Comments on: The Ol’ Bait and Switch, OR Finding Out Your OB Has Been Leading You On http://nursingbirth.com/2009/10/21/the-ol-bait-and-switch-or-finding-out-your-ob-has-been-leading-you-on/ One Labor & Delivery Nurse's View From the Inside Sat, 07 Apr 2012 18:13:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Kelly Fischer http://nursingbirth.com/2009/10/21/the-ol-bait-and-switch-or-finding-out-your-ob-has-been-leading-you-on/#comment-2916 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:30:35 +0000 http://nursingbirth.wordpress.com/?p=417#comment-2916 Brianna,
First I just want to tell you how proud I am of you for all the hard work and effort you have put in to have a VBAC! You have every reason to be angry right now! It sounds to me like you are facing the exact same scare tactic as I was: “early eviction date”. This post that Nursing Birth so graciously wrote about – was my story. (I am eternally grateful to you Nursing Birth, and for everyone who wrote such amazing supportive comments, I love you all!!!) 2 years after my VBAC I can tell you that all the stress and fighting was totally worth it. I am a changed person, my marriage is changed and I am committed to helping other moms not have to go through what I did, all alone. (by founding my own local ICAN chapter)

What I felt like I had to do was ditch my last OB appointments after 37 weeks (which I DON’T recommend), and just showed up in labor at 41 weeks 3 days. Thankfully my labor was much shorter (only 18 hours instead of 5 days) and things went great! My hubby had to do a bit of fighting for me while we were in the hospital, but it was just to avoid having them break my bag of waters, and keep them from doing vaginal exams all the time, and to have them let me nap when I wanted to.

Brianna, please feel free to email me if you want someone to talk to in person! You do not deserve to be bullied in the last few days/weeks of your pregnancy! You deserve a real chance at VBAC! My email address is: icanofnortheastiowa@gmail.com and I highly recommend contacting your local ICAN chapter: http://ican-online.org/chapter/search (there are chapters in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Northwest Indiana, and Tippecanoe County).

Sincerely,
Kelly Fischer
Chapter Leader
ICAN of Northeast Iowa
icanofnortheastiowa@gmail.com
neiowa.ican-online.org

]]> By: Brianna http://nursingbirth.com/2009/10/21/the-ol-bait-and-switch-or-finding-out-your-ob-has-been-leading-you-on/#comment-2915 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:00:41 +0000 http://nursingbirth.wordpress.com/?p=417#comment-2915 My first daughter was born via c-s at a large military hospital in San Diego. Officially, the reason for the c-section was the fact that I have Arnold-Chiari malformation. It is ‘now known’ that AC malformation is NOT a reason to have a c-section, and the surgery was not necessary. More accurately, they scared me into ‘choosing’ a c-section.
After my husband completed his enlistment, we moved back to rural Indiana and decided to have another child. After researching on my own, I decided to attempt a VBAC. The doctor I chose originally, apart from many other problems I had with him, was emphatically anti-VBAC. I took the advice of friends in the area and switched to a more experienced OB in town. His first words were, “You know you have to have a c-section, right?” So I gave up.
Then, I hit the net. That’s when I realized it wasn’t the doctors. It’s the hospitals. No facility within 30 miles allowed VBAC’s to be performed. At my next appointment, I mustered the courage and asked if VBAC was an option. To which he responded, “Absolutely. I used to do VBAC’s routinely, and never had a major problem occur. Unfortunately, this hospital won’t allow me to perform one anymore. I know someone who can do it. But you’re in for a drive.” He refered me to an OB at a much larger hospital about 45 minutes from home.
For those of you counting, this is doc #3.
I was amazed. Finally, a doctor that was openly admitting everything I had researched about the politics involved with VBAC, and how insurance companies rather than OB’s control it’s acceptance.
At every appointment, I was given an ultrasound to make sure my baby wasn’t getting too big and to rule out position problems, both of which would pull the plug on VBAC. I was given more and more encouragement as each hurdle was cleared. I thought it was strange that he decided to strip my membranes at 37 weeks and only 2cm dialated, but who am I to second guess a doctor? Especially one that’s on MY side!
Last week, he drops the bomb.
“Well, you haven’t progressed any in 5 days. Ethically, I can’t induce you. If we don’t see something happen in a week, we’ll have to pick a date.”
At this point, I was 38 weeks, 2 days. I’m now 39 weeks, 1 day. So essentially, I have 36 hours to go into labor, or I’m getting a repeat c-section.
This is the ONLY doctor at the ONLY facility available to me that even agreed to try. I’m stuck. I feel like this whole ordeal has been a complete waste of time. I’ve been driving 75 miles round-trip every 3 weeks, and now every 6-7 days to get a natural birth experience. Now, because my cervix hasn’t dialated EARLY, I’m going to end up with another major abdominal surgery that I don’t need, and more importantly, will effect our decisions about more children in the future. Furthermore, one that I could’ve gotten here in my hometown with the doctor everyone recommended in the first place!
I feel betrayed and desperate. This is not how I want to feel in the days before I give birth.

]]> By: A Very Inspirational Update « Nursing Birth http://nursingbirth.com/2009/10/21/the-ol-bait-and-switch-or-finding-out-your-ob-has-been-leading-you-on/#comment-2402 Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:29:09 +0000 http://nursingbirth.wordpress.com/?p=417#comment-2402 [...] replied to Kelly in my post entitled “The Ol’ Bait and Switch, OR Finding Out Your OB Has Been Leading You On” with words of encouragment and some information about other scare tactics that some health [...]

]]> By: Hey NursingBirth!!! Where the HECK have you been?!?! « Nursing Birth http://nursingbirth.com/2009/10/21/the-ol-bait-and-switch-or-finding-out-your-ob-has-been-leading-you-on/#comment-2363 Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:57:49 +0000 http://nursingbirth.wordpress.com/?p=417#comment-2363 [...] But what happened is that I, NursingBirth, became a victim of the Ol’ Bait and Switch!!!! [...]

]]> By: Becky http://nursingbirth.com/2009/10/21/the-ol-bait-and-switch-or-finding-out-your-ob-has-been-leading-you-on/#comment-2345 Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:21:58 +0000 http://nursingbirth.wordpress.com/?p=417#comment-2345 Incredible. nursingbirth.com is my favorite site.

]]> By: Best of the Birth Blogs: Week Ending October 25th | ICAN Blog http://nursingbirth.com/2009/10/21/the-ol-bait-and-switch-or-finding-out-your-ob-has-been-leading-you-on/#comment-2256 Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:46:24 +0000 http://nursingbirth.wordpress.com/?p=417#comment-2256 [...] Birth – The Ol’ Bait and Switch, OR Finding Out Your OB Has Been Leading You On, and How One Mom Walked, Moved Around, and Changed Positions to a Successful Hospital VBAC: A [...]

]]> By: Knitted in the Womb http://nursingbirth.com/2009/10/21/the-ol-bait-and-switch-or-finding-out-your-ob-has-been-leading-you-on/#comment-2245 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:22:36 +0000 http://nursingbirth.wordpress.com/?p=417#comment-2245 Sigh. Yeah…I was right to be afraid. I can’t reveal much without violating client confidentiality, but lets just say that more lying DID occur in labor, and I believe some unnecessary things were done to the mother, despite her cries of pain–and I’m afraid some of those things my have a great impact on her for months in the future, if not permanently. I was nearly in tears…I felt helpless to stop what I felt was an assault because the OB did not respond AT ALL when I tried to speak to her.

Ladies who are reading this, PLEASE don’t stay with an OB practice in hopes that you will “educate” the OB or with a thought that you can just refuse whatever you don’t want, or that your doula can protect you. Because that isn’t realistic. Your OB doesn’t want to be educated by you. There are times when you just don’t have the knowledge base to do anything but consent to what your OB suggests doing. Your doula, as much as she might have her suspicions about what is and isn’t needed, can not say anything regarding what medical treatments you should accept or reject, lest she cross the line into “practicing medicine.”

You need to know that you trust your care provider EXPLICITYLY when you go into labor.

]]> By: Knitted in the Womb http://nursingbirth.com/2009/10/21/the-ol-bait-and-switch-or-finding-out-your-ob-has-been-leading-you-on/#comment-2224 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:07:49 +0000 http://nursingbirth.wordpress.com/?p=417#comment-2224 The “bait & switch” isn’t limited to VBAC.

I know one OB in my area who employs a midwife. And women go to that practice thinking they have a 50/50 shot of the midwife attending their birth. What they aren’t told is:

*the midwife only takes call 20 hours during the daytime M-F, and one 24 hr stretch over the weekend. Just based on numbers, that means she would only be available for 1 in 4 births…but considering that women seem to be more likely to go into labor at night than in the daytime…the odds are reduced to more like 1 in 5 or 6 births…
*the OB has a very low threshold for what complications she feels the midwife can’t handle. GBS positive? Sorry, no midwife. Need Pitocin? Sorry, no midwife. Pregnant through IVF? Sorry, no midwife.

Bottom line, the midwife attends about 3-4 births per year.

Then, to top that off, the midwife told one of my clients recently–a low risk first time mom–that *HOSPITAL POLICY* is constant fetal monitoring after 5 cm. So she will be unable to walk, use the shower, or use the Jacuzzi after 5 cm. This is a blatant lie…and after verifying that nothing had changed in the hospital policy, I told my client that the midwife had lied to her.

If the care provider will lie prenatally about something so basic, what will they lie about in labor? I can only think that they said this was hospital policy in an attempt to keep my client from switching practices–because why should she switch practices if the policy is going to be the same with everyone, right?

Sigh. My client is staying with the practice…which makes me fearful for how her labor will play out.

]]> By: Amy http://nursingbirth.com/2009/10/21/the-ol-bait-and-switch-or-finding-out-your-ob-has-been-leading-you-on/#comment-2218 Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:51:10 +0000 http://nursingbirth.wordpress.com/?p=417#comment-2218 After being supposedly supportive of a VBAC during my pregnancy, my OB tried to tell me at 37 weeks I had CPD and that would never deliver vaginally, I say no way. Then he said if I didn’t go into labor by my due date (which I did) that I would “have” to have a c-section. I again said no way. It’s not like your due date is “exact” anyways. Those babies come out when they are ready. Definitley scare tacticts! Do what you feel is best and good luck.!

]]> By: NursingBirth http://nursingbirth.com/2009/10/21/the-ol-bait-and-switch-or-finding-out-your-ob-has-been-leading-you-on/#comment-2175 Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:07:39 +0000 http://nursingbirth.wordpress.com/?p=417#comment-2175 P. Savetz, WOW what a story. Sadly I am not surprised at all that it happened! I am so glad that your daughter and her birth mother did indeed get out of there!!!

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