Monday
Oct192009
How not to have a natural birth
Monday, October 19, 2009 Would you give birth here?
In other words...
Because Physicians at Aspen Women's Center care only about doing things their own way and making as much money as possible from unnecessary birth interventions, even if it poses greater risks to the welfare and health your baby, we will not participate in a "Birth Contract", a doula-assisted, or a Bradley Method delivery. For all patients who have done any research into having the safest birth possible, please notify the nurse so that we can transfer you to a facility that cares less about control and money.
I guess we can at least credit them with warning women in advance. Many hospitals with the same attitude don't have a sign hanging out front.
Thanks to @unnecesarean for alerting me to this picture. Read her post too on this and another OB with a similar policy: An OB's Birth Plan: Obstetrician's Disclosure Sent One Mom Running. You can also check out @summerm's post about this sign: Why Do Doctors Hate Women?
Reader Comments (65)
Wow...all I can say is wow. I just started reading "Baby Catcher", written by Peggy Vincent, who describes some of the births she attended while a student nurse at Duke in 1962. That sign belongs back in that time, not now! I'm so glad my eyes were opened two years ago and that I know I can make my own decisions.
As a Bradley mom myself, I find this to be incredulous!! If anyone does the research they will find an unmedicated birth is much more desirable simply because when you intervene with the body's natural process it gets confused and all sorts of things can go wrong. We ended up having to cut the cord before it stopped pulsing because my wuss-husband almost fainted and wanted to cut the cord LOL! but other than that we were Bradley all the way. It just makes my stomach hurt to see things like this. the ignorance is sickening. Thank you for alerting us to this nonsense!
Um....I am a vegetarian because I don't believe in factory farming.
If they do birth the way I am envisioning (and the way that their awful sign implies that they do), the image of factory farming immediately comes to mind and invokes so much horror in me that MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS could possibly treat human beings (and laboring women, those who are some of the most vulnerable and in need of protection and care) that way.
Oh my. That is horrible. Just horrible.
Upon second thought, maybe more hospitals SHOULD post signs like that. Then at least women would steer clear and start seriously considering other alternatives...like home births or birthing centers.
One thing is certain. The way we view birth in our culture needs to change.
As offensive as it is, as another commenter said---at least they are being upfront about it instead of what the majority of hospitals do aka lip service. You wouldn't find me outside protesting their policy since they are free to do as they please. However, I would certainly jump on the band wagon to educate moms-to-be in the immediate area that there are providers that respect women as human beings and not as medical waste that they can dump, trash and disrespect anyway they wish.
[...] from PhD in Parenting was inspired by the sign to write How Not To Have a Natural Birth and believes the center might as well have said: Because Physicians at Aspen Women’s Center care [...]
Wow, the practice is bringing back births a la 1950; drugged, no dad present, strapped to a table and having to convince the mom that she ACTUALLY gave birth! Yes this is how my grandmothers gave birth. My mom and aunt had natural labors. I got epidurals thanks to pitocin suck in.
Even thought my OB turned out not to be very supportive of natual births and avoiding c-sections with breech presentations (learned HARD lesson with second child), this is appaling in this day and age.
For heaven's sake, don't you think you're reading a lot into that sign? Couldn't it be that the doctors meant what they said - that if an emergency came up, they would do whatever was necessary?
I don't understand how people can get all worked up by a sign. If they don't like the policy, can't they go elsewhere for their care? Unless this is a government-funded clinic, aren't they legally allowed to make the policies that seem best for them?
@angelawd: If that is what they meant, that is what they should say. Doing whatever is necessary in an emergency was the policy at my hospital, but they didn't need to ban doulas, birth plans and the Bradley method in order to do that.
It's always about the money, isn't it? A friend gave birth on Halloween. Her doctor was going on vacation this week and told her he'd like to induce so he could be around to deliver the baby. Uhh...and WHY would she want to agree to that?
Too many women don't realize that it's their bodies and their babies. And that they have the right to say no to any and all interventions.
Oh, I saw this picture the other day and it horrified me... even though I will never again have a natural birth (emergency classic c-section at 24 weeks w/ my 2nd baby). This ranks right up there with the "lactation consultant" who recently told my best friend to give her newborn formula if she wasn't "absolutely, positively sure the baby was full"... guess whose milk supply dwindled?
Unfortunately, I think it would make most first-time moms believe that those 3 things are "fringe" activities which must be dangerous -- otherwise, why would these doctors say they won't participate in these things? Why would they imply that having them would be contrary to the welfare and health of the baby? Aren't we supposed to trust our doctors? Aren't they here to help us??
Our culture teaches that birth is dangerous and that doctors are gods, the only ones who can save our unborn babies from all that threatens them. Women don't realize that most complications of birth are iatrogenic (caused by doctors), and if someone tries to share the facts, that person is called paranoid or a "hippie freak" or "martyr" (if we try to talk about natural birth). Women in our country don't do their research, so they don't know what's wrong with the system, or how to fix it.
I’d come to accede with you on this. Which is not something I typically do! I enjoy reading a post that will make people think. Also, thanks for allowing me to speak my mind!
"Many hospitals with the same attitude don’t have a sign hanging out front."
THAT is so true.
I was 37 weeks pregnant with my first child, when I had the nightmare experience of my OB mocking me DURING an exam to check my dilation and effacement. I was shocked into silence, but I did have the courage to check out of that appointment and find another provider who would take me that late in my pregnancy. I did not want that man at the birth of my precious child. All I could picture was a birth gone horribly wrong and that was enough motivation for me to walk away and never look back.