Do you trust your Doctor?

Does your Doctor trust you?

I read a birth story the other day. The woman mentioned that she was not only seeing a CPM, but she was seeing an OB as well. I believe the CPM knew she was seeing the OB, but the OB fully believed that this woman would be delivering her child at the hospital with the OB in attendance. The woman felt she needed to do this based on a previous medical history and wanting to have certain lab tests and screenings performed. (in another entry I'll get into why CPMs can't order tests – they aren't doctors and aren't practicing medicine!)

With patients not telling their physicians the whole story, is it any wonder that they don't trust their patients until they have really gotten to know us? I am thankful that I have a family physician that knows my family. I worry every time I go to the ER, or see a new physician that someone will think I am beating my children. My family physician has seen them in action and knows what little monkeys I give birth to! Our physician knows that when my 8 y/o comes in and says he fell off the ladder to his loft, he really did. I often wonder how believable the truth really sounds.

I remember having to “prove” myself to an OB. We moved to a new town when I was 5 or 6 months pregnant with my second child. I wanted a VBAC and the OB said all the right things, but in the end I had a 2^nd cesarean. They said the baby's heart rate was too low. I had the same OB with my third child and again wanted a VBAC. This time I hired a doula. The baby's heart rate dropped a little during pushes (normal) and the OB said that since she knew from the past that I would let her do a cesarean if necessary that we could go a little longer than we did last time. WHAT!? Why make the situation sound worse to get your way? BTW, baby 4 was born at home, and because we moved to MO, and because we need to screen for a specific and rare defect, babies 5 and 6 were born in town at the hospital.

Why can't we trust one another to tell the truth and to tell the WHOLE truth? One reason is that as citizens of MO we have to go underground to find the best care.

If we lived in a state where midwives were able to attend homebirths, just think of the differences. A woman could decide she wanted a homebirth with a midwife, but she still wants certain prenatal screenings, etc. A midwife, who doesn't practice medicine, could send a woman to a physician along with records of prenatal care and the woman could get medical care from the physician AND the physician would have all the information. A woman, like me, could get a fetal echo cardiogram to rule out congenital heart defects. My baby and I could make an appointments for another echo once the baby arrived and I would have records of prenatal care. We wouldn't have the hospital threatening us if we didn't give up the name of our midwife, because it would all be above board and legal.

So many people are being hurt by the lack of above board homebirths attended by CPMs in the state of midwifery. It's not just the midwives who can't earn a living out in the open. It's the mothers, babies, fathers, siblings, and yes, even the doctors who suffer when we all can't be open, honest and trusting with one another about the best care choices and the best medical choices for those involved.

-deanna