Save the midwives!

[Ellen Forradalom]

In another triumph of the almighty dollar over mere humans, the University of Chicago Hospitals' new director of obstetrics and gynecology has decided to close the hospital's midwifery practice. He wants to the hospital to focus on high-risk obstetrics, since they're building a new children's hospital with a state of the art neonatal ICU. He also cites rising malpractice insurance costs. (Funny how it's easier to give women and babies the boot than to stand up to Big Insurance.)

I chose this practice for my prenatal care and delivery. I could not have possibly gotten better care elsewhere, and costs to my insurer were kept down.

The local paper, the Hyde Park Herald, has been full of letters about this for weeks. Concerned patients, mothers, medical students and others are rallying in front of Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine (58th & Maryland) this Friday at 10:30. My son, now 4, will be there with me, wearing a t-shirt that says, "Another Satisfied Customer."

[sasquatch]

1. Are you crazy?

Why in the hell would you want to go through the pain of giving birth without any drugs or doctors? Me I would want to be doped to the gills and a doctor doing his Johnny Bench impersination if I was going to have a baby yanked out of my crotch. Look I hate the Goddamned insurance company's probably more than you do and think they out to be prosecuted under the Rico act. I hope you nail the Son's of Bitches:bounce::toast:

[Ellen Forradalom]

2. Don't knock it til you've tried it.

It is not so awful as made out to be. While some women have dreadful ordeals and mercy demands pain relief, others, like me, find the pain bearable. It's more like running a marathon, or some other demanding physical challenge.

[sasquatch]

3. So your's wasn't like trying to pull your bottom lip over your head?

[Finder]

5. Same here, 3 kids, NO MEDS...

Childbirth is "labor intensive"--PUN INTENDED--but, it is not as bad as some make it out to be. Meds only prolong the last stage. IMO. Now, if I had a breech, I may think twice....

[DemExpat]

7. Ditto here.....2 natural, med-free births by mid-wives,

and would not have it any other way.

Births without complications are an incredible physical feat, at times a tad painful, but worth every conscious effort IMO.

I am Woman!!!!!:D

:kick:
DemEx

[FireHeart]

6. Interesting...

My wife said it was similiar to trying to...uhh...eliminate...a bowling ball. Hell, I was there at the time, and I wish they'd have given ME some drugs!

:evilgrin:

[Ellen Forradalom]

12. I'd say more like a Chicago 16" softball

[radwriter0555]

9. Like running a marathon is a good thing? Luckily some of us don't have

anything to prove and can appreciate good old fashioned medication and epidurals!

That breast feeding? That sucks too, LITERALLY.

All in good humor of course!

[AlienGirl]

8. Lemme point out...

Just because you have a midwife doesn't mean you can't have drugs.

With Baby #1 I tried for a home birth and went in for an epidural at 36 hrs.

With Baby #2 I planned to get an epidural as soon as labor hit.

With both babies, I saw the same midwife for all my prenatal care and had her as backup in the hospital, and my babies were delivered by the hospital birth center's midwives. The biggest advantage was that midwives *listened* to me, took the time to discuss things, and encouraged me to have a more active role in my and the babies' care than an obstetrician would have.

Tucker

[radwriter0555]

10. I find that male OBGYNs are ASSHOLES... I had one and fired him

when I was 7 months along. He was an ASSHOLE. And I have heard more stories than I can count about male obgyns making women schedule their labor, or hurry their labor along so they could leave, and just be generally rude and horrible.

Luckily, my delivery doc was a chick and she was a GAS. We has a lot of fun, in spite of 28 hours of labor and finally a c-section...

[Ellen Forradalom]

11. I wasn't sure I wouldn't have the drugs

until I was done having the baby. I kept an open mind about it, figuring, "If I need the drugs, everyone in the room will know."

The point is that the trust I placed in my midwife and the confidence she instilled in me enabled me to give birth without fear. Every childbirth is unique, but every woman should enter it without her confidence eroded by her caregivers' attitude towards her.

[Susang]

4. This really sucks

My friend Eve studied for years to be a midwife. If I were ever to decide to have children, I would definitely go the midwife route. Doctors are all about their (and the hospital's) convenience and not about what's best for you.

My cousin had to have a C-section the day after Christmas because her doctor wouldn't be available for a month after that (she wasn't even sure she needed one, he convinced her that she should). She was miserable and worried throughout her entire holiday.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. If I was in Chicago, I'd stand right next to you Forradalom!

But I'm not, so I'll send my support and thanks instead. I had my youngest when I was 39 in a maternity center; and my midwife made his birth the most wonderful experience of my life.

I can appreciate that women with complications need competent physicians; but personally, I'm glad my second pregnancy wasn't treated like an illness.

You go girl! :-)

[XNASA]

14. Mrs. XNASA is pissed as well.

She gave birth to da boys, as you know, drugfree. (Now if we can just keep them that way.......bah-dump!)

Guess you babes from the Upper Midwest must have a high threshold for pain.

I was in the delivery room with her and I needed heavy sedation. <<<<<<(I'm trying this joke again, because last time I did, I was taken seriously by someone).