Discovery Health - Baby Story... EPIDURALS ALL ROUND!!

[M2T]

I have confessed to being slightly obsessed with the afore mentioned Maternity and Labour program... On Discovery Health there is a British program and an American one.

Why are American woman made to lie on there back whilst in labour, it looks awful!

And:

Is it just me or does it seem standard for an American woman to have an epidural?? And it seems to me that a C-section is offered if the woman feels too tired to carry on with the rest of the labour!!
One woman had got to 9'5 cm dilated, but the Doctor offered her a C-section coz she was getting tired. As far as I could tell there was NO medical reason why she should have a section. I dare say there are a lot of women that would say yes to a C section when they had been in labour for 12 hours and were 9cm dilated, but is it really the best for Mum or Baby???

Have I got it all wrong? Maybe some of you American Mums can set me straight.

Pupuce/WWW - fair enough. I thought people meant mumsnet as a whole, rather than just this thread?

Hmm maybe I should've put this on the chat section.

OK, the M2T, don't you think all the dh's look as pregant as their wives??

lol Aloha

I had noticed that. I had also noticed that the majority of the US families are either very well off..... or poverty stricken and in drug rehab.!! Surely there are some inbetweens that the majority of people could relate to a bit better.

I watched it yesterday and it was a repeat of an American woman having twins. She really wanted a section from day one! Now I would have thought that is was a good reason for a section rather than just being a bit too tired to push. They refused!! I couldn't believe it!

Is there any criteria (apart from obvious medical reasons & emergencies) that these hospitals follow when making the decision to perform a C-section?

I can't remember and I missed the end, but I think she ended up needing one anyway.

Thanks Aloha, you;ve satified my nosiness !

M2T, was that the woman who'd had triplets a couple of years previous ? I saw that one too.

WSM you're supposed to be packing what the blumin heck are you doin on here????

WSM - No I don't think she had. She definitely had a daughter already who was born by C-section.

How did I miss that one!?? Can you imagine? 2 Pregnancies resulting in 5 babies!

faint

I know, blooming nightmare stuff !

The woman was an IVF mum. Her 1st preg was B/B/G, her 2nd B/G. She said that she and her husband wanted to go on to have one more pregnancy !!!!

LUNATICS!

wsm, I saw that one too I think...I'm thinking that they may have had some hired help, I mean who else was going to keep their beach house clean when they were at their main one

lol PIE!

How are you BTW?

M2T, my worries about dirty NHS hospitals (not all, but enough to put me off the idea) were based on anecdotes from friends (inc one who gave birth in the hospital I would have), anecdotes from people I don't actually know and various news articles , most memorably one which came out while I was thinking about where to have a baby.

Blergh... just thinking about some of the stories makes me queasy!

ok, thanks M2T

I forgot to say, over the holidays DD started to watch Discovery Baby stuff with me. She's 4 1/2 so I thought she might be too young, but she was just so interested and after my mum took her to the Natural History Museum she started telling me about eggs and baby feeding tubes (the cord).

So I let her watch them. She asked why the ladies were screaming or grunting so I explained that the baby comes out through your fanny and it has to strech and thats why it hurts.

Last week there was one with twins, she asked what twins were and I said thats when I mummy has 2 babys growing inside her. She said 'So she has 2 fannys for them to come out? That would hurt very much'

Maybe I should stop letting her watch

Stretch, not strech...scorchio!

Long post (I seem to know no other kind) Insert sheepish emoticon here.

As u may be sick of hearing I had my baby in Germany, and the books I read were from home, UK or US. We did a weekend parents course 2mths before I was due (with my dh translating). I found out that I had 2 choices for pain (1) nothing (2) peridural. They are also seriously reluctant to do a c/s. My dh's cousin was in labour 36 hrs before they gave the c/s, my neighbour 24 hours.

I asked my dr about being induced so that I could be sure my dh would be there as he travels Mon-Fri. They refused point blank - they never do it. As it was my dh was in Madrid and took 8 hours to get back (so I was alone with a bunch of people I couldn't communicate with).

After 24 hrs labour I was 4cm dilated - and they won't give you oxytocin or the like to hurry you along. I was resisting the peridural but finally they said as ds was premmie that it would be better for his little soft noggin if I had it. After 25hrs the midwife thought I should have the caesar. My dr resisted and got his hands in there (insert grimace emoticon here) and manipulated the head so it could come down finally. 27 hrs labour.

A neighbour said she deliberately had her baby in the US because she wanted it over with quickly and painlessly.

What I find completely freaky is that this is a country that smokes its head off everywhere. The number of filthy looks I give people when I am out and about with ds is incredible (I will need a botox injection at this rate ). I can be breastfeeding in public and someone will sit down and light up right next to me. On the german version of 'watch other people have babies', there was one pround dad watching his baby be put in its cot at home for the first time whilst puffing away (Insert judgemental disgusted emoticon here).