From a recent thread on Mothering.com claiming that doctors play the “dead baby card” with women who are postdates.
I felt exactly as you did around 36 weeks pregnant with my VBAC attempt. I had already switched DRs around 20 weeks to a group of Family Practice doctors that are probably the most VBAC friendly in the area… I watched Business of Being Born and really started feeling like the only way I’d get a VBAC was with a homebirth midwife. Unfortunately, DH was NOT on board with that idea and I felt like it was “too late” to make such a drastic switch. I really should have listened to my instincts… The switch in their attitude around 41 weeks was shocking. When I wouldn’t agree to an induction I was told I was risking fetal death and they couldn’t be responsible for that – basically the next week was spent scaring me into a bunch of testing where they found a reason to induce me and even with the help of a doula, I wasn’t able to avoid ending up with another failure to progress c-section. I later learned that their license and hospital privileges can be called in to question when they “let” a woman go to 42 weeks. Obviously, there utmost concern remained with what was best for them …
After that experience and the regret of not trusting my instinct, I told DH that we’d be having no more babies unless I was able to plan a homebirth for the next one. I’m full-term with baby #3 and hoping to have an awesome HBA2C story in the next month! No matter how the birth turns out, I appreciate having a care provider who understands that each pregnant mother is an individual who is capable of researching and making her own decisions about “HER” body and child…
The mother began labor spontaneously at 41 1/2 weeks, labored for 24 hours and apparently delivered vaginally the day before yesterday.. The baby was born not breathing. Subsequent evaluation revealed meconium aspiration and catastrophic brain damage due to lack of oxygen. The decision was made to take the baby off life support.
The baby is dead.
