don_tspamme wrote:
...for the doctor who is delivering your baby to only show up when you
are at the pushing stage? I guess it doesn't really bother me, as my
doctor was in contact with the nurses at the hospital and everything,
and I did see him earlier in the day when I first went into labor - I
just was surprised that this was so. Now I am due with a second, and my
first doctor has retired, so I am wondering if this is normal procedure
or if basically the doula/midwives are the ones who spend time with you
during the labor process and the doctor only shows up at the end? I
have to find a new doctor, and I don't know if what I'm looking for
(more handholding I guess???) is more of a doula thing than a doctor
thing...

Was true for me. We have one-on-one L&D nurses though -- not sure what
I would have wanted my doctor around for. If something was going awry
he would have been there but since it was all normal he checked in on
me a couple of times and left me to it. My OB was there for my birth,
he attends about 60% of his patients' births. This figure will vary
from doctor to doctor though. If you want/need handholding from your
care provider you might want to go the midwife or doula route.

Elle