Hi, all you moms out there! I haven’t been on here in a while… but a last Wednesday I had an interesting interaction with one of my OB doctors (the final straw!) that I just had to share. I am expecting my third child due on Dec 28th, and have a 2 yo daughter and 1 yo son.
I’ll start with my back-story: For DD, I wasn’t very healthy, didn’t watch what I ate and put on over forty pounds. She was 8 lbs 13 oz but was born right at forty weeks and was very healthy. With her, my water broke and I was put on Pitocin about six hours later when I hadn’t had one sign of my body starting. A few hours after that I opted for the epidural, and came within minutes of a C-section before one last check showed I was at a ten and ready to push and try deliver vaginally. I tell people was blessed with a vaginal delivery, and still know the emotions of a mom who has to have a C-section- just not the actual C-section. (I suppose I should add that I am from the Upper Penninsula of Michigan and have semi-limited choices of how/where to birth. Also, I knew nothing different but the typical “norm” our society has these days- go to the hospital, get the epidural, lay on your back and wait for the doctors/nurses to tell you to push.) So I was clueless, but very blessed/lucky!
For my DS’s birth exactly thirteen months later, I was more knowledgeable and had switched to the other hospital in the area I lived. I loved my doctor. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes around thirty weeks, and followed a good diet and gained minimal weight- while keeping my blood sugar levels in a good range. My son was born at 37 weeks at 7 lbs 3 oz and was healthy. For him my water broke and my body kicked in within an hour and then after laboring at home for another hour or two, I went to the hospital where he was born only 7 hours after my water broke. I didn’t have the epidural or any pain meds, didn’t have to be induced, and it was an amazing experience. My doctor told me he wishes all of the moms he helps through labor and delivery had my way of thinking. It made his job easy. ;)
Recently, and sadly, DH and I moved 2 ½ hours away from our friends and family for a new job. The nearest midwife lives two hours from here, and because of our situation financially, etc., we have decided to do a natural hospital birth again. Dealing yet another new hospital with new doctors.
This pregnancy has been going well. There are three doctors at our local hospital. As a patient, you see them all and whoever is on-call when you go in will deliver. I’ve seen one of them for most of my appointments… we’ll call him Dr. A. He has been causing me quite the headaches. He sent me a couple months ago for heart testing because he heard an arrhythmia (my heart not baby’s) while searching for the baby’s heart beat. After expensive testing and a two-day holter monitor, the cardiologist’s report to my OB clinic came back that I have a perfectly healthy heart and there is no reason to be concerned. That the reason he heard the irregular heartbeat was because pregnant women shouldn’t lay flat on their backs too long. The cardiologist actually chuckled when I saw her for my last consult for my results- she wasn’t very impressed with the OB’s knowledge on this matter, I believe. Okay, so this time I refused the Glucose Tests but after being pressured at every appointment, finally gave in and let them draw a little blood for a H1AC hemoglobin test for the diabetes issue. It came back negative- 5.9% when the cut off is 6%. So my healthy diet is working and so I am doing well in this aspect also. (Dr. A is also the one that pressured me into this test.) I haven’t seen Dr. C yet, and only met Dr. B once.
So on Wednesday, Dr. A informed me that he would like to think about inducing me at 39 weeks because of my risks. What risks? He says since my DD was so big that he doesn’t want to risk this baby getting too big, and because of my blood sugar issues he doesn’t want to risk my placenta to stop working optimally. I’m very confused. My chart is officially showing me to be having a very healthy pregnancy with normal weight gain, not too high of blood sugar levels, and I’ve been measuring a cm small each appointment. Needless to say, DH and I are planning on seeing the other doctors for the remaining appointments and are going to refuse to be induced medically before 41 ½ to 42 weeks. And I plan on seeing what I can do to avoid Dr. A for the birth- he just rubs me the wrong way and has since my first appointment. Oh- forgot to add that he said he would strip my membranes at 38 weeks if I want him to, that he has for other patients.
That’s my story, and my theory? This doctor is probably on call over Christmas, and wants to have one less patient to worry about going in over the holiday. What do you moms think? Agree? Have any of you had similar experiences ever? It seems he just wants to control when the baby is born. I believe that baby and body are in control of when it should happen, and that any intervention will probably just create a more traumatic labor and birth and increase the chance of a C-section. I'm still left feeling a bit stressed out about it all, though! Oh how I'm hoping that this baby just decides that 38 weeks is done-time and comes on out then- all on his/her own!
Sorry for the long one, I guess this is my introduction story. And I just needed to vent. Plus, I was wondering if there are other moms to be out there with December due dates with the same issue…
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