Thursday, May 20, 2010

I've been in OB now for 6 weeks, and ...

I was pretty appalled by the births I've had a chance to witness at Antelope Valley Hospital. I don't know enough to criticize, but ... well, I will anyway, because I was so disappointed with what I saw.

What ever happened to natural childbirth? Or at least a semblance of it? Maybe it's just the AV, I don't know. I was really surprised that babies were kept laying in warmers for no discernible reason for half an hour after birth with no attempt to let their moms hold them; one mom was sent off for a c-section after the nurse was not helpful at all during her labor, when a little support could have meant a vaginal birth for her; pitocin and epidurals are practically universal unless the mom REALLY insists she doesn't want them.

It was a happy relief to watch the documentary "The Business of Being Born," which contrary to how the title makes it sound is all about the benefits of a natural, often at-home, birth. I highly recommend it.

I am now even more grateful than before for the great birth experiences I had back in the '80's, and am sad for these new moms today who have no idea what they're missing.

24 comments:

  1. So nice to run across your blog :) I echo your sentiments at what I see in most hospitals these days. I am a home birth midwife in your area and have attended my share of doula births at AV Hospital. It's heartwrenching to see them fight for their birth plan. I wish every L&D nurse were required to attend a couple of home births and sit on their hands so they can see how well the body works without interference. When we don't interfere, there are rarely any issues. When there are problems, we utilize the same medications you do (our Pitocin usually goes expired lol). If continuous fetal monitoring and inductions before 42 weeks went down the drain, we'd cut our C-Sections rates back down below 15% where they should be and all studies show that mortality rates would remain the same. The induction rates are outrageous - could we really have survived as a species to this point if we grew babies too big for our bodies to deliver? Stepping off my soapbox ;) There are a couple of OB's there who seem respectful to the mothers wishes, but it's the nurses who run the show. It's all a gamble on who you'll get, and I've seen both good and bad.

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