A Bit of a Soapbox

Jillian here. I’m going to get on my soapbox about childbirth. As you all may recall, my nephew’s wife was pregnant and due to give birth soon the last time I blogged. I’m happy to say that the baby got here safely and is home and happy.

BUT I do have some concerns about the trends in childbirth I have seen recently. Specifically, the eagerness of doctors to perform C-sections and rush the process along.

My niece’s doctor started telling her he was going to induce her if she hadn’t had the baby before her due date (!!)- how weird is that? Most first babies are late and here he was going to induce her before her due date?

He had her show up at the hospital at 9 pm on a Sunday night- her baby hadn’t even dropped yet. They asked her to go ahead and sign a consent for a c-section… just in case. They hooked her up to the pitocin around 11:00 pm but had it going very slow until the doctor got there around 8 am when they turned it up. So, she stayed up all night, really, for no reason. Now, we  have an exhausted mother before we even get to the pushing stage.

She labored through the day and around 4 pm, the doctor started saying he was going to do a c-section by 5:30.

This had me in a uproar. It seemed to me that they were always going to do that. He timed her labor to take place during his work hours and even though she was progressing and the baby wasn’t in stress and she wanted to keep going, he wanted to get that baby delivered before he went home for dinner. Or, from the outside looking in, that sure seemed like what was happening.

His reason for the c-section? The baby hadn’t dropped into the birth canal.  Well, guess what, dude, that baby wasn’t ready to be born. Why go in before her due date?

It seems more and more to me that doctors want to have babies be born at their convenience, not when baby is ready. My advice for them is not to go into obstetrics if you want to work 8-5.

My sister said she was glad I wasn’t in California that day!  LOL!  Me, too. I was irate enough in  my texts to her as all this unfolded. 🙂

One of my son’s friends is pregnant and her doctor is already telling her that she may have to have a c-section. She’s five months along. Another friend’s doctor asked her to schedule an early c-section (first baby) because the doctor was going on vacation.

I know we have some nurses here but this is a layman’s perspective. I also know c-sections are wonderful when needed but I think they have been overused for convenience or for more fees to the doctor. I have a young friend who had one (and she needed it) but she couldn’t hold her baby because he weighed more than they wanted  her to lift after surgery. She was upset about that but in her case, it was necessary. I am only soapboxing about the ones that seem done for reasons other than distress.

Anyway, Mom and Baby are fine. It’s Great Aunt Jillian who needed a chill pill.  🙂