Yucky OB appointment today

[shellnurse]

I'm high risk so I have to get NSTs weekly. This week the baby was doing jumping jacks and wouldn't give a good reading on the machine. The medical assistant turned me on the opposite side, which meant I was facing the wall when my OB came in.  She looked at the strip and said, "Your baby is annoying me" and then roughly jiggled my belly to "wake him up."

I had to do the whole appointment with her sitting in a chair facing my butt while we tried to get an acceleration in heart rate on the monitor. I've told her clearly I want a natural childbirth and she is the one OB in town who zealously supports her patients in this request.  I asked her if there were options other than fentanyl as a measure to avoid an epidural, if absolutely necessary. ( My last labor was a 4 day affair and fentanyl made everyone else more relaxed, but didn't help me at all) She said she would check into it, but that an epidural is "everyone's friend". I told her I didn't want to get too friendly with it because I hated laboring that way with DD. Not sure of her reaction because I was facing away from her.

I may be having a tender emotions day or something, but it really bothered me.  I emailed my doula, as she knows all the OBs in town. I know she'll say mine is the best and most trusted when it comes to supporting natural childbirth, but I really didn't like the way she accosted my belly, without warning and I wonder how she'll be when I'm in labor.

yucky!

[dioramamama]

Not in your due date club, but just wanted to say that sounds really cruddy, and you're totally not overreacting by feeling like this was yucky. It sounds yucky. I'd want to find another option, too! Good luck...hope you find something that works, or at least manage to let the OB know that she needs to treat you with a fair bit more dignity. Geez!

[sonrisa]

annoying?!?!?!!  What word choice.  Just not helpful and rude. Especially when you are the one enduring all the ups and downs of pregnancy.

Sometimes we just have to know that others have hard days and say stupid things. 

I'm sorry you had to deal with this.

Keep advocating for what you want.  My thoughts will be with you.

Regards,

Abigayle

[soglad]

That is ridiculous! I can understand your frustration...hopefully, as you said, she is going to be as supportive as possible when you're in labor, but that incident certainly doesn't reflect well on her "bedside manner." Maybe (hopefully!) she was having a bad day?

[nova22]

I don't think you're overreacting at all, no mom wants to hear her child referred to as "annoying!" :hug:

[annettemarie]

That does sound annoying. :( I have to go in 2 or 3 times a week for NSTs and there's one labor nurse who insists on jiggling my babies to get them going. I keep telling her to stop ticking off the Unborn. It's really, really hard when you have to play the hospital game and all you really want is to be left alone.