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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Regarding the details of the royal birth

44 replies

MrsLyman · 20/06/2013 14:54

I know I'm being unreasonable in even reading about it but I've come across two seperate newspaper articles both stating that the baby will be 'delivered by the Queen's gynaecologist' who of course is male.

AIBU to find this turn of phrase incredibly annoying.

OP posts:

scaevola · 20/06/2013 14:56

The Queen has all sorts of medics with that tag - it's a bit like "By Royal Appointment" on a shop.

scaevola · 20/06/2013 14:59

Wiki on the Queen's Medical Household

badguider · 20/06/2013 15:01

agree, the birth surely will be overseen by the queen's gynaecologist... who i hope is also an obstetrician...???

the baby with be delivered by Kate i would think?

MrsTerryPratchett · 20/06/2013 15:03

I agree that the baby will be delivered by Kate. Well, unless the Royals have developed a way for men to give birth. In which case I take back everything I have ever said about them.

Original poster

MrsLyman · 20/06/2013 15:06

Exactly badguider surely she'll be doing all the work, this talk of the baby being delivered by a man strikes me as incredibly misogynistic.

Although I'm not sure it is misogynistic as the obgyn could very feasibly be a woman. The phrasing just creates an impression of Kate as a bystander in the process, with doctor doing the important bit.

OP posts:

Absy · 20/06/2013 15:19

What I found grim was an article in the Metro going "Kate isn't too posh to push" and then going on about how she's planning on having a natural birth.

FFS, seriously?!

Original poster

MrsLyman · 20/06/2013 15:26

Nice, I don't get the metro, but isn't it owned by the Daily Mail group? Surprised they haven't used this example of her lack of poshness as a way of complaining about how common her and her family are!

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FairPhyllis · 20/06/2013 16:01

I'm not feeling very het up about this one. It's just a standard turn of phrase - we talk about midwives delivering babies don't we? Would it be different for you if it was a woman obstetrician? And if she has to have a CS he'll certainly be delivering the baby - she's not going to whip out a scalpel and do a DIY job.

OTOH if what you are really feeling annoyed by is the preponderance of male obs/gyn consultants then yanbu.

rockybalboa · 20/06/2013 16:15

Hang on, which bit are you stressing about? The fact that the gynaecologist will deliver the baby and you think it should be stated as Kate who delivers the baby? I don't think that's right. Women 'give birth', 'delivering' implies someone else has a hand in it, people refer to Mw's delivering babies don't they? Anyway, is it not the same chap who delivered William or did I read that wrong? I thought that was quite nice actually.

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 20/06/2013 16:16

Yes, not sure that Kate is actually delivering her own baby. She's giving birth to it, isn't she?

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 20/06/2013 16:17

Same hospital rocky, not sure it's the same people. Alan Farthing would only have been a teenager when William was born. :)

Tee2072 · 20/06/2013 16:22

Yes, who else should be delivering the baby?

Kate will be giving birth. The OB/GYN (or so I assume he is) will be delivering it. Just as if he was a midwife.

Original poster

MrsLyman · 20/06/2013 16:26

I think it's the whole concept of a baby's arrival being primarily as result of the actions of someone other than the mother. In my mind the phrase conjures up a notion of passivity on the part of the mother, in a lie back open your legs and let a man professional get in there and do the tough bit type way.

Of course there are many circumstances in which the safe arrival of a baby requires intervention. DS1 was a vacuum extraction but I still put a lot of hard work in and the thought of the arrogant tosser doctor getting credited with delivering DS1 is very gauling (I know I have issues about this).

The point in regards to Kate is that she hasn't even gone into labour yet, she could have an incredibly straightforward labour and birth that barely requires the Royal Gynae to glance up from his newspaper and yet here is in the newspaper being lauded for his starring role. Why not just say he will be in attendance, or that he will oversee her care?

OP posts:

HumphreyCobbler · 20/06/2013 16:29

Well people used to say that women birthed their baby. Even the phrase 'gave birth' seems a bit more passive.

Original poster

MrsLyman · 20/06/2013 16:30

who else would be delivering the baby

They are medical professionals not storks. No one delivered either of my babies I gave birth to them, with DS1 I had some assistance.

OP posts:

ouryve · 20/06/2013 16:31

I guess that only approved people are allowed to view royal foof.

BeauNidle · 20/06/2013 16:34

TBh I don't think it is any of our business where and how she gives birth. Making a statement saying that she will be giving birth naturally, as rather jumping the gun a little. Many women 'hope' to have a natural childbirth, but medical intervention is often necessary.

We should just await a statement to say that royal foof has been stretched to it's limits and little prince/princess xxx has arrived safely.

Original poster

MrsLyman · 20/06/2013 16:37

Fairphyllis just thinking about your comment re a standard turn of phrase. I wonder if this is this a situation where how we use the language can have a large impact upon how we view what is normal? Does the implication through language that a baby is delivered by a medical professional shape how we see women's role during childbirth?

When I was pregnant for the second time I went for a physio appointment, it was for a relatively straightforward issue with no majorly invasive treatment and yet before the appointment I was fully briefed regarding my right of consent for medical treatment. I don't think the issue of my consent for any proceedure was ever explicitly mentioned to me in either of my pregnancies. There seems to be an implicit assumption that a women ceases to be in charge of her body once she is pregnant and that the medics take over. It would seem that this presumption is backed up in language.

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Original poster

MrsLyman · 20/06/2013 16:39

I know it's none of our business, which is why I am a little bit embarrassed that I started the thread in the first place.

I just wanted to talk about why the language used within the media to talk about her having her baby was annoying me so much on a more general level.

OP posts:

WoTmania · 20/06/2013 16:39

My MWs were always very keen to point out that no one 'delivers' your baby. You do it yourself. That phrase really annoyed them.

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 20/06/2013 16:40

So MrsLyman what would you say to the thousands of midwives who talk of delivering their patients' babies? Should they not say that anymore?

Sallyingforth · 20/06/2013 16:40

Incredibly annoying?
I think you are being a little precious.

loveisagirlnameddaisy · 20/06/2013 16:41

x-post with Wo

Guess it depends on the midwife - plenty on OBEM use the phrase as did the midwives at both my births.

Original poster

MrsLyman · 20/06/2013 16:45

I would tell them I delivered my own babies, but that I was happy to have their help.

WoTmania I like the sound of your midwives.

Sallyingforth a little precious, maybe but I think they way in which we talk about childbirth and how this shapes the way we think about a woman's role in it isn't a bad thing to be precious about.

OP posts:

curryeater · 20/06/2013 16:47

I think the phrase originates in "the mother was delivered of a baby" which means that the birth did not kill her, thank goodness. It is euphemistic in the sort of "brought to bed" way that all these things were glossed over with.

Turning it into "Dr X delivered my baby" sounds like he sauntered past the letter box, behind which I was expectantly waiting with a fresh pinny and a ribbon in my hair. I held out my soft white arms and he dumped a clean, dressed, dimpling 3 month old into them.

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