just an little "unnecessary intervention" vent

[Tegam]

I hope beyond words that you get the birth you want next time Rosehip and that it also brings with it some amount of healing!

I also hope that you can find the strength to have another baby after the trauma you have clearly experienced.... Good luck!

[Bathsheba]

It's been an interesting discussion. Lots of very valid points. I do understand theoretically where you are coming from BG but unfortunately 2 of my 3 births (I felt) involved a lot of unnecessary intervention that was given simply because people in hospital don't like to wait to see if anything is actually wrong... they seem to be of the belief that "if in doubt then do something" which like a few posters have said, is OFTEN the start of a downward spiral... so often one intervention leads to another.... and another... and another until a C-section is the only hope for the poor exhausted mother and strung out father who at that point will agree to anything.

I received intervention with my first birth simply because I was a late 40 + 10. I actually went into labour naturally... the night before my scheduled induction... and despite nice strong regular contractions they deemed that I wasn't labouring "fast enough". I had only been in labour (ie the from the very first twinges) half a day. So they decided to break my waters... that cranked things up but STILL I wasn't doing it fast enough... so they hooked me up to syncotin (a nasty synthetic version of oxytocin which makes contraction much stronger). And yes it "worked". My contractions got so strong that they didn't stop.... they ran into each other... I lost focus... felt like I was dying and basically decided I couldn't do it anymore.... so that meant MORE intervention: I was put flat on my back... tied down with fetal monitoring and a drip.... legs in hard metal stirrups. I couldn't tune in to my birth at all... in the end the OB had to suck out my baby with a vacuum.... thankfully he avoided forcepts. My baby arrived. She was 7 pounds (not big despite being so "late", had no signs of being over cooked and the placenta was in perfect condition despite being late.

Now the thing that horrifies me is the education I have sought many years after that birth... I was very shocked to have read how dangerous it was that my contractions were so strong that they were simply one long contraction for hours. I have read that giving a woman too high a dose of syncotin (which I strongly feel that I was given due to the hospital staffs impatience) is actually a huge threat to the safety of the baby. My baby ultimately became distressed because she was being squeezed so hard and relentlessly that her breathing was being compromised. There was no emergency prior to having that syncotim hooked up. No emergency what so ever!!!! Everything was fine... but I was "late" according to some blanket style approach to birth. My baby was showing no signs of distress UNTIL they started to interfere. Why why why???

A similar thing happened during my third birth... or nearly happened... it was only for the support of my watchful doula who helped me argue the point to keep the syncotin levels to a minimum that avoided a repeat situation. How interesting that with a MINIMUM dose of syncotin I was able to stay lucid enough at the end to actually push my baby out by myself!

I don't dispute that when a birth needs to become medicalised (as it was in my third birth due to me having cholestasis) I will accept medical advice. BUT that still doesn't give the hospital staff the right to tell me to hurry up and fit in with their schedule. They actually told me that they were busy that day and needed the delivery suite I was using so it would be "beneficial" for me to have a stronger dose of syncotin to help my labour progress faster. But I was awfully inconvenient and said NO. And an inconvenient (for them) 6 hours later I gave birth to a healthy 9 pound boy... that I pushed out myself thankyou very much!

So although i do understand your point BG... my personal experience does indicate that at the end of the day what a woman really needs is a advocate for HER to balance what she is being told that may or may not really be in her best interests.... and I found this with having my doula. Education is great.... but at the end of the day a woman in labour will not be thinking straight... as well as being educated herself she would benefit from also having a well educated advocate.

Getting back to Rory's original post and point; I guess what Rory is hoping is that that woman finds someone to give her a bit of balance to the argument of "Big Baby"... and not subscribe to the nervous intervention-prone environment of hospitals which unfortunately (I believe) are responsible for creating just as many birthing emergencies as they are forced to deal with.