“Who’s your OB?” Or “Did you talk to your doctor about that?”
OK, I admit, it’s petty & silly, but it’s driving me bonkers. HEALTHY PG WOMEN DON’T NEED OBs!
Midwives. Midwives, people! I have MIDWIVES!
Ironically, the last person to ask was my dentist. An OB seeing me (a very healthy woman with a low-risk pregnancy) is like him, the dentist, doing my regular cleaning! The dental hygienists do that. It’s a waste of resources & his specialization for him to do it. Exactly as it’s silly for trained surgeons to attend 90% of all births – including healthy, normal births.
It’s absurd that MWs attend such a tiny fraction of births in the US. (8%, I believe.) We all know the data show that they have better results for low-risk women. (Yes yes yes, there are bad MWs & great OBs! I don’t doubt that. But on the whole, MWs specialize in normal pregnancy & are, on the whole, less interventive, more patient, more attentive.) The US spends more on maternity care than most other industrialized nations with worse outcomes. Having healthy, normal pregnancy owned predominantly by MWs would be one great first step to fixing our horribly broken system.
It’s something I’m so passionate about that it just sets me off for people to assume I have an OB. So when I get those Qs, I want to launch into the above lecture.
But I know they mean well & it’s a totally innocuous, innocent question & they don’t deserve a lecture! 
Ha! But I wanted to ‘vent’ here.
OK, I admit, it’s petty & silly, but it’s driving me bonkers. HEALTHY PG WOMEN DON’T NEED OBs!Midwives. Midwives, people! I have MIDWIVES!
Ironically, the last person to ask was my dentist. An OB seeing me (a very healthy woman with a low-risk pregnancy) is like him, the dentist, doing my regular cleaning! The dental hygienists do that. It’s a waste of resources & his specialization for him to do it. Exactly as it’s silly for trained surgeons to attend 90% of all births – including healthy, normal births.
It’s absurd that MWs attend such a tiny fraction of births in the US. (8%, I believe.) We all know the data show that they have better results for low-risk women. (Yes yes yes, there are bad MWs & great OBs! I don’t doubt that. But on the whole, MWs specialize in normal pregnancy & are, on the whole, less interventive, more patient, more attentive.) The US spends more on maternity care than most other industrialized nations with worse outcomes. Having healthy, normal pregnancy owned predominantly by MWs would be one great first step to fixing our horribly broken system.
It’s something I’m so passionate about that it just sets me off for people to assume I have an OB. So when I get those Qs, I want to launch into the above lecture.
But I know they mean well & it’s a totally innocuous, innocent question & they don’t deserve a lecture! Ha! But I wanted to ‘vent’ here.
Generally I've had nice chats with people who find it interesting and have no idea about MWs like that midwives are covered by medicare like doctors are (I'm in Canada) or how much better the care is. I feel like I'm doing my part spreading the word about MWs. Maybe ppl aren't asking me often enough to get on my nerves?
