Can you deliver your wife's baby?

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Archdelux

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Can you deliver your wife's baby as a resident (not OB)? Thoughts?

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Can you deliver your wife's baby as a resident (not OB)? Thoughts?

Theoretically, yes. But unless you do it at home by yourself, probably not. You really don't want anyone to see your wife's hoohaa, do you?
 
Somebody always does it. I worked in a multispecialty group practice a few years ago that hired a new OB-GYN whose wife was very pregnant. Just before they moved from Illinois to Oregon she had a precipitous labor (4th child) and he had to deliver it at home. Even he said it wasn't something he wanted to do given his druthers...
 
Its kinda messy to do at home.

But as fineline notes, technically you could do it if you were considering a birth at home.

However, unless you were an Ob-Gyn or FP, it is unlikely you would get privileges to deliver your own child in the hospital setting.
 
You can also make like all of nature's other creatures and have your wife stand in the fields until the baby drops out and takes it's first uncertain steps.
 
One of the rural FM docs I worked with recently had delivered his own son and done his circumcision, delivered his two daughters (all this twenty something years ago) and had started delivering the newest generation of his family....he had already delivered two of his own grandkids - his daughters kids. Can you imagine doing a cervical exam on your own daughter? man, that's creepy. I think it's probably a fine line ethically. I am very certain I could not make the most objective decisions if something went wrong with the delivery.
 
One of the rural FM docs I worked with recently had delivered his own son and done his circumcision, delivered his two daughters (all this twenty something years ago) and had started delivering the newest generation of his family....he had already delivered two of his own grandkids - his daughters kids. Can you imagine doing a cervical exam on your own daughter? man, that's creepy. I think it's probably a fine line ethically. I am very certain I could not make the most objective decisions if something went wrong with the delivery.

yikes! definately agree with the creepy part. i mean, it's one thing in an emergency situation, but to do it by choice?! no way. regardless of who does the delivery, i personally think deliveries outside of hospitals are a bad idea. to be delivering babies and not have the stat C-section in your arsenal is dangererous. there are a lot of reasons you could need to change courses very quickly and that's best done in a hospital setting with people trained to do stat C-sections present (OB or trained FP). and no, i'm not an OB.
 
Regardless of who does the delivery, I personally think deliveries outside of hospitals are a bad idea.

Fortunately, we can turn to the literature to answer this question, rather than the opinion of a non-OB. Here's one of the better-designed studies:

Johnson KC, Daviss BA. Outcomes of planned home births with certified professional midwives: large prospective study in North America. BMJ 2005;330:1416.

Objective: To evaluate the safety of home births in North America involving direct entry midwives, in jurisdictions where the practice is not well integrated into the healthcare system. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: All home births involving certified professional midwives across the United States (98% of cohort) and Canada, 2000. Participants: All 5418 women expecting to deliver in 2000 supported by midwives with a common certification and who planned to deliver at home when labour began. Main outcome measures: Intrapartum and neonatal mortality, perinatal transfer to hospital care, medical intervention during labour, breast feeding, and maternal satisfaction. Results: 655 (12.1%) women who intended to deliver at home when labour began were transferred to hospital. Medical intervention rates included epidural (4.7%), episiotomy (2.1%), forceps (1.0%), vacuum extraction (0.6%), and caesarean section (3.7%); these rates were substantially lower than for low risk US women having hospital births. The intrapartum and neonatal mortality among women considered at low risk at start of labour, excluding deaths concerning life threatening congenital anomalies, was 1.7 deaths per 1000 planned home births, similar to risks in other studies of low risk home and hospital births in North America. No mothers died. No discrepancies were found for perinatal outcomes independently validated. Conclusions: Planned home birth for low risk women in North America using certified professional midwives was associated with lower rates of medical intervention but similar intrapartum and neonatal mortality to that of low risk hospital births in the United States.
 
That really doesn't say anything except that low-risk pregnancies are low-risk regardless of who is doing the delivery. Which shouldn't really shock anyone, given that child birth, last I checked, is supposed to be a natural occurrance. Crazy, I know!!!By the way, isn't doing a cervical exam on your daughter only really a mental blockade? It's not like you're having sexual feelings, or else you shouldn't be doing a cervical exam on anyone, right? Should you not examine your daughter's scalp if she lacerates it? LOL.
 
My point was simply that a planned out of hospital delivery isn't always a bad idea, as suggested by another poster. Re: low risk deliveries being "natural" occurrances, I couldn't agree more.
 
I agree with fineline...that "study" is a pretty poor defense of home births.

So home delivered babies have lower rates of medical interventions like epidurals, c sections, episiotomies, etc? Well, of course they do...those are not options in home delivered babies. Perhaps its just the way the abstract is worded but they haven't told me anything I (or anyone else) didn't already know. This does not show that home births are overall safer and like fineline says, births in low risk patients are pretty safe these days anyway.

That said, its a natural occurence and in the low risk women who has had adequate prenatal care and has access to modern facilities, I don't see the problem (except for the mess).
 
I'm still pro-having her stand in the field, by the way. 👍
 
I was medstudent when my first daughter was born, and of course the thought of delivering my own baby sounded great. The OB/GYN obliged to let me "deliver" with her supervision. Though the experience was wonderful, I feel in the end I only got in the way, and my wife had a grade 3 perineal tear that may have been avoided if the doc and I weren't so concerned about where my bumbling hands should be to catch the baby🙁.
 
I agree with fineline...that "study" is a pretty poor defense of home births.

How so? Despite having fewer interventions (which I previously assumed were helping to keep moms and babies safer), outcomes for moms and babies were the same at home and in hospital. How is that not an interesting finding?

Also, WRT study ("study") quality, it's a prospective study with a large n in a very high impact journal (BMJ). Given that it's tough-to-impossible to do a RCT for homebirths, I'd say this is about the best quality data we're going to get. I suppose you could insist that the only studies you'll look at are RCTs in JAMA, but that's awfully picky.

PS. Midwives clean up the mess.
 
and my wife had a grade 3 perineal tear that may have been avoided if the doc and I weren't so concerned about where my bumbling hands should be to catch the baby

Perineal tears aren't due to where your hands are. I mean, unless you were literally grabbing her vaginal walls and deliberately trying to create a tear by recreating a Hulk Hogan moment.
 
How so? Despite having fewer interventions (which I previously assumed were helping to keep moms and babies safer), outcomes for moms and babies were the same at home and in hospital. How is that not an interesting finding?

Because it tells us nothing. Low risk births are going to be low risk regardless of where they occur. I suppose you could make the case that is interesting, but IMHO, it doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know.

Also, WRT study ("study") quality, it's a prospective study with a large n in a very high impact journal (BMJ). Given that it's tough-to-impossible to do a RCT for homebirths, I'd say this is about the best quality data we're going to get. I suppose you could insist that the only studies you'll look at are RCTs in JAMA, but that's awfully picky.

PS. Midwives clean up the mess.

I agree that getting a RCT on the topic would be difficult to do. But I also take issue with the idea that "high impact" = "quality research". JAMA is the most glaring example of this...while it may be high impact, the studies do not reach the "quality" or rigor of those in NEJM. Its one thing that the media does right when it quotes medical studies...they are often from NEJM. Making fun of JAMA and the crap they sometimes publish was a favorite activity during journal clubs, both during my residency and fellowship.

I agree that the BMJ is well regarded but without having read the original paper, I cannot comment on the quality of the study. Do not confuse being published in a big name journal as meaning the study is important, done well or adds anything to the medical literature.

My take is that the study quoted adds nothing to the medical literature. Low risk births are known to be safe and by definition, require no medical intervention...therefore there should be no difference whether the woman delivers in the hospital, at home, or squatting in a field.

Good to hear about the midwives cleaning up.😉
 
By the way, isn't doing a cervical exam on your daughter only really a mental blockade? It's not like you're having sexual feelings, or else you shouldn't be doing a cervical exam on anyone, right? Should you not examine your daughter's scalp if she lacerates it? LOL.

I'm guessing that the majority of physicians would feel less than comfortable shoving half their hand in their own daughter's vagina in an attempt to assess her cervix. I know I certainly feel very uncomfortable with that idea. Maybe you are superhuman, impervious to all mental weaknesses that normal human beings like myself have. I'm still sticking with the notion that most folks would feel pretty darn uncomfortable checking their own daughter's cervix, though.
 
I'm guessing that the majority of physicians would feel less than comfortable shoving half their hand in their own daughter's vagina in an attempt to assess her cervix.

Of course. However, my point is only to say that, if you think about it OBJECTIVELY, that doesn't really make sense. In other words, there's technically no real reason you should have a problem with it. I mean, you're going to tell me that's substantially different than sticking your finger up a stranger's butt?
 
Of course. However, my point is only to say that, if you think about it OBJECTIVELY, that doesn't really make sense. In other words, there's technically no real reason you should have a problem with it. I mean, you're going to tell me that's substantially different than sticking your finger up a stranger's butt?

It's very different.
 
"planned home birth for low risk women in North America using certified professional midwives was associated with lower rates of medical intervention but similar intrapartum and neonatal mortality to that of low risk hospital births in the United States."

this doesn't say anything at all....if intervention materials are not available, of course intervention isn't going to be used....also, an untested pelvis may actually be higher risk than assumed in a G0 female....this is like saying the pt is low risk in hindsight b/c everything went okay....
 
...until the baby drops out and takes it's first uncertain steps.

And in no more than 5 seconds, is pounced upon by a 65 mph sprinting cheetah that proceeds to tear it in half and feast on it's fat-dense corpse.

Amazing mental picture right there.
 
And in no more than 5 seconds, is pounced upon by a 65 mph sprinting cheetah that proceeds to tear it in half and feast on it's fat-dense corpse.

It's OK because she will have another litter the next year.
Amazing mental picture right there.

What about the Hulk Hogan move on the perineum?
 
this doesn't say anything at all....if intervention materials are not available, of course intervention isn't going to be used....also, an untested pelvis may actually be higher risk than assumed in a G0 female....this is like saying the pt is low risk in hindsight b/c everything went okay....

Huh? Hindsight? It was a PROSPECTIVE study.

And yes, I agree, it's not especially surprising that homebirths results in fewer interventions. What may be surprising to some people, is that despite utilitizing fewer obstetrical interventions, outcomes for moms and babies were identical in the homebirth group when compared to the hospital group. The major finding here is that hospital based interventions don't appear to improve outcomes for low risk moms and babies. In my opinion, that is a provocative finding.

I initially posted this abstract in response to a poster who claimed that ALL births should happen in hospital.
 
Have your kids wherever you want. Pop em out in a bathtub with friends and neighbors gathered around for all I care.

As for me, my future wife will be in a hospital setting. No reason to take the chance. You can still have a midwife if you're so inclined but knowing the backup for a stat C-Section is available is reassuring to me.
 
Huh? Hindsight? It was a PROSPECTIVE study.

And yes, I agree, it's not especially surprising that homebirths results in fewer interventions. What may be surprising to some people, is that despite utilitizing fewer obstetrical interventions, outcomes for moms and babies were identical in the homebirth group when compared to the hospital group. The major finding here is that hospital based interventions don't appear to improve outcomes for low risk moms and babies. In my opinion, that is a provocative finding.

I initially posted this abstract in response to a poster who claimed that ALL births should happen in hospital.

i'll stand by my statement. studies show tendencies, and i do believe in evidence-based medicine. but how would you feel if you recommended someone who should be an "uncomplicated" delivery tried delivery at home and then, even without risk factors, had shoulder dystocia? or if Mom wouldn't stop hemorrhaging post-partum? or baby was apneic? i realize all of these things, and other nightmare scenarios, are highly unlikely in a patient without documented risk factors, but weird **** happens. and i'd feel horrible if something bad happened that could have been better treated by an obstetric surgeon in a hospital setting with an operating room.

while i agree that the majority of birth would be easily handled by midwives outside the hospital, it's simply not a risk worth taking in my opinion. so chill with the capital letters, and move on, because i'm going to be a pathologist, not an ob-gyn or a family practitioner and thus my opinion on this topic matters only to my future wife, whoever she may be.
 
i'll stand by my statement. studies show tendencies, and i do believe in evidence-based medicine. but how would you feel if you recommended someone who should be an "uncomplicated" delivery tried delivery at home and then, even without risk factors, had shoulder dystocia? or if Mom wouldn't stop hemorrhaging post-partum? or baby was apneic? i realize all of these things, and other nightmare scenarios, are highly unlikely in a patient without documented risk factors, but weird **** happens. and i'd feel horrible if something bad happened that could have been better treated by an obstetric surgeon in a hospital setting with an operating room.

while i agree that the majority of birth would be easily handled by midwives outside the hospital, it's simply not a risk worth taking in my opinion. so chill with the capital letters, and move on, because i'm going to be a pathologist, not an ob-gyn or a family practitioner and thus my opinion on this topic matters only to my future wife, whoever she may be.

agreed...granted, i'm going into EM - so I kinda have the "everything that can go wrong, will go wrong" perspective
 
We all know that many interventions are performed in a hospital setting over "what ifs" that wouldn't be intervened with at home. There are probably excess interventions in the hospital. This isn't because home is inherintly safter but because OB/GYNs are afraid of being sued.

I'm also curious as to how one defines a "complication." I can assure you that infant mortality wasn't 7 when we popped 'em out under trees. Those interventions probably do something. In fact, to say that they don't flies so strongly in the face of logic that I would have to take a really close look at any study that says otherwise.
 
I am attending, and was all ready to assist or even do the actual delivery of our first 6 months ago. However, there was meconium and a double nuchal cord, so I wasn't about to go in there. I let the OB (who is faculty at an OB residency) the OB PGY-2, and hte NICU staff handle everything, including intubation and suction. I'm "trained for anything" but honestly it was the scariest moment of my life.

That being said, I was having to push the OB to rush the delivery, as there were quite a few decels that the OB residents ignored....

If this had happened at home, I shudder to think what could have happened.

The above is all anecdotal and an N of 1.
Q
 
There's a famous surgeon who you've probably heard of...he used to operate on his family and friends. When asked why he did so since other surgeons don't operate on family or friends, his response was something like "Because they want the best surgeon to do their operations".

Total badassness.
 
I delivered my daughter when I was a 4th year medical student.

Had the OK from the attending. The attending was supposed to be in the room in case I needed help but after 12 hours or so my daughter decided she wasn't waiting on anybody else to be there. They had been checking in every so often all night but when she decided it was time to come on into the world the attending and resident finally got there in time to help me cut the cord.

It was AWESOME.
 
I delivered my daughter when I was a 4th year medical student.

Had the OK from the attending. The attending was supposed to be in the room in case I needed help but after 12 hours or so my daughter decided she wasn't waiting on anybody else to be there. They had been checking in every so often all night but when she decided it was time to come on into the world the attending and resident finally got there in time to help me cut the cord.

It was AWESOME.


That may be the scariest thing I will read today. Unless of course, you are going into OB and have some high number of deliveries under your belt, in which case I would just say it demonstrates questionable judgment.

**disclaimer** I "helped" deliver my son, but it wasn't until the head was out , and the OB had reduced the nuchal. Yes, it was a joy. But I'm glad I wasn't the one between the legs when the head emerged.
 
That may be the scariest thing I will read today. Unless of course, you are going into OB and have some high number of deliveries under your belt, in which case I would just say it demonstrates questionable judgment.

**disclaimer** I "helped" deliver my son, but it wasn't until the head was out , and the OB had reduced the nuchal. Yes, it was a joy. But I'm glad I wasn't the one between the legs when the head emerged.

Well I did not go into OB, I went into surgery but I did have a large number of deliveries before hand.

However that was NOT the plan. Like I said the plan was for the attending to be there with me every step of the way, gowned and gloved ready to help/take over.

It just so happened my daughter didn't agree and picked just after they left to come, and when she decided to move it was quick and they didn't get back in the room in time.

I had went to the OR and got my gown and gloves about 7 hours earlier and had them on the TV because they didn't have my size in the OB ward or I wouldnt' even have been ready. They didn't even have an OB table ready and I had to wait on them to get me a cord clamp towels, scissors etc.

It was still awesome though but I am thankful it worked out OK.
 
I had went to the OR and got my gown and gloves about 7 hours earlier and had them on the TV because they didn't have my size in the OB ward or I wouldnt' even have been ready. They didn't even have an OB table ready and I had to wait on them to get me a cord clamp towels, scissors etc.

It was still awesome though but I am thankful it worked out OK.

Glad everything went well. Hope they didn't make you write the delivery note, though. :laugh:

Now I'm questioning the hospital you were at. Didn't have a table set up? Didn't have your gloves? Do you wear a size 9?
 
Glad everything went well. Hope they didn't make you write the delivery note, though. :laugh:

Now I'm questioning the hospital you were at. Didn't have a table set up? Didn't have your gloves? Do you wear a size 9?

Actually yes I do wear size 9 and that is why I had to go to the main OR to get my gloves. They would have went and got them for me but as a med student at that hospital I was used to getting things for myself.

The delivery table was another thing all together. I was pissed, and I mean PISSED.

Come to find out this was shift change (figgures she would decide to come at the most inappropriate time), and the room beside me came in fast and delivered before my wife. The docs grabbed our delivery table and just slid it across the hall as they went in because the patient literally wheeled in to the hospital and went straight back and delivered. Of course in our room we had no clue (door was closed as the wife had been pushing since midnight which is why I went and got my gloves).

Since it was shift change the new tech didn't know we needed a delivery tray.

At least that's the story they gave us when I asked what the hell happened to our delivery table.

The L&D department there is great, they have special rooms with fall away beds and automatic built in unobtrusive lights. Very large rooms, and they just set the tables up still draped in covers outside each room and wheel them in and take the cloths off when they deliver. It's actually a pretty good set up, our delivery was just the perfect storm.

The off going nurse had turned up the pitocin a little and told us we still had a good while before the baby came. The attending and resident had just been in the room 10 minutes earlier making their rounds of all the pushing women (unknown to us just delivering across the hall and stepping into our room). They thought she had a pretty good while left (wasn't even crowning).

Then all of a sudden not 5 minutes after they left you could see hair and she started crowning. The nurse hit the call light and asked them to page the docs. Next push she crowned really good and the nurse snapped me out of the trance I was in and told me I better get ready if I was going to deliver the baby cause she was coming whether we were ready or not. What do ya know but the experienced L&D nurse knew exactly what she was talking about (it's my experience they usually do), there wasn't even time for the gown, I barely got my gloves on and she was here. Then I was begging for suction and cord clamp that we didn't have. It was scary and I know it seemed like a much longer time waiting on equipment than it appeared but I was very, very pissed. I held her upside down begging for suction for what seemed like forever but my wife and others said it really wasn't that long.

She was OK and I was so happy after that it was impossible to be pissed.

But yes, it was not a good thing. If things had worked out as planned I would have still delivered the baby, but the attending would have been there with me just in case.

If I would not have been there she would have been one of many babies delivered by the L&D nursing staff (which is why it is very important IMO to have very good ones).
 
There's a famous surgeon who you've probably heard of...he used to operate on his family and friends. When asked why he did so since other surgeons don't operate on family or friends, his response was something like "Because they want the best surgeon to do their operations".

Total badassness.

Oh man, Misterioso's account is on hold? I miss that guy.
 
Can I? Yes. Would I? Hell no. I am a dad that day, not a doctor. Plus, if something went wrong I would blame myself.
 
yes, i did it, and it was just my wife's baby, it was mine too.
 
Where were you people in Ethics class???? You don't treat friends or family. Period. End of story. You can go on about the BS "What if?" scenarios of going into labor on a flight to Maui, but in the end it is just plain wrong. Why? Because you are not doing for the patient's best interests. You want the experience of delivering your child. You want to save the OB bill.

Also, you can't have an optimum patient-physician relationship. Maybe your wife doesn't want to tell you about that abortion she had back in high school? Or that LEEP in college? And how can your wife truly have autonomy when her husband is her doctor? Imagine what that could do to a marriage if there was a disagreement about getting a blood transfusion or an emergency C-section?

This rule is in place for a reason.
 
Where were you people in Ethics class???? You don't treat friends or family. Period. End of story. You can go on about the BS "What if?" scenarios of going into labor on a flight to Maui, but in the end it is just plain wrong. Why? Because you are not doing for the patient's best interests. You want the experience of delivering your child. You want to save the OB bill.

Also, you can't have an optimum patient-physician relationship. Maybe your wife doesn't want to tell you about that abortion she had back in high school? Or that LEEP in college? And how can your wife truly have autonomy when her husband is her doctor? Imagine what that could do to a marriage if there was a disagreement about getting a blood transfusion or an emergency C-section?

This rule is in place for a reason.

LMBO. There is no "rule" against this, end of story. If there was a "rule" against it my attending would have never agreed to it. He was supposed to be there, I didn't direct her care. I was only going to catch the baby with him present.

If your wife doesn't tell you everything then you don't have a very good marriage, just the same as if a husband has secrets. Secrets are not for marriage. Marriage is two people becoming ONE, you can't have secrets from yourself.

Save the OB bill? I was still billed anyway.

My wife was 100% for this, matter of fact it was her idea. She thought it would be great and it was. If you are married then you make decisions TOGETHER.
 
Can you deliver your wife's baby as a resident (not OB)? Thoughts?

That's what I'm doing. If the OB lets medical students do it, why can't a resident in a different specialty do it?
 
If your wife doesn't tell you everything then you don't have a very good marriage, just the same as if a husband has secrets. Secrets are not for marriage. Marriage is two people becoming ONE, you can't have secrets from yourself.

i don't have a problem with what you did Dr. V, but i do think the above argument is faulty. you're absolutely correct in saying that a good marriage has no secrets, but the doctor-patient relationship isn't a marriage. to assume that your wife has no secrets may be OK in a marriage, but not OK for practicing medicine. an OB must know the woman's Gs and Ps accurately.

again, i have no problem with what you did, given that the attending was running the show. that said, mazel tov!
 
Perineal tears aren't due to where your hands are.

No, but they're often about where your hands are NOT. If you're fumbling around, you're probably not controlling the emergence of the head very well and you get a POPping head instead of an EASing head (as one of our ob faculty always says - with sound effects.)

LMBO at the Hulk Hogan visual, though, and the neat little M2 ethics class rant.
 
By the way, isn't doing a cervical exam on your daughter only really a mental blockade? It's not like you're having sexual feelings, or else you shouldn't be doing a cervical exam on anyone, right? Should you not examine your daughter's scalp if she lacerates it? LOL.

It's not about the parent-doctor, but about the patient-daughter. Whether man or woman, examining your daughter's vagina/cervix could cause emotional harm for the patient. Why risk this when there's an alternative?
 
My wife just had a baby on the 23rd. I didn't deliver it but I cut the cord.
 
My husband (not in medicine at all) delivered both of our kids - in the hospital, with the midwife right behind him coaching him. He wanted the experience, I didn't care (actually, I was glad he stopped asking me every 2 minutes if I wanted anything and how I was doing), and she was ready to step in if there were any problems.

I think it's up to the couple to decide ahead of time how they'd ideally like things to go, and then be ready to switch to plan B (or C, or D ...) if necessary. Those babies are young, but they start out with a mind of their own!
 
My husband (not in medicine at all) delivered both of our kids - in the hospital, with the midwife right behind him coaching him. He wanted the experience, I didn't care (actually, I was glad he stopped asking me every 2 minutes if I wanted anything and how I was doing), and she was ready to step in if there were any problems.

I think it's up to the couple to decide ahead of time how they'd ideally like things to go, and then be ready to switch to plan B (or C, or D ...) if necessary. Those babies are young, but they start out with a mind of their own!

Scary . . .
 
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