Remember that post I made calling my OB "Doctor Butthole"? Well, I totally take it back... even though he is still a major smart ass, he is no bigger one to me than I am to him. ;)I say "I take it back" because I honestly expected him to be basically forcing me into the hospital, using that dreaded "I" word: "induction". I guess I have been wrong numerous times about assuming things with him, and I feel bad about it but he understands.
When I told him I didn't want to have my cervix checked (from 35 weeks all the way until just last week), all he said was, "Okay, so how are you feeling?" He didn't even ask why or try to convince me that I needed to. He just shrugged it off. His nurse practitioner, on the other hand, was just the opposite; she was like, "Well, I kinda have to because we won't know if you're going to be making any progress if I don't." Lady, that was at 35 weeks... You must think I'm an idiot. Good luck getting my pants off. Needless to say, she just gave me the sing-song-voice "Okaaayyyy" and wrote down on my little chart that I had "refused a cervical check". I then informed her that Dr. Childs knew I wasn't going to be having one, and she just rolled her eyes. I don't like her.
So, my most recent appointment on the 3rd was when I expected him to want to schedule me for an induction for the 7th, which would be when I turned over to 42 weeks. At my appointment on the 27th, when asked what happens after the 7th, his original reply was, "There is no 'after the 7th'", and I just sighed... He knew, though, and has all along, that I'm more interested in letting Keeli decide when she's ready than adhering to protocol and basically forcing her out. I have had a healthy, no-risk-at-all pregnancy and Keeli has been growing and developing like a champ. So, at my last appointment, he asked how I was and I told him I was just tired from being up all night (at the sewing machine, haha). He told me to go home, get some rest, and we'd wait on the NST until Monday. I looked at him all shocked-like, "I thought you weren't going to 'let me go' past Sunday? I thought you would try forcing me into the hospital???" His reply: "I never said that. I know you're both healthy and I know we've decided to wait on her to tell us when she's ready."
I LOVE MY OB!!!
What I don't love, though, are women who only mean well, can't help how little they actually know about birth, and insinuate that something is wrong with me by wanting to stay pregnant until Keeli is ready. It seriously astonishes me some of the things women ask me...
"He's not letting you get induced?"
"Aren't you miserable; don't you just want her out?"
"He's making you go until she comes on her own?!"
"What happens if she doesn't come on her own?" (<-lol)
"When are you scheduled to have her?"
"About time for that c-section, huh?"
What the hell? What is going on these days???
Do we induce the hatching of an egg? Do we rip rose buds open to "help" them bloom? Would you pull a butterfly from its chrysalis? NO. God, nature, and the developing organism decide when the right time to emerge is.
Where has that gone? :(
Luckily, I think Dr. Childs sees that I am educated, prepared and, if nothing else, headstrong as to what I want and don't want for my baby. He recognizes that I know what I'm talking about and that I've invested time in my health and in learning all I can about pregnancy and childbirth (and that I'm not just saying that I want this, this and this "just 'cause"). I feel like he respects me and trusts the decisions I'm making, and hasn't tried to pull the whole, "I'm the doctor; you're not qualified enough to make these decisions."
Although he did piss me off that one time with the, "Yeah, you consulted Dr. Google" thing, when I came back the next week with my little pile of research and typed report in-hand in a little purple folder, he took the time and slowly skimmed over every page.
"Okay. You are totally in charge unless something goes absolutely wrong, then I'm in charge." "Well, yeah, I'd kinda want you to be; that's what we're paying you for."
And then he hit me on the head with my chart. :D
Before, I had worried about being able to stay calm upon arriving at the hospital because of how intrusive I expect the nurses will be or how pushy they'll be or how they'll want to bug me with unnecessary interventions... But Dr. Childs signed my Birth Preferences sheet. All my Doula really has to say to them is, "Look, he knows what she wants and he is fine with it. Leave us alone."
I have learned, both on my own and in my Hypnobabies class, that if I don't feel safe while I'm in my birthing time, that my body will instinctively slow its processes until I do. Luckily, I don't have to worry about that anymore thanks to how unexpectedly cooperative my OB has been and him proving to me that he has faith that my body and my baby will know what to do.
I am very, very grateful. :)
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