Michel Odent, a French obstetrician, “likens gestation to apples ripening on a tree: ‘You wouldn’t pick them all on the same day, would you?’ ” because babies come on their own time when they’re ready not because you’re tired of being pregnant or have other calendar obligations. Then why the induction ‘epidemic’?
My best friend is due early June with her second child and I want her to have the best possible birth she desires. Not my birth, not her doctor’s idea of birth, not anyone else’s standards but her own. She had an uncomplicated first pregnancy with her now almost 3-year-old in the hospital with a doctor, induced, medicated, and on her back, if that suits her needs.
I am so driven to provide as much as information about normal birth that I will say anything as close to my personal testimony in order to get it across! I am a birth snob, yes, but she is still my best friend/pregnant/working mama, who deserves baby-and-mama-friendly care. My friend’s doctor, of course, suggests that she will have to be induced, of course, because the baby’s size is measuring large, of course. To this, I wanted to say:
“What?! Doctors don’t know jack sh*t about how big your baby will be!”
or
“Grr, thats why I hate doctors!”
Instead I take the kill-em-with-kindness approach and reply with,
While what I wrote is not entirely scientifically-based, I still think it’s a starting point for her to question it. And she did! She called after that and agreed with my comment! She hates her OB-GYN practice but she didn’t take my sly advice to switch provider care to midwives but I’ll take what I can get.
My ideal situation would be for me to just send her the link to “5 Quotes to Remind You Not to Induce”, she switches to a midwife at 40 weeks NOW (Shana!) because she’s had enough of unpersonalized prenatal care, and have a healthy baby as she sees fit – not as her doctor sees as convenience.
What is another approach? How do you provide info without coming off as accusatory, know-it-all, or anti-everything? Any other helpful hints for me as a best friend?
