Stop Making Pregnant Women Afraid Of Their Doctors

I am so friggin sick of seeing articles where women are telling each other not to trust their OB's. They should question every medical decision their doctor makes during the labor process(because it may not be on their birth plan), and that they feel cheated if it ends in a c-section. Guess what sugarpots, I had a very detailed birth plan for my son. 


Let me start out by saying that, as smart as you think you are and as much as you know your body, your doctor has gone through years of school and birthed many babies. They have seen what you are going through multiple times and just want to see both you and your baby on the other side of delivery safely. If you truly don't trust the doctor that you have then you should do your research and find one that you do trust. To me it is a sad day when doctors choose just to do gynecology because the insurance it too high or there are too many risks of getting sued in today's 'me me me' society. Most of these doctors have our best interests at heart. It's not all about the money to them.



Maybe I'm a little touchy about this subject, but I can give you a couple reasons as to why I am. First off, I had a very detailed birth plan. I wanted no pain killers (made it 24 hours without them). I wanted everything 100% natural (I had to get pitocin to speed up dilation because of how long ago my water broke). Then to top it all off I got a raging uterine infection. My 32 hours of labor ended with a c-section.  Do I resent my doctors? Hell no. They did everything they could so I could have a natural labor. They actually asked me if I wanted to continue when I had a fever that was over 102 degrees. I couldn't believe they actually asked. I told them to do what they had to do to get the both of us through it safely. And that's exactly what they did. They asked because they didn't want me to accuse them of being surgery-happy later on. 


The second thing that makes me so touchy is that in these same articles I feel pressured to do a VBAC. There is the implication that you're just not giving it the can do attitude if you opt to have a scheduled c-section. There is a 20-40% chance that your VBAC will be unsuccessful. I'm not willing to open myself and my daughter up to those complications just because a group of women (who are not doctors) think I should. I will make my parenting decisions and you can make yours. I promise I won't judge you, I just expect the same respect in return. 

The last thing that I can't seem to wrap my mind around is that the women who write these articles seem okay with putting their child at risk in order to get their perfect birthing experience. What is the point? My train of thought ties back to the things that I have already said. The doctors understand the risks. They also understand that they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. If they don't opt for c-section in a high risk situation and something happens to the baby they will be brought to court and asked why they didn't perform a c-section. If they do perform the c-section they are asked if it was 100% necessary and if there was anything else they could have done. Doctors are human too and I have a tremendous amount of respect for them. Instead of asking why they are doing what they are doing maybe you should try thanking them for being there for you.