Israel - Page 8

[majikfaerie]

I attended a hospital (sharei tzedek) birth this week (as a doula/monitrice) and while it was still natural (I think because I stayed with mama at home till she was 9cm dilated and baby was born just 1 hour after arriving to the hospital so they didnt have time for too many interventions), they still managed to do an episiotomy that was absolutely unnecessary, gave her a shot of pitocin in direct violation of her birth plan (and while she was explaining that she didnt want it), took the baby away at 2 monutes old and left it alone and crying, left the mother alone and didnt tell her what was going on at all.

I think the mama was happy about it all, and didnt see the interventions as so terrible, like I did - she's so thrilled I helped her to birth without an epidural.
But still, I'm going to focus more on homebirths I think. So if anyone dreams of having a homebirth, or UC, but doesnt feel confident to "go it alone" and wishes for a supportive doula, drop me a line!

[jul511riv]

again, that's our plan.

Ug, that sounds just awful. So sorry you had to witness that Ela!

When are we meeting?

[sunshinestarr]

majik - these types of stories make me soooo frustrated!!! what is WRONG with hospitals!? it makes me so mad..

[3daughters]

Originally Posted by majikfaerie

they still managed to do an episiotomy that was absolutely unnecessary, gave her a shot of pitocin in direct violation of her birth plan (and while she was explaining that she didnt want it), took the baby away at 2 monutes old and left it alone and crying, left the mother alone and didnt tell her what was going on at all.

Traumatizing, isn't it! I want to cry for those poor babies. The moms don't always know that they should be treating differently.

Sounds pretty much like my two Israeli births especially the episiotomy bit(one at Har Hatzofim and one at Beilinson). I begged them not to cut and they did it anyways! With my first I was threatened with "do you want a healthy baby" and with my second the midwife told me she was doing it to prevent me from tearing, grrrr. Should I mention my two cases of retained placenta too?

I guess I should thank them...I'd never be a doula or as NFL as I am if not for them. I just knew there had to be a better way and found websites like childbirth.org and birthcenters.org which led me to my completely non-interventionist natural birth at a birth center with my third. My only option in Israel, when we get back, is homebirth either with a midwife or OB if dh is more comfortable that way. The natural birth rooms in the hospitals look great but they are still in hospital.

[majikfaerie]

Thanks for the support,
Hey, does anyone know of any events or meetings, conferences, demonstrations, workshops, etc with an alternative or spiritual focus happening next month?
I'm compiling a kind of alternative/spiritual "timeout" guide for the magazine I work for, and still looking around for stuff to write about for the October issue.
So if anyone knows of anything, let me know asap!
and jul511riv, we totally have to meet this week sometime. I'll call you when I get some free time

[merpk]

Okay, this is a tangent from all the stuff being discussed, but I have to vent.


There was a juke the size of my middle finger in my DDs' bedroom this mornign, and a spider literally three inches across (not a daddylonglegs, a spider) by my sons' shoes this morning. Body the size of a half-shekel piece. Man was that uuuuggggglllly.


Am totally not into the wildlife here.



Okay, vent over.

[crazy_eights]

Originally Posted by majikfaerie

I attended a hospital (sharei tzedek) birth this week (as a doula/monitrice) and while it was still natural (I think because I stayed with mama at home till she was 9cm dilated and baby was born just 1 hour after arriving to the hospital so they didnt have time for too many interventions), they still managed to do an episiotomy that was absolutely unnecessary, gave her a shot of pitocin in direct violation of her birth plan (and while she was explaining that she didnt want it), took the baby away at 2 monutes old and left it alone and crying, left the mother alone and didnt tell her what was going on at all.

I think the mama was happy about it all, and didnt see the interventions as so terrible, like I did - she's so thrilled I helped her to birth without an epidural.
But still, I'm going to focus more on homebirths I think. So if anyone dreams of having a homebirth, or UC, but doesnt feel confident to "go it alone" and wishes for a supportive doula, drop me a line!

Gee, and people keep telling me about 'how much Sha'arei Tzedek has changed'. I guess they mean they don't require an enema and stirrups anymore (which they still 'required' not that long ago!) . I feel for you.

[sunshinestarr]

Amy!!!
We have spiders up in Tzfas, too. (And ANTS - lots of em )

Originally Posted by merpk

Okay, this is a tangent from all the stuff being discussed, but I have to vent.


There was a juke the size of my middle finger in my DDs' bedroom this mornign, and a spider literally three inches across (not a daddylonglegs, a spider) by my sons' shoes this morning. Body the size of a half-shekel piece. Man was that uuuuggggglllly.


Am totally not into the wildlife here.



Okay, vent over.

[BelovedBird]

Originally Posted by mom2seven

Gee, and people keep telling me about 'how much Sha'arei Tzedek has changed'. I guess they mean they don't require an enema and stirrups anymore (which they still 'required' not that long ago!) . I feel for you.

And shaving. Don't forget the shaving. :

[jul511riv]

I HATE hospitals. Having just spent a night over in one, due to severe dehydration, with dh and dd in tow...

All I can say is that i butt whupped a bunch of people in there and basically said "I'm walking out of here right now. Either with your permission or without it."

Yeah right. Like I can IMAGINE giving birth in a hospital. So they don't have a continuous monitor. They still have the epistomoty knife!

No No NO NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONOONONONONOONO thank you very much.

Arg.

Oh, and DH killed our latest cockroach last night. Gigantic. Better than the explosion of 400 flying ants that invaded dd's room the (only) night I tried to "go out with the girls".

Oh well.

[merpk]

Originally Posted by jul511riv

the explosion of 400 flying ants that invaded dd's room

Man I so don't want to know about that.








And what particularly irks me is how DH gets all bent out of shape about me not wanting to deal with the bugs. Am admittedly phobic about them, and am working very hard not to pass it on to the children (like, I will casually say to DH, "Oh, BTW, there's a roach in DD's room, can you please take care of it," as opposed to screaming ...) but he insists that I should be perfectly happy to deal with them.

If he's not home, I'll deal. But if he's home ... kind of like part of the division of labor, you know? It's man's work. :

[crazy_eights]

We used to get those spiders too. The ones that look like they are plastic play spiders that are popular in the US around October. Welcome to Israel. I actually once found one as big as my hand in a pile of laundry. I thought it was someone's idea of a joke since it wasn't moving and I assumed it was plastic. Boy, did I get the shock of my life when I reached down to pick it up.

[majikfaerie]

Originally Posted by mom2seven

Gee, and people keep telling me about 'how much Sha'arei Tzedek has changed'. I guess they mean they don't require an enema and stirrups anymore (which they still 'required' not that long ago!) . I feel for you.

CORRECTION! they did force the mama to put her feet in stirrups, even though she was protesting : and while they didn't shave her, they did trim : when the surgeon (finally) stitched up her enormous episiotomy, he said the hair "annoyed" him.

on the other hand, the mama really wasn't ready to birth at home - we talked about it a lot in the pre-natal visits, and she just wanted the "security" of being in a hospital for her first birth. And she's very young (22 yo), so was the father. even during the labour, at home, I could see that even though she was fully dilated and could easily have her baby right there and then, a part of her was really afraid of birthing at home, and she just wasnt relaxing fully. As soon as we arrived at the hospital, she just "let go" and was ready to push, instantly.

So while the staff were kind of cold and uncaring and did a bunch of unnecessary interventions against her will, on the other hand, she felt safe there and they could have done a lot worse. And perhaps she will have a home birth next time

[crazy_eights]

Originally Posted by majikfaerie

CORRECTION! they did force the mama to put her feet in stirrups, even though she was protesting :

Well, it is very hard to do an epis. when they don't have their feet in stirrups, ya' know. Esp. those crazy women that forgo an epidural. And so the logic goes, round and round.

[3daughters]

Ironically enough, we have only dealt with roaches and mice in the good 'ol US of A. The only way I can kill a roach is to flush it or spray it. I found a 'natural' spray at Whole Foods that really worked. I made DH clean up the remains but I was able to stop them in their tracks. Eventually the only thing that worked was extermination which you may have to consider. My aunt in J-m does it every 3 years and she never has a problem.

When I birthed in Israel I was just happy that they had stopped the enema ritual on admission. Just the thought of it...YUCK!

[mamaverdi]

Boric acid anyone?

We had a guy come and put down boric acid, and we haven't seen those creepy giant roaches or the little roaches since. Except one dead one. It's amazing.

[Justmee]

Originally Posted by majikfaerie

I attended a hospital (sharei tzedek) birth this week (as a doula/monitrice) and while it was still natural (I think because I stayed with mama at home till she was 9cm dilated and baby was born just 1 hour after arriving to the hospital so they didnt have time for too many interventions), they still managed to do an episiotomy that was absolutely unnecessary, gave her a shot of pitocin in direct violation of her birth plan (and while she was explaining that she didnt want it), took the baby away at 2 monutes old and left it alone and crying, left the mother alone and didnt tell her what was going on at all.

Wow. All my kids were born at Sharei Tzedek and I had a pretty ok experience both times. I had an episiotimy for Rena (second twin, vacuum birth) but she had no heartbeat and was in major distress. B"H they got her breathing a few minutes after birth and she is just fine. I had nothing with Rivka, but I did tear a bit. I was also in labor a LONG time w/ the twins (water broke @ 11pm Wed, they were born 4:40 & 4:50am Friday) and I wasn't preasured to have a section at all. The dr. asked me around 3am friday if I wanted one b/c the midwife thought I was too weak and I said no and he said okay. My twins they took right to the NICU (well they showed me Nechama first, but Rena wasn't breathing or crying so they needed to rush her off) and Rivka was right with me. Dh held her b/c I lost a lot of blood and I was passing out, but they never took her and she wasn't crying. I couldn't nurse her right away though b/c I had lost so much blood : that wasn't their fault though kwim?

[majikfaerie]

yeah, as far as I can see, Sharei Tsedek has a pretty good maternity department. (at least on their promotional stuff, and on their website it sounds fantastic : )
We were attended primarily by a MW, (actually, there was one mw who checked mama right when we got into the delivery room, but her shift changed after about 10 minutes and another mw came in, with a trainee (her 2nd day on the job - *I* have more experience than her!)
I think a lot of the problems came from the labour being so fast - when we arrived at the hospital, after just 5 hours since the first real ctx, mama was already 10cm, having back-to-back contractions and about ready to push. her water broke as they got her on the table, and it was a little tinged with meconium (though the fetal monitor showed strong healthy tones, so they let her continue with vaginal birth). So I think really, there just wasn't time to explain about the birth plan, or to settle in or anything. They just did their jobs, in they way that they were taught and in the way they are expected to do.
Though I disagree totally with their methods, and they could have been WAY nicer, they weren't complete monsters, and they did treat me with respect (more than they did the father, for some reason )

[jul511riv]

can I just tell everyone AGAIN how much my Dr. rocks? For those of you that read Hebrew, here is his website:

www.harechem.com

I can't read a word of it, but I think it just proves that he rocks. How's that for blind faith.

This is the guy who said he could "sense the baby" and didn't need to check heartbeat or feel the baby move.

My kind of Doctor. The REAL kind. Who cares and is connected.

Ela, call me, that's all I can say girl!

Potty run for dd...

[sunshinestarr]

Originally Posted by jul511riv

can I just tell everyone AGAIN how much my Dr. rocks? For those of you that read Hebrew, here is his website:

www.harechem.com

I can't read a word of it, but I think it just proves that he rocks. How's that for blind faith.

This is the guy who said he could "sense the baby" and didn't need to check heartbeat or feel the baby move.

My kind of Doctor. The REAL kind. Who cares and is connected.

Ela, call me, that's all I can say girl!

Potty run for dd...

He sorta looks like Dustin Hoffman.