PREGNANCY-BIRTH Messages for January, 1999: Re: MD presence during labor

Re: MD presence during labor

From: Carolyn

anonymous@obgyn.net

Thu, 21 Jan 1999 15:58:02 -0600 (CST)

Drs and hospitals all have different "rules" or standards under which they work. I think that it's safe to say that the larger the practice, the less likely that a Dr will be there with you throughout your entire labor. I think that if you need this kind of support, you should look into having a midwife attend you, or at a very minimum, a doula.

I won't speak for the Drs, but I would try and understand where they are at. Can you imagine a Dr sitting at the hospital with you during what could be a long labor? What if he has other patients in labor? What about his patients he's scheduled to see? I know that I have been irritated in the past with having to wait for a Drs appointment or even having one cancelled while a Dr delivered a baby. But then I realized...WHAT IF THAT WAS ME DELIVERING? Some Drs (mine included) deliver at 3 different hospitals and have satellite offices in 3 different locations. I made a conscious decision to deliver at a hospital that is the farthest away from where I live but closest to where I was working at the time. The hospital was also the furthest from ANY of the satellite offices. It also was right next to Children's Hospital and IF God forbid, there were any problems with the baby, there wouldn't be any time wasted transferring the baby to a hospital for specialized care.

Another factor, for me, was that although my Dr wasn't there throughout my labor, my L&D nurse kept in contact with him throughout my labor. He arrived to break my water first thing in the morning, check and see how I was progressing and, went back to his office to attend patients. While he did show up, just for the catch, that was more the fault of the anesthesiologist who had a difficult time inserting the epidural and I went from 4-10 cm in 30 minutes, with the L&D nurse checking me immediately before we started and immediately after. She called him immediately and he arrived in time to say push once. HOWEVER, I had complications afterwards. They didn't hit a critical nature until I had lost 4 liters of blood. At that point he was called back and by time I was prepped and ready for surgery, he was already there. The nurse had kept him apprised of my situation from the time he left so he knew what to expect.

I'm not sure if I have given you the answers you were seeking, just hopefully allaying any fears that you wouldn't receive good care. I absolutely adored my L&D nurses, as I did my Drs. But if you feel uncomfortable with this level of care, I suggest you look into a practice of midwives that practices with OBs as an emergency backup.

Good Luck,

-- CarolynAt Thu, 21 Jan 1999, AMD wrote: > >When I had my first baby, I did not see any sort of doctor/midwife from >the time I checked in until about a 1/2 hour before my son was born, >when my OB arrived to deliver the baby. I had already been pushing for >an hour. The nurses did all the assessments during labor, and I don't >think there was even an ob/gyn in the hospital given I was the only >patient in L&D that night. > >Is this normal practice at most hospitals? Or do most require an OB (at >least a resident) on site if there is a delivery in progress? I know you >can't expect your doctor to sit with you through labor, but I expected >to have some contact with some doctor during this time. > >I know L&D nurses are skilled professionals,but I wonder if this really >put a woman and her baby at risk to not have a doctor available at a >moments notice. If no one is even there, how quickly could they do an >emergency c-section? > >Just curious if my prior experience was unusual or if I should expect >the same thing this time! > >Thanks, >Andrea

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