I'm Now Entering the Dark Ages...
My first day at my new clinical... Absolutely horrible, horrific I would even say. I should have taken notes, I was trying to remember all of the ridiculous things I saw done. I knew this hospital would be bad, but I had no idea it would be this bad. While its fresh on my mind I will list some of the things I can remember below and I am sure I will add more later.
- The dreaded cascade: continuous EFM, epidural, labor slows down, pitocin to speed it up, baby's heart rate drops to the 70s, uncomfortable positions and oxygen, internal monitor placed by screwing electrode into baby's head, finally she's complete(even though its only been 8 hours and she is a primip), pushing semi-fowlers using stirrups (I can't believe they still use those!) for 3+ hours
- Stern male OB stands in front of women... Contractions space out. Coincidence? I think not.
- OB can't keep his hands out of her yoni, he pulls down so hard on her perineum that she is bleeding a little. His encouragement is "drive that baby! Get mad! Get mad!"
- Forceps or Cesarean?
- They decide on forceps first (at this point I was actually hoping for a c-section, it seemed less traumatic, can you believe it?) Big scary looking blades are inserted into her and with the next contraction the OB pulls and shimmies and pulls and cuts a episiotomy without any warning, mom screams, the baby's head is out. Finally this poor little soul is brought into this world.
- Mom sees baby for a minute, doesn't really hold him, then placed in warmer.
- Mom is being stitched while baby is poked and prodded. Ointment to eyes before even being able to gaze at mom, Vit K, and rectal temps (what the fuck!)
- Mom finally gets to feed baby (breastfeeding, yeah ;-) Then he is whisked off to the nursery to be monitored, bathed, and get temp stabilized (how about with mom instead). Baby will be spending most his time in the nursery, mom moved to recovery (yeah, not in the same room).
I'm so pissed right now that I need to take a break and write more later.
posted by Student at 20:34
7 Comments:
Go bravely and tread heavily on the black, black souls that run the dungeon... err labour and delivery floor?
I've never seen/experienced forceps but Red Spiral described it a while back... I could barely breathe after reading her description!
Hope things get a little more humane and "normal".
k
-thanks for the kind words in the c/s post. It's been five years and two hbac's since that surgery. It's a tough road for some of us.
Welcome to the world of standardized, managed birth. I'm not being flippant, I feel your pain. Unfortunately thats not even the worse you'll see. Go home, take a deep breath and do something kind for yourself. Its never easy to bear witness to another's experience of brutality.
Yes, its pretty typical hospital birth. But, I must add that the last two hospitals that I had clinical in had much better protocols. The hospitals are in a more progressive city, a more liberal city, therefore, their protocols were a lot better. Still not perfect by any means. No stirrups, no rectal temps, no moving to a recovery room, no babies in the nursery, etc...
Really!?! That would be like Nirvana around here. In all my years of hospital based labor and delivery I saw maybe two deliveries without stirrups, and that was because they were precips.
Holy wow. I must have been a miracle that I never had that...I've had 5 babies without medication. None were induced. The first time I did get an episiotomy, but I only had one stitch. I did get mad with my 2nd (different state and not my doctor) as I hit transition they pushed my husband back and said I needed to push with my body. He was trying to calm me down. I tore badly by pushing with such force as they yelled to push. However, after that time, I have been mostly left alone (okay, #4 actually rushed out of me with no one paying attention). Anyway, if I found out my hospital was that aggressive with the tongs I would be out of there sooooo fast!
to some degree, women expect these kinds of births. you know, it's what is shown as "normal" on TV.
:(
I'm reading your blog with intense interest! xo
Sage Femme ~ And I yours.
Heart,
Student
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