Can you deliver your wife's baby as a resident (not OB)? Thoughts?
Can you deliver your wife's baby as a resident (not OB)? Thoughts?
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.
Regardless of who does the delivery, I personally think deliveries outside of hospitals are a bad idea.
I agree with fineline...that "study" is a pretty poor defense of home births.
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
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.
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.
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?
...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.
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.
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'm going into EM - so I kinda have the "everything that can go wrong, will go wrong" perspective
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Can you deliver your wife's baby as a resident (not OB)? Thoughts?
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.
Perineal tears aren't due to where your hands are.
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 wife just had a baby on the 23rd. I didn't deliver it but I cut the cord.
My wife just had a baby on the 23rd. I didn't deliver it but I cut the cord.
Congrats!!!!! Boy or girl?
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!