section.
Not saying it’s indicative of the whole military health care system… I have more than my share of horror stories from it, too. But so far my VBAC experience is going wonderfully (though the hospital where I had my first hasn’t transferred my post-op records over yet, so they still don’t know what scar I had — but they’re still treating me as a normal VBAC.)
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MamaMD Reply:
December 16th, 2011 at 11:58 am (Quote)
We had both our “Bradley” babies at Bethesda (2008 and 2010). Great experiences for both … And I agree that that since the military doesn’t profit from more intervention/surgery, they are less likely than other DC area hospitals to intervene — especially, if educated parents object. Timing is important as well … Ideally, you arrive at the hospital when labor is well progressed … in time to have the baby but having labored mostly at home. Best wishes, mammas-to-be! Your Bradley training will definitely come in handy.
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Laurel Reply:
December 17th, 2011 at 5:11 am (Quote)
I know there are several hospitals in the DC are (Adventist and GW for example) that are very VBAC and natural birth friendly.
My problem with the military is that there are rules and no one questions the rules because the rules are the rules and you just do what they say and the logic goes round and round and round.
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Renai Reply:
December 15th, 2011 at 9:54 am (Quote)
Hmmm. Not all are that way. My younger sister is military and did the whole induction, pit to distress, csection thing with her first child.
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Ashley Bean Reply:
December 15th, 2011 at 3:49 pm (Quote)
I’m glad that you had a good military hospital, but I’m just saying that not all are like that because here at Charleston AFB, we’re forced to go to the nearby Navy Base (they share a lot of services since they are so close) if we want the military to care for us and don’t want to switch to standard for an in town dr. Well, the Navy Base has contracted in one of the worst OB groups in town for our prenatal care. their policies are rigid (No VBACS ever, patients with gestational diabetes are to be induced at 38 weeks, ALL babies are to be delivered BY 40 weeks, you “can’t” refuse any testing except the quad screen, ect). I had my first son with them and it was a nightmare. At my 39 week appt they were ready to set up my induction date and I told them I wouldn’t show up because I’d conveniently go to see my family in NC until the baby decided to come on his own terms, not theirs. I had to flat out refuse so many things and I ended up fighting them my entire pregnancy. Its just the way they practice. Needless to say, my second son born 4 days ago, was delivered with midwives at the local birth center. Switching to standard was well worth it to get good care.
HUGE congrats on your VBAC and kudos to your base’s drs for being flexible 
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Michelle of the Crunchy Infertile had this to say,
Dec 15, 2011 @ 5:59 am (Quote)
kthxbai
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Well, considering you’ve been trained to view pregnancy and childbirth as a disease in which you get to manage every aspect as though my baby is a cancer that’s going to kill me any minute, and that the patients involved don’t have a say in the procedures you wish to impose upon them, then you are absolutely correct. Bradley method won’t work with the way you’ve been trained to practice medicine. OP, I hope you were able to get out of that practice and get the birth you wanted!
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The OB practice I used during my first pregnancy circulated a letter stating this shortly after they sectioned me. Had that letter come sooner, I wonder if I might have realized what I’d gotten myself into (probably not, but one can dream).
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This will be an unpopular response, but I think this provider’s honesty was refreshing. If the OB feels unable to provide the type of care the mother wants, it is much more respectable of her to discontinue care (hopefully helping the mother find an appropriate provider!!) than to just steamroll the mother’s wishes without telling her.
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jaed Reply:
December 29th, 2011 at 11:57 am (Quote)
I wouldn’t go so far as to applaud this doctor. It’s a controlling move, and should be a red flag for any patient even if that patient wasn’t considering Bradley classes and for whatever reason wanted a very managed hospital birth. Threatening to dump your patient because the patient has information sources you disapprove of? No.
Not to mention that the OB sounds like a sulky little boy. Never a good attitude for a professional to cop with a client. That too is a warning sign.
That being said, it is *certainly* better than pretending to go along with the mother’s wishes during the pregnancy and suddenly turning into Dr. Hyde during the birth. That happens far too often, and you’re right, this doctor is an improvement over that scenario. At least the mother can probably find someone else.
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Fair enough. Let’s just break up. I’m just not that into you. It’s not me it’s you. I’m just not ready for a commitment–whatever.
Can the nurse give me my records? Awesome. Ciao.
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