Friday, April 25, 2008

Do they really believe THAT?!?

So I had a few babies over the past week. I've been busy - Henry was in the hospital, then a client had a baby, then I came home, got some rest, packed a bit, and another client called and had a baby a couple of days later. Busy busy! But, I'm done for now. I have one client left before my own kiddo arrives, and she's not due until June. And, she's having a homebirth, so it's a whole different ball game than the hospital births I've been at lately. Which brings me to my question.

What's with the OBs? Are they really taught misinformation? If not, where do they come up with this stuff? And why do they tell their patients stuff which is flat out WRONG? I really hope it's that they are misinformed, as bad as that is, because the only other explanation I can come up with is that they're lying, and that's worse in my opinion. For example - over the past couple of births I've heard the following:

Cytotec is DEFINITELY safer than a foley bulb induction.

There is no increased risk of infection associated with vaginal exams every two hours following spontaneous rupture of the membranes.

Cord traction is not considered active management of the third stage of labor.

We see a lot of cord prolapses.

I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of them at the moment. I just wonder what is going on with these OBs. Where are they getting their info? Do they even READ the current research? Do they even think that maybe the evidence has changed how they should be doing things? What's up?!?

And for more information on the sad state of affairs with regards to our current maternity system, go to Netflix and add The Business of Being Born to your queue. And watch it. Or, of course, you could just watch some Monty Python:


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