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Natural Birth
punkrockabye
member
So, DH can't help catch the baby?
punkrockabye
member
Has anyone run into this? The doctors were actually pretty fine with my birth plan, which overall is kind of surprising and reassuring. But DH won't be able to touch the baby, essentially, until the doctor hands her to a nurse who puts her on my chest. "Well, babies are slippery, and something could be medically wrong and require a doctor's immediate attention."
No crap; my husband isn't a moron, and we're not demanding he catch the baby even if she has a heart rate of 20--all of this is assuming everything is going well. I'm very aware that things can change, but apparently they don't care about that; he just can't help catch her, period. This doesn't seem right... or is it, and I just got the wrong idea somewhere?
Also, my "no students" preference "isn't possible," although I'm told it's one learner at a time. Honestly I'm fine with one student at a time; I just didn't want to take half a page to explain that it's not that I want to exclude people who are still obtaining an education, but rather, I want to avoid having a swarm of 8 people hustling in to stand along the wall. I was just kind of rubbed the wrong way when they gave the reasoning of "this is how the clinic works and you're a clinic patient." Translation: you're on Medicaid, so you have to accept the fact that students will be present. I'm not sure of the legality of this, honestly. I'm pretty sure that no matter how my care is paid for, I get the final say in who is in my room, in all but the most urgent of emergency situations (and then, I doubt there would be a crowd of people in the way).
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Re: So, DH can't help catch the baby?
Who did you talk to? I'd see if you can speak to an administrator or patient advocate. You do have a right to say who can and cannot be in your delivery room.
As for catching the baby, I am not sure since DH had no interest in doing that.
Sounds to me likes it's a liability issue...baby = slippery = chance dh could drop her and they would get sued. I would have an issue w not being able to determine who was I. The room.. I said no students for my birth."yes they need to,learn but they can learn w someone else. ( I'm a private person and that would have neg affected my labor)
This! I would complain to whoever will listen about it.
I think I've heard of partners being able to help catch the baby at hospital births, but I would imagine it's very dependent on the individual provider, unfortunately.
DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)
As for DH catching the baby, I think that's one of those choose-your-battles kind of thing. I'd focus more on getting skin-to-skin contact instead of a warmer because there's evidence to support that. Having DH catch the baby is just a nice-to-have.
We didn't have "husband to catch baby" on our birth plan; however we were pleasantly surprised that after the shoulders were delivered, the midwife asked my husband to step in and he delivered the baby the rest of the way. He was so surprised in the moment that she asked him and said it was an amazing moment. He handed the baby back to the midwife who then handed the baby to me. I guess each practitioner is different in what they are comfortable with, each situation might be different based on the circumstances and the practitioners comfort level w/ the particular patients, and each hospital has it's own policies (which the practitioners may or may not always follow).
My advice would be to remove it from your birth plan, and then in the moment have your husband step in to ask if he can catch the baby (like right before it would need to happen). Maybe if everything is going well, they'll let him have that moment.
As far as the medical students, I would also not "stir the pot" right now - but in the moment you can absolutely ask ANYONE to leave the room for any reason. They can't deny you that (I don't think they can, anyway!) I know when my newborn was rehospitalized, I wasn't comfortable w/ the person (not sure if it was a med student or nurse or what) who was holding my 7 day old baby for a spinal tap. He just didn't seem to know what he was doing - so I stopped the procedure and asked for someone more competent. I told the guy "no offense, but you don't seem to be holding him still" and they followed my request. I also was able to "interview" the med students for a 2nd spinal tap to decide if I was comfortable w/ them doing the spinal tap rather than their attending physician. I decided that she had enough experience and I was okay with her experience level, but the attending physician agreed w/ my request to be in the room during the procedure in order to step in if I became uncomfortable. They work for you :-) You just have to speak up - but sometimes it's better to speak up in the moment rather than speak up for the "what if's".
I had DD at a hospital with a midwife. Even though it wasn't in our birthplan, right at the last minute the midwife offered it up "Hey dad, do you play baseball? Wanna catch your baby?" He did and it was great. No big deal.
OMG - what is the percentage of newborn babies that have something wrong?!! Why does everyone always assume that something will be wrong?!!
Um, No. Teaching hospitals have residents, not Medicaid hospitals. They are not a condition of Medicaid. And just because a patient is on Medicaid does not mean they do not have any say in who their medical provider is.
That's what I was thinking too. My hospital has a policy that you can't take any pictures or video of the actual birth or any medical procedure. One word liability. Honestly I don't blame them one bit, people have gotten quite sue happy in this country and they have to cover their backs.
As for having no students I would see if there is someone else you can speak to, that doesn't seem right. I guess you could always have your partner tell the student they are not welcome, maybe they would leave of their own accord?
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That said-- if a resident is, for whatever reason, giving you the heebie-jeebies (or whoever else), you can request them removed. If asking nicely doesn't work, ask for the charge nurse or the patient rep.
My attitude is simply that I don't want a swarm of college students coming in to just observe. Residents ARE doctors, and if someone is actively doing something/there for a purpose in my care, that's fine. I just have no desire to be a spectacle and I have heard stories of doctors escorting big groups into rooms as soon as they think mom is too preoccupied to speak up for herself if she has been asking for there to not be a bunch of observers. Then again, DH and our doula will be there to help. But I was a student before too, while I was in grad school for social work I visited patients (internship was in a hospital) just like any "real" social worker there. But I didn't just stare at them, I actively served them, and in the few occasions where I'd accompany my supervisor I would ask the patient to make sure they were okay with my presence.
I've had only a few instances of students accompanying the residents during my appointments and I am perfectly fine with that. It's one student at a time then as well. I wouldn't care what kind of insurance I had, I'd be fine with that happening as long as there was enough space in the room. But there would be no point in having an "attending physicians only" policy--I guess some people might want that, but I wouldn't restrict it that much. I think I'll wait until the big day and get a feel for how it will play out... if every visit from a doctor includes one student, that's fine, and I'll just try to politely ask that it's limited to one student at a time.
DH catching the baby isn't the most important thing, obviously. There are vastly more important things for me to aim for during L&D It just struck me as very strange that he supposedly can't grab the baby once she's all but out of me, except for her legs. Of course if anything was going wrong he probably wouldn't even be "down there." I understand that there's liability but it seems to me (having never delivered a baby before though, obviously) that there will come a point during baby's exit that it can be determined that everything looks fine and DH could be told to step in and pull her out with the doctor. That has just been my understanding from seeing other people's birth experiences. My birth plan would have been 16 pages if I had to specify "if everything is going smoothly and everyone is safe and healthy" with every single point!
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Actually, Medicaid is one of the largest funders of graduate medical education in the country (https://content.healthaffairs.org/content/19/1/221.full.pdf). What's a "Medicaid hospital" anyway? Any hospital that accepts residents -- regardless of whether it's a large academic medical center affiliated with a university -- is a "teaching hospital."
That said, yes, you have a right to refuse care from residents and medical students no matter what insurance provider you have. But my guess is that when the doctor said, "that's not how the clinic works," she means that residents and trainees are helping to staff the clinic and they don't have the manpower for every patient to get an attending. My DH is a doctor and he has worked at clinics like this; there are one or two attendings and the rest of the call and patient responsibilities are handled by residents.
I'm actually surprised by some of the answers on here, particularly those suggesting that as a medicaid recipient you should have no say in your care. I also had to LOL at everyone who mentioned it being an issue of liability. Lots of hospitals say the same thing about not eating, drinking, continuous monitoring, etc. As an individual, you have the right to ask questions and work out a solution between you and a provider that makes you both feel comfortable.
In direct response to your H catching your baby, some providers do, some don't. If it is important to you, you may want to see if you can change providers. Another option may be for your H to get involved in some other way. Talk to your OB and see if you can strike a compromise. FYI, my hospital-based midwife was all for DH catching our son (I ended up with a c-section).
As for the students, I am in total agreement with you. No one wants a whole class of students traipsing through their L&D and you have every right to request that people not disturb you, medicaid or not. I requested the same thing in my birth plan. When I got to L&D my midwife asked if it would be ok if a single student midwife could observe. I changed my mind after meeting the student and was so glad I did. She was such a huge support and really helped me through a lot of tough back labor.
As I understand it, the doctor has to catch the baby because of liability. If your husband drops the baby the hospital would be considered negligent in their duty and they would then have issues with their malpractice insurance. It's not that they think your husband can't, it's that they can't afford the premiums from their insurance if they were to allow such a practice.
For students, I was so irritated by the student that was present for my labor. She tried to hold my leg during pushing and I'm stark naked telling her she's doing it wrong. It's not our job to educate people while simultaneously giving birth. If I were to do it again, I would allow students but put that they're not allowed to touch me during labor/delivery.
I have so many problems with this! It's not my problem to make sure student doctors get their education. I personally am completely comfortable with having whoever in my room. I just don't care. It doesn't inhibit my ability to do what I need to do. I'm a pretty open person. But the fact that "all doctors need to learn somehow" does not make it my responsibility to allow people in the room for the PRIVATE birth of my child. The birth of my child is about the birth of my child, not teaching someone how to deliver a baby.
For some women having unnecessary people in the room can inhibit their ability to focus on their labor. During delivery her job trumps the student's need to learn. Period. Wow! That really rubbed me the wrong way!
Catching the baby depends on the midwife/doc - some allow, some don't. I do know that most hospitals only allow the mom/dad to touch the baby at first without gloves - everyone else has to wear gloves at the point of delivery.
As for being at a teaching hospital with students - you probably won't care in that moment anyway.
As for the clinc-patient note, I am not familiar with Medicaid, so I can't tell you if it was a veiled response to that.
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ITA
We are planning a hospital birth with a midwife. When we reviewed our birth plan with her we had that we "might want DH to help catch LO". Initally she was concerned. I think it had alot to do with the term "catch", since that is what the midwife or OB is there to do. I think she thought we wanted DH to deliver the baby completely without any help. She said that instead that after the baby crowns or is partly out DH and I will have the opportunity to reach down and touch the baby. Or if everything is going well, DH could "assist" her in catching the baby. I do think it must be a liability thing with a slippery baby. And that the MW wants the best view to make sure things are going smoothly. Either way, I was happy with the outcome of the conversation, knowing that he could be involved in some level if he wanted to.
The one thing in my birth plan that the MW told me I'd have to remind her of is that I want DH to tell me the sex. I guess thats not too common.
As far as the students in the room. I would definatly see if you can talk to someone in the administration. Ask how many students will be in at a time. I think I could handle 1-2, but not a whole classroom full! LOL!
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Yep, have to agree with you on this. My older son was hospitalized at birth with a suspected infection. We saw a gazillion different residents, and they pretty much all sucked - at one point, we had someone come in and tell us DS1 was going to have to have a feeding tube, even though the order had actually been cancelled (she just didn't know it, and we had never seen her before). We definitely got the feeling that DS1 was just a test subject for the residents to "practice" on. We did finally get to talk to the doctor in charge and get things sorted out, but oof, never again.
I had specific instructions that if there were any medical concerns with DS2 after his birth, we'd only talk to an attending physician. Though I did have a student midwife at DS2's birth - she was great, and was one person, and was being helped by a MW who was in charge.
DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)
Your feeding tube story is (very vaguely) like many of my experiences so far. I constantly have to fill the residents and students in on what is going on with me. No, I haven't been on blood pressure medication since January, I'm not still on it. Yes, I am still taking low dose aspirin and I am not too interested in stopping yet, but we can discuss it at any time instead of you just saying "you're no on that anymore" when, yes, I am. No, I am not a brand new patient, I have been coming here since 7 weeks. Yes, this is actually my husband, and believe it or not he is the baby's father. No, I don't need a growth scan next week, I need it the week after since I just had one, I was told to schedule them for every 2 weeks, and yes I have scheduled EVERY scan and appointment until after my due date (but feel free to tell me if they need to become more frequent, since I'm going on what I was told last time).
It gets really old knowing that nobody will look at my chart. For a good month, after I had been going to this HIGH RISK clinic for about 4 months, everyone was suddenly convinced that I was only there for GD and I had just been diagnosed. They were actually confused as to why they had been seeing me for months prior when I was only then diagnosed with GD. When I asked for a letter to excuse me from jury duty--which the court told me to get a doctor to simply state that my pregnancy is high risk with no further details--they initially refused to do anything more than state that I have GD. I finally asked that if they want to violate my right to privacy and list my medical complications, the least they could do was list EVERYTHING that makes me high risk. "You don't just have diabetes?" No, I don't even have diabetes in general, it's GD. (I finally got my simple high risk letter after this).
I know people get busy and I have no issue with it if someone is honest and says "hey, I don't remember, can you refresh me on...." and leaves it at that, but several of them come in with this holier than thou attitude and I'm just thinking "look kid, we're the same age, and we have the same level of education. If you want respect from me, you have to give it to me in return, and there's no reason to work in a hospital if you're going to refuse to read up on your patients before meeting with them."
Then there are the ones who think you are literally stupid. Yes, I know what high blood pressure is. No, I have not had any bleeding or fluid leakage or severe contractions because if I did I would have COME IN and not just waited until my appointment (I'm tempted to say "no, but a few days ago this hand started sticking out of my vagina. Do you want to see? It'll grip your finger!"). I promise, you can ask me if I am experiencing any depression, and I will answer honestly; you don't need to say cutesy words like "sadness" and "crying" and actually try to define depression to a state licensed social worker. If you had to do that, clearly my life has been a lie!
Not many of them have been rude or anything, but there are a lot of people there, and it's just exhausting needing to do their work for them. I know this won't be an issue with the nurses and I have seen many residents who seem very competent. But seriously, when there's a group of three practitioners of various levels of education entering my room to talk to me at 20-some weeks, there is simply no excuse to start out talking about how I'm newly pregnant and just starting to come to the clinic--when the resident did that, I noticed the look of pure horror on this poor intern's face, since she didn't think she was in a position to correct him AND YET she had actually looked at my chart!
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