Reflections on our hospital tour
MrsRoy07
member
DH and I went and toured the maternity ward at the hospital where I'll be delivering yesterday- just thought I'd quickly share our thoughts, particularly DH's because I was so proud of him. 
So we're there on a Sunday- and there wasn't a SINGLE baby in the nursery. No one was there in labor, the floor was empty. We asked why and the nurse told us that so many girls get induced and/or have c-sections now that they rarely have babies on the weekends, especially Sundays.
I realize that inductions/c-sections are sometimes needed for medical reasons, but that seems like a LOT of intervention to me. After we left, DH said it creeped him out that they intervened on that many pregnancies- he said it felt "very George Orwell." I laughed at this, but he's so right! It's wierd that they schedule so many women's births and that so few go into labor naturally. We're determined now more than ever to go natural- I sincerely hope I don't end up needing an induction!!!
Re: Reflections on our hospital tour
Yikes! That IS scary! Is your doctor fully onboard with your natural birth plans? I would make sure you have a great relationship with him/her (plus anyone who might fill in on the dr's day off) as it doesn't seem that the hospital will be on your side. Take plenty of copies of your birth plan (if you are having one) and educate your support team to know your wishes.
GL. You CAN do it!
I work L&D, and while that fact is true, it's not always the Dr's intervening....
Lots of women are "done" with pregnancy, and can request elective inductions for 39.0 weeks. Drs just schedule them according to their hospital schedule. It's pretty sad, but I like my weekend shift (every third weekend) b/c it's not usually a crazy time.
Most of our OBs are supportive of natural CB, but most women don't want it.
Trevor Calvin 12.10.07 7:26pm 7lbs2.5oz 19.75in
Emerson Claire 07.07.11 11:34am 7lbs7oz 20.5 in
We find it odd but honestly most women I talk to find us, the natural birthers, to be the odd ones.
I work in L&D as well and I totally agree. So many women hoping for a natural birth balk at the number of scheduled c-sections and inductions, but a lot of the time it's the mother that is requesting them. The Dr's and hospitals have policies to deal with these requests, such as, you can not have an elective induction or c/s before 39 weeks. And the rest of the time they are medically indicated because of PIH, gestational diabetes, macrosomia, IUGR, etc. To me it seems these conditions may be related to our increasingly un-fit society. People are having more medical problems in general, and when you add a pregnancy on top of that you're chances of having complications goes way up. I'm not sure if any studies have been done, but I wouldn't be surprised if the rate of medically indicated inductions and c/s's was directly related to america's increased unhealthly lifestyles. And please don't think I'm speaking from a soap box. I'm part of that "un-fit society". I don't have any major medical problems, but I am overweight and I was fortunate enough to not have any complications with my pregnancy because of my weight.
Oh, so weird. Interesting posts about how it's often the mothers who want to schedule. When I venture on to the "regular" boards I feel like I'm venturing into the Wild Wild West of Interventions. So now I have a visual image of empty weekend maternity floors with tumbleweeds rolling by.
I would talk to my care provider about the tour and see what he/she says.