Because I read all the Ina May Gaskin stuff when I first got pregnant and was sure I would have this amazing experience. Reader, I did not. My doula was a miracle worker. We probably should have considered suing the GW midwives for the experience I had during delivery. BUT they are amazing for the care leading up to the birth, which was what I liked for my second child. I also scheduled a c-section, even though they said it wasn't a great idea. I loved my c-section.

Honestly? I went with Physicians & Midwives because there's an office near me and they have Saturday appointments, and I didn't have a strong feeling about the midwife v. doctor decision. I believe the standard there is that a midwife generally delivers (in a hospital) and a doctor is assigned to you as well for if the doctor is needed. Prenatal care is whoever you make appointments with.

For prenatal care I saw a mix of midwives, NPs, and OBs. A midwife delivered. I really didn't get a sense of differences in care or approach.

I had a relatively easy pregnancy and birth. It's possible differences would have been more pronounced if I had had complications.

Anonymous wrote:I'll just leave this here. So many of you are so ignorantly brainwashed into thinking you need constant fetal monitoring or a waterfall of interventions. It's really sad and completely indicative of why the US has abysmal maternal fetal mortality rates and maternal and PP care in general.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2742137/

Yes, please tell my baby's umbilical cord that it shouldn't have knotted up during labor, resulting in an emergency c section as the heart rate flatlined. Thanks to continuous fetal heart rate monitoring, it as caught immediately.

Most deaths as caused by cardiovascular issues like pre eclampsia, and c section would have saved both mom and baby.

Black women often aren't taken seriously and given needed interventions resulting in worse outcomes. They need more help not less.

Wherever they have tried to reduce c section rates, still births and maternal deaths increased.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll just leave this here. So many of you are so ignorantly brainwashed into thinking you need constant fetal monitoring or a waterfall of interventions. It's really sad and completely indicative of why the US has abysmal maternal fetal mortality rates and maternal and PP care in general.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2742137/

The leading cause of maternal mortality is cardiovascular conditions. Lack of access to care, chronic conditions, and and racial and ethnic disparities are the things we should be addressing if we want to lower the rate. But go ahead and keep calling everyone ignorant and thinking that constant fetal monitoring is the problem. Feel free to have your baby in a barn with a CPM. I’d gladly choose a scheduled C section with an OB again.

Or you could have a baby in a hospital with a CNM, OB/NICU back-up, and be grateful you have that option!

You can't honestly complain about people being ignorant and then present the only choices as scheduled C-sections or deliveries in a barn.

Anonymous wrote:I'll just leave this here. So many of you are so ignorantly brainwashed into thinking you need constant fetal monitoring or a waterfall of interventions. It's really sad and completely indicative of why the US has abysmal maternal fetal mortality rates and maternal and PP care in general.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2742137/

The leading cause of maternal mortality is cardiovascular conditions. Lack of access to care, chronic conditions, and and racial and ethnic disparities are the things we should be addressing if we want to lower the rate. But go ahead and keep calling everyone ignorant and thinking that constant fetal monitoring is the problem. Feel free to have your baby in a barn with a CPM. I’d gladly choose a scheduled C section with an OB again.

I'll just leave this here. So many of you are so ignorantly brainwashed into thinking you need constant fetal monitoring or a waterfall of interventions. It's really sad and completely indicative of why the US has abysmal maternal fetal mortality rates and maternal and PP care in general.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2742137/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the model of arrogant male doctor who belittles you is on its way out. The new generation of doctors is explicitly trained in the importance pf bedside manner and is more attentive to the risks of intervention. Plus OB is not a high compensation or prestige medical field anymore, so most people going into it are only doing it because they feel passionately about maternal-fetal health.

I know what you mean, but female OBs are guilty of arrogance too. People are finally talking about the lack of consent in labor and delivery. Interventions are still happening without full consent and OBs can be so dismissive of a mom's concerns and desires. I've had serious medical issues in the past and have never been as demeaned as I have been by obstetricians and labor nurses.

It's institutionalized misogyny. Everyone does it because it's part of the culture. I find the field very anti-science too. It's largely based on heavily biased studies and "clinical observations". Just look at fetal heartrate monitoring which statistically has been proven not to help save babies lives and instead leads to more intervention, yet it's still widely used in hospitals.

Tis is ridiculous. You must be a Trumpist anti vaxxer. Fetal heart rate monitoring has saved millions of babies.

Including 2 out of my 3 baby's lives.

Even the ACOG says intermittent manual monitoring is a perfectly acceptable choice for low risk women.

"Given that the available data do not show a clear benefit for the use of electronic fetal monitoring over intermittent auscultation," the authors wrote, "either option is acceptable in a patient without complications."

https://www.mnhospitals.org/Portals/0/Documents/patientsafety/Perinatal/3a_ACOG%20Bulletin%20106.pdf

I don't know the details for your labors and births, but, again, for low-risk women, the ACOG neither recommends or rejects either option. And of course studies by definition look at things at the population level, rather than the highly individual level.

There is, however, an overall lack of high-quality studies on the subject and anyone who cares about the subject should absolutely want to see additional high-quality studies so care providers, hospital policies, and pregnant women have the best information at hand to make informed decisions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the model of arrogant male doctor who belittles you is on its way out. The new generation of doctors is explicitly trained in the importance pf bedside manner and is more attentive to the risks of intervention. Plus OB is not a high compensation or prestige medical field anymore, so most people going into it are only doing it because they feel passionately about maternal-fetal health.

I know what you mean, but female OBs are guilty of arrogance too. People are finally talking about the lack of consent in labor and delivery. Interventions are still happening without full consent and OBs can be so dismissive of a mom's concerns and desires. I've had serious medical issues in the past and have never been as demeaned as I have been by obstetricians and labor nurses.

It's institutionalized misogyny. Everyone does it because it's part of the culture. I find the field very anti-science too. It's largely based on heavily biased studies and "clinical observations". Just look at fetal heartrate monitoring which statistically has been proven not to help save babies lives and instead leads to more intervention, yet it's still widely used in hospitals.

Tis is ridiculous. You must be a Trumpist anti vaxxer. Fetal heart rate monitoring has saved millions of babies.

Including 2 out of my 3 baby's lives.

I’m pretty sure PP meant “continuous” heartrate monitoring vs intermittent monitoring. There’s no question some form of monitoring does save babies lives.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the model of arrogant male doctor who belittles you is on its way out. The new generation of doctors is explicitly trained in the importance pf bedside manner and is more attentive to the risks of intervention. Plus OB is not a high compensation or prestige medical field anymore, so most people going into it are only doing it because they feel passionately about maternal-fetal health.

I know what you mean, but female OBs are guilty of arrogance too. People are finally talking about the lack of consent in labor and delivery. Interventions are still happening without full consent and OBs can be so dismissive of a mom's concerns and desires. I've had serious medical issues in the past and have never been as demeaned as I have been by obstetricians and labor nurses.

It's institutionalized misogyny. Everyone does it because it's part of the culture. I find the field very anti-science too. It's largely based on heavily biased studies and "clinical observations". Just look at fetal heartrate monitoring which statistically has been proven not to help save babies lives and instead leads to more intervention, yet it's still widely used in hospitals.

Tis is ridiculous. You must be a Trumpist anti vaxxer. Fetal heart rate monitoring has saved millions of babies.

Including 2 out of my 3 baby's lives.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the model of arrogant male doctor who belittles you is on its way out. The new generation of doctors is explicitly trained in the importance pf bedside manner and is more attentive to the risks of intervention. Plus OB is not a high compensation or prestige medical field anymore, so most people going into it are only doing it because they feel passionately about maternal-fetal health.

I know what you mean, but female OBs are guilty of arrogance too. People are finally talking about the lack of consent in labor and delivery. Interventions are still happening without full consent and OBs can be so dismissive of a mom's concerns and desires. I've had serious medical issues in the past and have never been as demeaned as I have been by obstetricians and labor nurses.

It's institutionalized misogyny. Everyone does it because it's part of the culture. I find the field very anti-science too. It's largely based on heavily biased studies and "clinical observations". Just look at fetal heartrate monitoring which statistically has been proven not to help save babies lives and instead leads to more intervention, yet it's still widely used in hospitals.

Do the hospital birth-types vaccinate?

Anonymous wrote:I think the model of arrogant male doctor who belittles you is on its way out. The new generation of doctors is explicitly trained in the importance pf bedside manner and is more attentive to the risks of intervention. Plus OB is not a high compensation or prestige medical field anymore, so most people going into it are only doing it because they feel passionately about maternal-fetal health.

I know what you mean, but female OBs are guilty of arrogance too. People are finally talking about the lack of consent in labor and delivery. Interventions are still happening without full consent and OBs can be so dismissive of a mom's concerns and desires. I've had serious medical issues in the past and have never been as demeaned as I have been by obstetricians and labor nurses.

I picked a CNM working out of a hospital for my first baby 11 years ago, and am so thankful that I did. She had decades of experience and promoted low-intervention birth with medical backup as necessary. Our prenatal appointments were personal and not rushed. I was able to email with her in the last couple weeks when I had concerns about Braxton Hicks contractions and whether I was in labor. She coached me through a long and difficult labor. We made a couple interventions but avoided a c-section. I will always be so thankful for her. My second baby was a breeze and I used the same practice of CNMs - I got to see my original CNM a few times but by then her practice had expanded to include several others. So on my second baby's birth it was the "on call" CNM but I lucked out with a very easy birth that time.

I'm in a practice of 6 female OBs who are all wonderful, natural minded and caring

I think the model of arrogant male doctor who belittles you is on its way out. The new generation of doctors is explicitly trained in the importance pf bedside manner and is more attentive to the risks of intervention. Plus OB is not a high compensation or prestige medical field anymore, so most people going into it are only doing it because they feel passionately about maternal-fetal health.