The first lesson that should be taught on day one at obstetrician school: You do not mess with labouring women.
Unfortunately for one obstetrician, he skipped that class and ended up getting schooled on the job.
The story of this fierce mama’s battle with her doctor went viral after it was shared on Facebook.
Brand new grandma Michelle Parsons shared a photo of her daughter and brand new mama, Taylor, feeding her beautiful new baby, Maverick.
And she took the opportunity to speak out about what she’d just witnessed in the birth room.
In her post, which has since been shared almost 10,000 times, the new grandma wrote:
“That moment the on call OB FLAT OUT REFUSES to deliver your daughter’s baby since she has chosen delayed cord clamping, so your daughter FIRES the OB MID CONTRACTION, reaches down and delivers her own 8 pound 10 ounce son, en caul, while the STUNNED OB stands helplessly by, completely dumbfounded he was unable to bully her into doing things his way…I’m One Proud Momma here”.
Michelle Parsons
Unfortunately, the obstetrician’s handling of the situation is not uncommon.
While it’s not good practice – and certainly isn’t recommended – some women do report feeling pressured by their healthcare providers during labour.
Labouring women aren’t exactly in the mindset to argue back, so many end up being brow beaten into whatever their doctor is pushing for.
In this instance, the doctor was arguing against delayed cord clamping. Delayed cord clamping is not only proven to have many benefits, it’s also a standard policy adopted by many hospitals now, so this mama was right to fight back.
And what a way to do it!
Wouldn’t you have loved to see the look on the doctor’s face when he was fired mid-contraction by a woman who went on to do his job for him? What an amazingly strong mama.
It was also a pretty powerful twist to her son’s birth story.
According to the new grandma, the doctor flat out refused to help the labouring mama if she insisted on delayed cord clamping which, he claimed, was “dangerous” and “against medical guidelines”.
Knowing that it was neither of those things, the labouring mama told him: “Step back then, I will deliver my own baby”.
Commenting on the encounter, she added: “He thought he would fear monger her into backing down … he’s obviously never met my daughter”.
While this mama was able to stand her ground, many can’t or don’t realise they have options. Yolanda Clarke posted the following powerful comment on her Facebook page, Bauhauswife, and addressed a different perspective of this story:
“The story is presented as though there is a connection between this woman speaking up, and the doctor stepping back. But in reality, there is no connection.
“Lots and lots of women speak up for themselves, and they are bulldozed, told they’re crazy, threatened and punished with even more damaging interventions. And then there are the many women who are so traumatized by the onslaught of abuse they face during hospital birth that they are literally stunned into silence; in a state of shock. Those women are not any less brave or fierce.
“I’ll say it again: this woman was lucky. That’s it. Sure, she’s fierce. But no more fierce than the hundreds and thousands of women in the same position, who also fought and screamed, but instead had the doc threaten them with CPS, or child endangerment.
“For whatever reason, the doctor in this case chose to step back. Why do we all have to pretend it was because of her strength and bravery? This pretence perpetuates the false notion that women can ever truly “empower” ourselves within a system or structure that is inherently contradictory to our best interests.
“The simple reality is that this is a story of yet another woman who, instead of focusing inward on the peaceful, integral, and precious passage of her infant earthside, was forced to engage in a war, while enacting the most private and intimate and vulnerable experience of her life. And that’s heartbreaking.
“The fact is, she was powerless. As every woman is, in the hospital. All this celebration of her supposed individual triumph throws all those other women (who thought they fought as hard as they could, who couldn’t have fought harder, but were still cut, abused, tortured, ignored, ridiculed and violated) under the bus”.
According to the original post, the family will be lodging an official grievance complaint against the doctor for his attitude in the delivery room.
Let’s hope the doctor learned a valuable lesson that day and will think twice before trying to bully a woman in the birthing room again.
It sounds like baby Maverick has one hell of a female role model in his life.
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