I’m in Vancouver, too, and have never heard of anyone I know in BC wanting, but not being given, an epidural. It’s weird to me that, if true, this fact wouldn’t be common knowledge amongst parents of babies young children. Seems like the kind of thing people would be talking about…

Wow. Pendulum is swinging the other way. I thought epidurals were routinely available or even “pushed” according to NCB activists. If they really want to advocate for women, maybe they could push for availability of epidurals and competent anesthesiologists…so that they actually have a choice.

I’m all for unmedicated birth, but don’t tell me to be quiet, lay down in a bed or deny me food or drink. I think if someone is going to have a natural birth, it best NOT be in a hospital setting.

@edamommy – I can vouch for that. Delivered right across the creek, where there is many a Canadian nurse. It was brought up in our baby class, that the two hospitals in Sarnia don’t have the option for them, and ditto the condescending docs. Kinda thankful that our insurance pretty much forbids me from leaving the US (well, I can leave, just if there is any little issue, they can deny coverage for all things baby related) after 24 weeks, because we have famdam over there.

If it is a point against the Canadian single payer system though, why isn’t it more widespread? Why just is it an issue (if it is) in BC?

I think it really needs to be up to the woman and her doc/midwife as to where she gives birth. My youngest sister just had a natural, unmedicated birth, but there is no midwife locally who would have touched her for a homebirth – she looked, all informed her that she was NOT a good candidate. It doesn’t have to be either/or.

right, refusing to offer people pain management would save a ton of money. And if you’re paying the bill, and you want to go, “hey, this is much cheaper, I’ll make this choice” that’s great. Deciding to go with whatever kind of birth you want, whether to save money or for other reasons, is something all women should have. But, the women in this story didn’t have that choice, in part because they weren’t paying the bill directly, in part because price controls lead to shortages. Honestly, these women got the worst—I imagine they paid the same or similar taxes as women in other provinces, who did have the option of pain management. So, really, they paid for something they didn’t get, compared to women in another area, right?
As far as it not being wide-spread enough to indicate a problem, I don’t know. I’m certainly glad it’s not a nationwide problem, but I really do think it’s a problem when women in a given area have a decision made for them by government fiat or a government-influenced shortage.

and yeah, sucks to be these women who WANTED the epis but, surprise, couldn’t get them, I agree with that…one must be PREPARED to deal with the birth thing and have the right support around them (ie, probably caring, experienced female caregivers, not surly male know it all docs

PlumbLucky – there haven’t been epidurals in Sarnia since the late 1980s. Apparently, there just aren’t enough anesthesiologists to go around in Ontario… that’s what I’ve heard. If you were getting an offer from a bigger city for a lot more money, you wouldn’t choose to go to Sarnia, if you were an anesthesiologist, I guess. I just think it’s barbaric to not at least offer the option. Natural childbirth is incredible, but if you were someone pushing and pushing for hours or days without any hope of delivering on your own, you would then have to wait until an anesthesiologist could show up from a nearby city before you could have a C-section. It sounds dramatic, but people have literally died in childbirth from this problem, or had stillborn babies that could have survived… there was a case where it was a long weekend and the nearest anesthesiologists were either in surgery or on vacation. Even if you plan to have a natural birth, you need to have the option there.