When should I mention to my OB...

Don't Hassle the Hoff · March 2012

that I would like to try for a NB? I will be delivering at a Catholic hospital (not 100% by choice, and not even sure that makes a difference). I am not even 12 weeks yet, so I realize this might be super early. Thanks!

august8080 · March 2012

Early and often! Early and often!

pugznploons · March 2012

at my 10 week appt my doc was asking questions like which hospital I planned to use, if I was planning on getting and epidural, if I had a pediatrician in mind, etc. Just gathering some info from me. I told him I wasn't sure on the epi and asked how many of his patients got them (he said 7 out of 10 on average).

at my 14 week appt. I went in with a short list of questions and told him I was planning a med free birth. I asked about his c-section rate (under 20%), how he feels about going med free, when he would induce, if he was okay with doulas, etc. He encouraged me to be open minded going into childbirth but was very supportive and encouraging.

I will ask more questions as I progress and after I take the classes at the hospital.

ETA: I didn't do this but it came up in our conversation. You might ask your doctor if they have any issues with different NB methods. My doctor mentioned that there was one he doesn't like to work with (he may have even said he wouldn't work with parents using it, I can't remember), which was the Bradley method. He has no issues with hypnobabies or other NB models, but was not on board with Bradley. This was good to know as we were planning on taking the Bradley class! We discussed his reasoning for this and I felt satisfied with his answers. We are not doing Bradley but are preparing in other ways.

nosoup4u · March 2012

august8080:
Early and often! Early and often!

Yep, the sooner the better. This is a good post with questions to ask (it's cached because the link is dead!)

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:VBwpybl3pxsJ:birthsen.tmdhosting930.com

Don't Hassle the Hoff · March 2012

pugznploons:

at my 10 week appt my doc was asking questions like which hospital I planned to use, if I was planning on getting and epidural, if I had a pediatrician in mind, etc. Just gathering some info from me. I told him I wasn't sure on the epi and asked how many of his patients got them (he said 7 out of 10 on average).

at my 14 week appt. I went in with a short list of questions and told him I was planning a med free birth. I asked about his c-section rate (under 20%), how he feels about going med free, when he would induce, if he was okay with doulas, etc. He encouraged me to be open minded going into childbirth but was very supportive and encouraging.

I will ask more questions as I progress and after I take the classes at the hospital.

ETA: I didn't do this but it came up in our conversation. You might ask your doctor if they have any issues with different NB methods. My doctor mentioned that there was one he doesn't like to work with (he may have even said he wouldn't work with parents using it, I can't remember), which was the Bradley method. He has no issues with hypnobabies or other NB models, but was not on board with Bradley. This was good to know as we were planning on taking the Bradley class! We discussed his reasoning for this and I felt satisfied with his answers. We are not doing Bradley but are preparing in other ways.

Thank you! I had a 10 week appt. already which I kinda skipped major questions since I figured it was really early. I had an NT scan today, which was just with the tech. so no questions there either.

I have a 14 wk coming up in a couple weeks which is when I planned on asking these questions. I'll be sure to ask similar questions. From what I can tell, my OB seems very laid back, so I am hoping he will act the same towards a NB plan.

caralck · March 2012

I think I briefly mentioned it to my ob at either my 12 or 16 wk visit. Can't remember. He seemed supportive. When I warned him that my family makes big babies, his response was "I'm sorry." lol! But then he said that big babies come out of women vaginally all the time and if other women in my family have done it, then I likely can do it too. This week I'm letting him know that we chose to hypnobirthing as the method and what my plans are, providing all is well of course. We'll see how that goes! I'm optimistic that he'll be just as good as he was when I talked to him about the big babies and initial desire to have a med free birth. Oddly enough,I fear the epidural more than I fear giving birth mainly because I don't want to risk getting an epidural headache, even though they aren't terribly common.

MotherMonster · March 2012

The sooner the better! I started my pregnancy out telling my OBGYN and high risk doctor that I wanted a NB...then at 20 weeks I ended up firing my OBGYN (due to her nurse being unprofessional by not telling her things even my high risk doctor and Endo were needing her to know and her nurse giving me a hard time over not having an insulin pump because I'm diabetic) and my high risk OBGYN was talking about a c-section at 36 weeks...so I switched to a better team of doctors. While I can't have my NB like I wanted due to extremely low fluid, my doctors are supportive of trying basically anything under the sun to give me a vaginal birth because they are against c-sections as well unless they are medically necessary. I have to be induced due to extremely low fluid, but they are trying natural methods right now such as walking for an hour or 2 in order to see if that will help and doing that up to 3 times a day. We are going to discuss other options like the foley bulb tomorrow.

pinksweetpea2 · March 2012

ASAP. The sooner you know if your OB is on board, the sooner you know if you need to find another care provider.

IMO having a supportive care provider is the MOST important thing in a natural birth- especially if you are giving birth in a not so supportive environment (not saying that your hospital will not be supportive though).

GL You have plenty of time to work everything out.