my new ob/gyn
Yesterday I had my first appointment with my new ob/gyn Dr. Chang. Besides the fact that he has a penis and therefore probably cannot come close to empathizing with women about vaginas and what happens to them in labour, he seems okay. We had a quick interview in his office and he gave me a bunch of registration paperwork for the hospital. I asked him if he had the results of my IPS and he kindly opened up the online hospital file on me and took a look, since no one else had called me. The baby is normal, which I kind of figured anyways, but it was nice to hear. He jokes around a lot, which is fine but I found that he wasn’t overly serious when I was asking him some hard core questions. I’ll cover those below.
Anyways, then he took my weight (I have lost another 4.5lbs) which he says is no concern since I had some extra chub on me pre-pregnancy and he figures that I have probably lost about 20 lbs since being pregnant but gained back about 6 – so basically, I have lost 14 lbs. This is fine as long as I don’t lose anymore and continue to be sensible with my eating (this of course excludes my new addiction to Tim Horton’s French Vanilla, which I am gulping down as I type). Then he chastised me for not drinking milk (hello- I take a prenatal and a calcium supplement; not good enough according to him. He would rather I drink cow juice. Yuck.) Then my husband and I got to listen to the baby’s heart. It was a thing of beauty, and so comforting to hear.
As for the questions I asked him, number one was about episiotomy, because lets be honest, someone slicing up my vajingo bothers me a wee bit. He told me his episiotomy rate is about 10%, and that he only does it if a) the baby is in distress and needs to come out right away, or b) if he can see that tearing is inevitable (which he pronounced in a Kim Jong Il from Team America accent). When I told him that in much of the literature I have been reading, they clearly state that tearing is better, he disagreed, and said that many women end up with worse tears when left to do so naturally. I am skeptical. But you know what? I have no idea what to believe now. I think I need to talk to a nurse.
His cesarean rate is roughly 23%, which is about the average for the hospital. I asked him why he felt that cesarean rates were so high and he kind of alluded to how interventions used during labour can sometimes hinder the process to the point where they feel that the labour is not progressing and yadda yadda yadda, c-section. He told me we could discuss all of this more in depth the next time I see him.
So that’s that. Next week I see my family doctor and then have a freaking wisdom tooth pulled because it’s infected. No painkillers allowed. Great.
Oh yeah, and I went to a maternity store and got 2 of the best bras I have ever had in my life. Here’s a tip for the big-busted ladies out there: forget the Bay, forget La Senza; get a Maternity bra, even if you aren’t pregnant. My boobs are so happy now.
Anyways, then he took my weight (I have lost another 4.5lbs) which he says is no concern since I had some extra chub on me pre-pregnancy and he figures that I have probably lost about 20 lbs since being pregnant but gained back about 6 – so basically, I have lost 14 lbs. This is fine as long as I don’t lose anymore and continue to be sensible with my eating (this of course excludes my new addiction to Tim Horton’s French Vanilla, which I am gulping down as I type). Then he chastised me for not drinking milk (hello- I take a prenatal and a calcium supplement; not good enough according to him. He would rather I drink cow juice. Yuck.) Then my husband and I got to listen to the baby’s heart. It was a thing of beauty, and so comforting to hear.
As for the questions I asked him, number one was about episiotomy, because lets be honest, someone slicing up my vajingo bothers me a wee bit. He told me his episiotomy rate is about 10%, and that he only does it if a) the baby is in distress and needs to come out right away, or b) if he can see that tearing is inevitable (which he pronounced in a Kim Jong Il from Team America accent). When I told him that in much of the literature I have been reading, they clearly state that tearing is better, he disagreed, and said that many women end up with worse tears when left to do so naturally. I am skeptical. But you know what? I have no idea what to believe now. I think I need to talk to a nurse.
His cesarean rate is roughly 23%, which is about the average for the hospital. I asked him why he felt that cesarean rates were so high and he kind of alluded to how interventions used during labour can sometimes hinder the process to the point where they feel that the labour is not progressing and yadda yadda yadda, c-section. He told me we could discuss all of this more in depth the next time I see him.
So that’s that. Next week I see my family doctor and then have a freaking wisdom tooth pulled because it’s infected. No painkillers allowed. Great.
Oh yeah, and I went to a maternity store and got 2 of the best bras I have ever had in my life. Here’s a tip for the big-busted ladies out there: forget the Bay, forget La Senza; get a Maternity bra, even if you aren’t pregnant. My boobs are so happy now.
posted by vegan mum at 9:33 AM
2 Comments:
I have read that tearing is better too.
I am reading a great book right now called a The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer. It has chapters on all the usual birth interventions and the pros and cons on all as well as info on studies about these interventions. I just finished the chapter on c-sections and I have to say that I also think 23% is very high. Here is a quote from the book, "Over a decade ago, the World Health Organization concluded that since countries with some of the lowest perinatal mortality rates in the world had cesarean section rates of less than 10 percent, there was no justification for any region to have a cesarean rate more that 10-15 percent."
What is interesting is that most of the interventions that doctors claim are to help labor, actually cause a lot of the problems that lead to c-sections.
Anyway, I would highly recommend reading the book.
And I hear you on the maternity bras! I got one to sleep in a few weeks back and I have never been so happy.
A blog you might really enjoy is The Life and Times of a Labor Nurse. She has some very definite opinions about the cascading interventions that lead to sections. She also fields questions from the audience. I'd be interested to see what she has to say about tearing vs episiotomy.
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