post #21 of 21
3/13/08 at 2:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrsAprilMay View Post
He's well known for attending natural births. That's why my friend is going to him. She wasn't alarmed. She met this doctor for the first time as his patient, and he gave her a look like he recognized her. She told him that they'd met before at a recent birth he attended. The he said "Oh, I remember that one. With so-and-so there? Well, You don't have to worry about having a birth like hers."

I know that many things about my birth were wonderful, and that's how I got to be in a place where I was happy with it so quickly. I was annoyed at the staff and disappointed to be out of my home to begin with, but I feel that I grieved my perfect birth and moved on. Just hearing that made me feel worse about it than ever before. I know I shouldn't care about his perspective of my birth, but I'm sure he's seen many wonderful hospital births and it bothers me that he doesn't see mine as one of them. It makes me feel like I failed in some way, although I know that I did the best I could with what I had.
Do you think it's possible that he was letting her off the hook, so to speak, for having a natural birth? Kinda along the lines of the whole "you don't get a medal for going natural" sort of thinking? Like maybe he was trying to reduce the sort of expectations she might have for her birth? As opposed to writing your birth off as negative? I mean, it's a shitty thing to say either way, but I'm just wondering if maybe the intent was a bit unclear.

I also agree that births are something it can take a looooong time to process. I still find new ways of looking at both of mine. I still find myself talking about them.