Wednesday, January 09, 2008

UC on Good Morning America

Good Morning America recently had a short segment about unassisted birth. They featured one woman, Christina Schaefer, who had a UC with her fourth baby. What the show didn't have time to tell was her back story.

Her first baby was born via cesarean section after an induction for mild preeclampsia. From the October 21, 2007 article "No doctor, no midwife: I'll give birth at home alone" in the New York Post's Page Six Magazine:

"Christina, a stay-at-home mom, wasn't looking to buck the system when she first got pregnant after three years of marriage. 'I really had no idea what to expect. I trusted my doctor. Whenever I'd go to see my OB, my blood pressure would rise, and I was concerned about preeclampsia,' she says, referring to the potentially fatal pregnancy-related condition. A little over a month before her first child, Cade, was due, Christina was admitted to the hospital with mild preeclampsia, and the doctor decided to induce labor. 'After giving me a dose of a drug called Pitocin, breaking my water and screwing an internal fetal monitor into my baby's scalp, they realized he was stressed, so they told me they were going to do a C-section. They didn't ask my permission. As soon as they stopped the Pitocin, the baby was no longer stressed, but they did the C-section anyway. I think if they had just let things progress normally, I could have had a vaginal birth,' Christina says."

Her next two births were hospital VBACs with CNMs. She wanted to do the same for her fourth baby, but the hospital had changed its VBAC policy. She was informed that she would have to have a repeat cesarean section. She pled her case before the hospital, but was told, "It's all about liability."

4 comments:

  1. "The baby could be born in a breach position, or with the umbilical cord wrapped around its neck."

    And the Dr.'s point is?? Neither of these are inherently dangerous...but he's definitely taking advantage of "Mr. and Mrs. Mainstream America" and using what is perceived as an emergency situation to arouse a sense of danger. Come on, 2 of my 3 kids had nuchal cords - one MW-assisted, one not. No biggie.

    Anyway...rant over. At least they provide links for more info at the end, though as usual, I see the experts for one side quoted without the benefit of the same for the "radical" side...

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  2. ...and watch out for those 'inducements'!!! LOL

    I agree w/ Jen, but I would expect as much from an OB on TV.

    However, the parenting expert's appearance really pissed me off. Parenting expert?? The ABC producer really paid this woman money to show up to dispense her soundbite wisdom on birth options?

    Naive me, for a split second when she started out saying 'I do not think a woman should be alone, with no skilled attendants' I really thought she might say hire a midwife to come to you. That would be the logical way to finish the sentence she started, right? But to be safe she came up with this nonsense non sequitur about having a nurse midwife for 'support' at your side at the hospital (which most likely has a VBAC ban)?! Thanks tootsie, that was really helpful and informative, truly worth our time.

    My rant over, too.

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  3. :) I don't care if Dr. Amy does decide to have a heyday over this. I personally enjoy what Jen and Judit said, and what Ms. LeMay said makes a lot of sense to me, too. I personally believe that babies are smart, our bodies are smart, and together they are perfectly capable of birth. Thanks for having a forum for sanity, Rixa.

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  4. I read these stories and all I can think is, "Of COURSE women are choocing UC."

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