[...] things we didn’t know about our pregnancies (Babble) Rot13.write("Lbh pna ernpu guvf cbfg'f nhgube, Xbn Orpx, ba gjvggre be ivn r-znvy ng [...]

We were with midwives at a teaching hospital. A student nurse mid-wife came in to one of my later appts and chastised me for not timing the tightness of my belly (which was that way pretty much 24/7) and then proceeded to get the midwife all freaky where they wouldn’t listen to me about the baby’s position (normal) and were freaking about him being breech. So they wheeled in an ultrasound machine, and proceeded to freak out about not being able to find the baby’s head! After my husband recovers from a mini-panic attack about the mutant headless baby (!) he calmly talks to the baby, gets him to turn towards his voice and showed the midwives where the baby was, in a normal head down position, just as I’d been trying to tell them. I wrote to the head mid-wife after and did receive an apology. Baby born normally, and still has his head.

After trying for 5 years my friend finally got pregnant, after an early blood test the doctors told her that her pregnancy hormone levels were “borderline” and then gave her an appointment 5 DAYS later to have them rechecked. Usually they can check those levels every other day but they were going to make her wait, terrified that she was about to miscarry this dearly wanted baby, for almost a week. I was enraged for her and insisted she get a new appointment. She did and when they retested they said her levels were totally healthy and fine and they can’t imagine what was going on the first time. Jerks.

On the operating table as I was having a scheduled section my very qualified and trusted OB confessed that the only “rule” they give pregnant women that she buys into it the mercury rule. So all the rules about sleeping on your back, lunch meat and soft cheeses are silly.

Hey Moxie,

I usually love your stuff. And I freely admit that as someone who lost a daughter to medical error during labour, my humour button on this issue has been permanently removed.

But I don’t think this kind of slideshow serves either the patient or the medical professional. While some of these are plainly just funny or out there, people who have had stillbirths, for example, might not think the idea that nature always knows best about the induction issue is so strange or ridiculous (not that a conversation about risk shouldn’t have taken place). As someone who has promoted good and respectful dialogue between parents with different approaches and perspectives, and promoted developmental science like the wonder weeks, I would have looked to you for something a little better than this.

The multiples ultrasound comment was funny though and my favourite.

I enjoyed this. One comment…sorry to be one of those people…I think it’s a little insensitive (? that may not be the exact word I’m going for here) to use “no you di’int” on the slide about the racist doctor.
It conjures up a specific stereotype, obviously, and…well, it’s problematic.

(I think http://yoisthisracist.com/ might agree)

Heidi, thanks for pointing this out. I really just thought of “No you di’in’t” as being an old and dorky phrase, with no racial overtones at all, but I will change it.

When I was 7 months pregnant with my second child, I noticed light spotting and called my midwife. At her prompting, we went into the emergency room and was admitted to L&D because I was in my 3rd trimester. A Dr. serving his internship was assigned to me after the OB became very upset when she found out I was planning a homebirth. The intern took a look at the fetal monitor, left the room, then came back and told me my baby had a heart defect, and I would need to remain hospitalized. My husband had stepped out to use the restroom and came back to find me in hysterics. I called my parents, who came to the hospital immediately. We waited to hear more from the Doctors, and after about 4 hours, my father went out to demand details. That was when another Doctor came in and apologized, saying the intern had been wrong. He based his diagnoses on the length of time between heartbeats, not taking into account the difference in heart tones between babies of different gestational age.
“Oh, OK. Thanks.” (?!?!?!?)

As a DVM, I have a ton of exposure to animals, parasites, and germs. However, vets are uniquely equipped to understand these diseases because we are not only taught about the diseases we need to treat in animals, we are taught which diseases we can get and how these diseases are passed to humans. I even present lectures to groups of MDs on the subjects.

Anyway, there are a ton of pieces of misinformation that doctors and nurses give to OB patients that own animals. I think that the most common one I hear is that the woman has to get rid of any cats so she won’t pick up toxo and pass it to the fetus. In reality, a woman is more likely to get toxo from gardening, not washing veggies, or eating undercooked meat.

However, one that I was told by an OB that was in with her parvo stricken puppy was very concerning and very wrong. I was going over the pathogenesis of the disease and the treatment plan to address the disease. And then she pops out with “Did you know that you can get parvo from your patients…and it is really bad if you are pregnant?” I told her no, that I had never heard that, but that was an interesting thought.

There was a very good reason I had never heard that: it is not true. People do have their *own* parvo virus, but it is not caught from our pets. I checked a public health site and then also asked a veterinary epidemiologist and there is no evidence that this disease passes between dogs and humans (or cats and humans for that matter).

Another good one to know for parents is that dogs and cats do not get pinworms. Your child cannot catch pinworms from your pets.

I rode my horse prego…both times! Nothing to exciting just trail rides mostly. I know accidents can happen but that didn’t stop you from riding in a car while pregnant did it?

While pregnant with my first. My OB told me at 20 weeks i should opt for a c section because i had no idea how long and painful labor would be and he was leaving for Christmas vacation on my due date.
We switched to a midwife.

I was in labor with my first baby, when an OB came in to break my water (my normal doctor is a gen practicioner and didn’t feel comfortable doing it.), and as he was feeling my stomach, he said,”Yup,you should just be big enough to get this baby out. Gonna be a big one!” REALLY!?!?! You tell me this now!!! And he was right. Twenty hours later,I delivered a healthy nine pound baby!

I have had some shady doctors. My first OB/GYN with my second child told me to “not worry, because I’m good with a scalpel in my hand” in reference to his hand shaking during a vaginal ultrasound (don’t know the technical name).
At this point, I don’t get offended because it goes with the territory. Would I like to receive perfect care? Heck yes. Will I, probably not, because all these doctors are influenced by their opinions, and that’s fine. :)
http://www.jennibrenni.blogspot.com

At my second trimester ultrasound, the attending doctor (not my usual provider) thought one of the ventricles of my son’s brain looked a little large. He told us that it was nothing to worry about, but that he’d like us to come back for another ultrasound a month later. And then he wouldn’t discuss it further because he didn’t want me to worry. [...] Then he sent a nurse around to sign a piece of paper saying we’d declined an amnio.

I spent 4 weeks trying not to read very much about ventriculomegaly and the best and worst case scenarios. I worried just about constantly. A month later the ventricles looked fine and it turned out that the original measurements were a little large but clinically TOTALLY NORMAL. (Thanks, doc.)

I suppose I’m glad he followed up, but it was 30 days of fretting I could have done without.