What's with doctors and the word cesarean!!!!
thebigmare
member
My endocrinologist wants me to have a level 2 u/s to look at the baby's thyroid. She starts talking about how if the baby's thyroid is enlarged, then I'll have to have a c/s. When I mentioned it to my MW, she said, "Whoa, slow down. We don't even know if the baby will have an enlarged thyroid. Even if the baby does have an enlarged thyroid, that doesn't necessarily mean that you'll have c/s. We'll send you to the high risk doctors at Yale and they'll make the call. Calm down."
Normally I see the MWs in my large practice, but occassionally I have to see the OBs because of my schedule. The ob that I saw today told me that my baby is breech (even though I feel his hiccups down really low!!! But that's a different post I already wrote on 3rd tri). He told me NOT to do anything to help flip the baby until I have my u/s to confirm that the baby is breech. So I asked him if anyone in the practice would deliver a breech baby vaginally. He said that he has, but he wouldn't deliver mine since I'm a 1st time mom and I don't have a "proven pelvis." He said that they'll recommend aversion (he seemed to look down on having my chiropractor do anything). I mentioned that I heard that aversion can sometimes cause you to go into labor. He said that's why we do the aversion at Yale with the OR right next door in case we need to have a c/s. But he recommended doing the aversion that might end up as a c/s vs. doing nothing and then definitely getting a c/s (which I agree with).
Anyways, I'm totally the wrong person to say any of these things to. I think that no matter how low the risk is that it's going to happen to me and then I start to freak out and worry and research. Of course, DH is trying to convince me to take it one step at a time, but I do NOT want to have this baby in 5 weeks!!! That's crazy!!!! (I know, absolute worse case scenario...see, that's how I think!)
All I can try and focus on is how different the conversation might have gone if my appointment was with the MW. I bet she wouldn't have brought up the "c" word...
Re: What's with doctors and the word cesarean!!!!
An endocrinologist recently told me the same thing. Before even having the 36 week u/s done, she said that if the baby has a goiter (which would be a slim to none chance, anyway), it would mean automatic c-section for me, since he wouldn't be able to tuck his chin in for birth.
When I told the MW she said this, the MW just shook her head and said it would have to be an awfully big goiter to call for a c-section! The u/s showed that baby's thyroid is fine, but it was pretty ridiculous that the endo even mentioned that (the endo also said "well, good luck with that" when I mentioned that I had switched to the midwives because I'd like to try for a water birth, ugh).
Sorry you are going through this, I hope you can get the baby well positioned!
I'm assuming you are upset at what the endocrinologist said and not the OB mentioning the risks with an external version. Because with the latter, I think it's appropriate to talk about the potential for an external version to necessitate an emergency c/s. It's a slight risk but one any doctor should discuss.
I hope your baby's thyroid is fine. I would also encourage you to consider less invasive means to turn your baby before trying the version. I tried a lot of stuff. I have heard really good things about the Webster technique. But obviously wait to confirm that your LO is breech first.
I replied to your hiccup post and you've got lots of ECV stuff here.
Just wanted to throw out there that Webster is not going to turn a vertex baby breech. All it does is sort out your sacrum if it's torqued and do some ligament work to keep your uterus from getting twisted a bit if your ligaments are pulling it in weird ways due to being tight. It makes more room, and if you suspect a breech, I'd do it now. It won't hurt. It feels good (seriously felt 100x better after my adjustment on Monday. I was DYING all weekend). It might help.
I have weekly chiropractor appts. Would you just mention this to the chiro on Monday?
This is good information. I don't usually go to a chiropractor, but one of my MW is married to a reputable one, and I will ask her about doing Webster as a precaution, since DS was breech.
I think in regards to the OP: Doctors do an OB rotation in med school, and they are typically exposed to the most middle-of-the-road hospital practices there. My SIL did her OB rotation last year (she is not planning to be an OB), and it went pretty much like this. Sleep, wait for the doc to call you, show up and rescue the mother (whose name you don't even know) with your doctor magic. She got to see lots of interventions, perhaps because they called her in specifically to get experience with them, but it definitely provides a skewed view of how birth goes. It's not like they take you to a home birth in med school.
He is. He mentioned it to me when I first started going in December. BTW, he is VERY natural birth friendly. His wife has had two home births (last one in October). He was trying to talk me into one, especially when he realized that I live 3 blocks from where his wife's MW lives. He also mentioned that my hospital has a 42% c/s rate and wanted to make sure that I was aware of that.