Just a general reminder - you can say no!

[Mainstream Hippie]

Pretty much anything a physician wants to do to you or your baby, you have the right to informed consent- or informed refusal. Every intervention has potential benefits and potential side effects/ consequences. If you feel like you aren't getting the complete detailed picture from your provider, providing it is not an emergency, tell them you need to think about (whatever decision) and do some of your own research! Care providers are there to help you and your baby, but occasionally have their own agenda that overshadows your actual needs or wants with their level of comfort.

You have the right to say no! You have the right to say not right now! Don't let someone bully you just because they are in a position of authority, or terrify you into doing what they want because they are scared without indication of something actually being wrong in your given situation. You are the authority on your body and your baby. A physician is a skilled, educated, professional employee, but they are the employee, not the boss. And they are people just like we are, and therefor not infallible.

Best of luck to all our moms giving birth this coming month.

[LionTigerBear]

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[JesiLynne]

Originally Posted by Mainstream Hippie

Pretty much anything a physician wants to do to you or your baby, you have the right to informed consent- or informed refusal. Every intervention has potential benefits and potential side effects/ consequences. If you feel like you aren't getting the complete detailed picture from your provider, providing it is not an emergency, tell them you need to think about (whatever decision) and do some of your own research! Care providers are there to help you and your baby, but occasionally have their own agenda that overshadows your actual needs or wants with their level of comfort.

You have the right to say no! You have the right to say not right now! Don't let someone bully you just because they are in a position of authority, or terrify you into doing what they want because they are scared without indication of something actually being wrong in your given situation. You are the authority on your body and your baby. A physician is a skilled, educated, professional employee, but they are the employee, not the boss. And they are people just like we are, and therefor not infallible.

Best of luck to all our moms giving birth this coming month.

I bolded what you said b/c I was a great thing to say. It needs repeating over and over again.

[RabbitDancer]

I totally hear what you're saying, and I'm glad you posted this!

One thing to consider, though, is that once the chain of being pushed around by medical professionals has started it's really hard to break it. Especially if your provider is seeming to do an "about face" at the very end, after you've felt they were completely trustworthy and you were on the same page beforehand. I've been there, done that (with my second birth, 5 1/2 years ago). Yes, I could have refused the Pitocin hours after my water had broken and contractions had not begun on their own -- I told my hospital-practicing CNM this and she agreed, of course -- BUT...she would have gone home for the night and I would have been stuck with the next OB on call who very well may have been c-section-happy because of the supposed infection risk to the baby. So, after hours of stalling, I finally consented. This eventually led to an epidural which I did not hae at my first (hospital) birth and did NOT want beforehand, a catheter, and feeling completely paralyzed from the waist down and totally cut off from the experience, not even having any idea when my daughter was crowning or emerging from the birth canal. She was born blue as a Smurf from head to toe; I have no idea how high the Pitocin was cranked up or what those numbers mean, anyway, but it's like she was squeezed out of there like a tube of toothpaste.

Anyway, what started out as me trying to weigh the best option ended up being a domino effect of interventions. I got my vaginal birth with my chosen care provider, yes, but at what cost? I guess I'll never know. But I felt so defeated in the end, and had bad postpartum depression and some bonding issues with my daughter. I'd just completed Bradley childbirth courses at that time and was SO pumped to go in there, birth with NO interventions, and just have an awesome experience. That's not how it went down at all, and there were certainly no life-threatening circumstances that warranted any of this being put into effect (just PROM). I could have really been rebellious and just signed myself out of there and gone home until labor started on its own, or better yet, I could have just not called this midwife when my water had broken (oops -- forgot to mention that!), knowing I could just stay home, take it easy, and monitor my temperature for signs of an infection. But we all do the best we can with our current resources; live and learn. For me, I went with a homebirth CNM the next time I was pregnant and I haven't looked back. This midwife doesn't work in "the system" so she's not bound to hospital protocol, malpractice insurance dictates, or OBs giving her restrictions. Yet she knows her limitations; if I end up being transferred to the hospital to give birth I'll be fully confident that it's for a good reason.

Huge hugs to anyone who might be going through this; it's so difficult!

[monkaha]

All very true. A counterpoint though: not all interventions are evil. Not all will end in a cascade of negativity. Do what works for your family, and what is to be will be. If you need the pit, the epi, the csection, whathaveyou, you are no less a mother, no worse a mother, no less valued around here.

Hugs to all, and happy birthing! :

[RabbitDancer]

Originally Posted by monkaha

All very true. A counterpoint though: not all interventions are evil. Not all will end in a cascade of negativity. Do what works for your family, and what is to be will be. If you need the pit, the epi, the csection, whathaveyou, you are no less a mother, no worse a mother, no less valued around here.

Excellent point as well -- to each, her own, and to her own comfort level!

[LionTigerBear]

I think the key is to try to be as educated as you can be. That way you do not have to abdicate all decision-making responsibility to your doctor. Educate yourself from different sources to receive a variety of points of view. Also, I strongly believe in trusting your intuition as well as your rational powers of reasoning. There is a more mysterious kind of intelligence to a woman's intuition in regards to pregnancy, birthing, and mothering, that our society tends to distrust, but which is just as valuable as the rational mind.