[watermamma]

Ok, please tell me I am not the only one! My family & friends think I am nuts. Why are women still being draped in sterile medical sheets during normal birth? Are we dirty? What is being protected? Our eyes, in case we glance at our vaginas (shudder!)?

I know lots of people IRL that beleive many of the same things I do, and they are not the least offended with being covered up with these things during birth.

(And yes, I know, there a million more important things that care providers (aka: ob's!!!) are doing that are much more serious and dangerous, but I thought we would lighten up our usual serious chatter

)

So, am I nuts to be bothered by this (not that I will listen

)? Any others out there with me?

 

[kofduke]

Didn't happen during my hospital birth, in fact I had a mirror up until the very end when my OB came to help the babe out! They did lay a blanket on me at the end for when baby was laid on my chest. I'd be bothered too!

 

[Artisan]

I am bothered by this too!!!!! I watch shows like A Baby Story, Birth Day, etc., and there is a stark contrast between some of the hospital practices. At some, the doctors wear gloves. And that is all in terms of medical gear. At some, they put on a full paper gown with head covering, big plastic face shield, and they drape the woman practically from neck to toe. And then, she is forced to lie there on her back so as not to disturb the draping. Give me a break! Umm, if you don't want to see/be exposed to blood... DON'T BECOME A DOCTOR!

 

[mehndi mama]

Yep, it would piss me off, too. A mother does not need to be proteced from HERSELF with sterile drapings! A sterile draping obviously isn't protecting you from the doctor or nurse's germs...seems pretty pointless. I thought that kind of thing went out a long time ago - along with the swabbing nipples with alcohol, and perineal shaving

 

[hipmamawnc]

That makes me nuts when the doctors look like they are handling nuclear waste instead of a babe. With my dd we had to transfer to hospital, when I was pushing the nurse started to drape me and put blankets on my chest for the baby. Here I am pushing with my first after 36 hours of back labor and yelling "take that off, I want skin to skin, skin to skin"

Cracked my whole birthing team up! But I got her right on my chest the way it should be.

Robyn wife to Eric
SAH, bfing, cosleeping mama to Raven, Dakota, and Zebulon

 

[shelbean91]

I only had the drapes for my 3rd- which was a c-section. My first 2- doc wore gloves and scrubs- that's it- no face mask or drapes.

 

[MommytoTwo]

I dont know that it offends me, but I do think its silly. Baby pretty much has moms germs already, so no need to get paranoid about it!!! LOL

 

[AllyRae]

I didn't have the draping....I was on the blankets/sheets I was on for the 2 days before DS made his presence. The doctor had a hat, gown, glasses, and gloves on though...but noone else in the room had any protective stuff on...

 

[Kim2002]

I always thought draping over mom was for protecting mom's possible modesty, like when you have your annual gyno visit. Never occurred to me that they did it for germ protection (which is just whacky!).

 

[mehndi mama]

Who has modesty when they're pushing? :LOL

I had a nurse trying to put a sheet over me at my first birth, and I just kept pushing it off....until she said "We're wheeling you out in the hallway - keep it on!"

 

[Greaseball]

I'd be pissed. Throw them on the floor; they won't be sterile then.

 

[Shonahsmom]

It totally bugs me when I see it.

I delivered nude and on my hands and knees... not sure how I could've been draped even if someone wanted to. :LOL

 

[Mindful Mom]

My first was caught by an OB, and he just wore scrubs and gloves. I beld all over his shoes, something he joked about later!!

I had a midwife with my second and she just wore street clothes and gloves.

I would be offended by sterile drapes as well!

 

[Faith]

I was at my SILs birth and she was draped all over.

I was susposed to be holding her legs for her, and I accidentially touched her bare skin a bit, becuase the drapes didn't cover the bottoms of the legs.

The nurses let me know immediately that I was NOT to touch her skin! I actually jumped from the way she said it to me.

OTOH- During her labor, my SIL kept telling the nurses how crazy I was for having a HB (I was newly preg at the time) since I couldn't get an epidural. The nurses thought me having a HB was the coolest thing ever and even offered to help me find a MW if I needed one.

 

[Electra375]

Most women should run from a hospital birth -- run, I say run. All that medical garb and medical procedures for a perfectly natural process of life. When did being pregnant and having a baby become a medical procedure to be dealth with medically???
So yes I am bothered by all the drappings etc. I'm so fed up I had my last baby at home and she will be the first of a few more to be born at home!
I moved like a wild woman hip swaying in the door frames in labor, who could have done that in a hospital. And to cover you up with plastic paper while you are hot as h--- pushing, I don't know why more women don't throw the stuff on the floor.
Just my opinion -- fun to bash the medical garb.

 

[KiwiZ]

Perhaps it is starting to become a thing of the past like shaving your pubic area or giving an enema before birth? I gave birth at two diff hospitals and they didn't drape me

 

[spero]

I had my first almost 14 years ago and have never been draped - nor was I shaved or any of that other BS they used to do, thank goodness. There is NO WAY those things would've stayed put, anyway!

My last two were waterbirthed, which kinda negates the sterility of anything :LOL

 

[SaraC]

With my first DD it was a homebirth transport and I was draped from head to toe. They even taped up the nursing openings of the gown. I hate to see drapes on a woman. Birth is NOT sterile!! Why do people act like it is.

With my second DD I gave birth on the bed totally naked.

 

[copslass]

Yes, I'm offended by the practice of "draping" healthy birthing women in surgical garb!

My first two were c-sections, of course I was draped as I was laid out in the OR on a surgery table. BBBLACH!!!

My next three were born born on a bed with a midwife attending. No drapes.

I see this practice as one more attempt to make normal healthy birth resemble a surgical procedure. Of, course, sOB's are all too often performing some kind of surgery; if not c-sections, instrumental deliveries and/or episiotomies.

 

[ramona_quimby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KiwiZ Perhaps it is starting to become a thing of the past like shaving your pubic area or giving an enema before birth? I gave birth at two diff hospitals and they didn't drape me

They STILL shave and enema at hospitals here in Taiwan - totally weird to me. I only assume that they drape, too, and I agree, it is a strange practice!