"don_tspamme" wrote in message
ups.com...
...for the doctor who is delivering your baby to only show up when you
are at the pushing stage?

It's how it's done here in my area of the US. I switched to a midwife before
my 8th month along because I discovered my area *had* one, and my last few
remaining checkups were 45 minutes to an hour instead of the 5 minutes the
OB spent with me. That was nice, to be able to talk about all my concerns
and issues. When I went into labor with the midwife (who was backed up by a
partnered OB group, a different group from my original OB BTW) she spent
lots of time on the phone with me helping me decide when to come in and she
met me at the hospital (the on-call OB and midwife sleep at the hospital
when they are on duty), and my labor was way over 12 hours long....she spent
a lot of time with me when we were just waiting for dilation (I had to be
induced), the nurses were checking on me a lot, and I was basically just
trying to catch some sleep. When it was time to push the midwife was right
there with the nurse and spent a ton of time with me..I had a problem (baby
was stuck) but the midwife spent a lot of time with me trying different
positions of pushing. Finally we did end up having to let her call the OB in
and the baby was delivered by forceps very quickly. The OB spent all of
about 15 minutes with me.

I decided that since I now don't feel I "need" as much time spent during the
office visits since I have experienced pregnancy, and since the OB ended up
delivering anyway I am just going to use the OB who ended up delivering my
baby's group next time. To be honest, the NURSES at the hospital are the
ones you see the most while you are just in labor, and then the OB comes in
for pushing. The nurses really do a lot of work (under the supervision of
the OB of course). Nurses are underrated--they deserve more credit. I
wouldn't have been as worried about having a midwife to "hold my hand" if I
had realized that just because the OB only comes in for pushing, that
doesn't mean NO ONE is there! Nurses constantly come in and check on you,
and help you push as well.

As it turns out the midwife group I used lost their contract with the
hospital and are out of business- the midwives still practice but had to
split up and go to other areas that still use their services. It's a shame
but I can't help but wonder if they had a high rate of having to have OB
intervention? There is some reason the hospital didn't allow them to remain.
They were good--they deserve more credit too. But I think the hospital must
have had some reason for letting them go. Insurance wasn't the reason
because they were able to bill through the partner OBs office so they took
most insurances. I think the hospital was just cutting costs when the same
work was being done by the delivery room nurses and OBs anyway, I guess...

But yeah, OBs just showing up for the pushing is normal, and it doesn't have
to be worrisome. A good OB will still give you good care and some will go a
little extra...I just thought I would respond to this post because the
OB-not-coming-until-pushing was one of the things that really worried me
during my first pregnancy. It seemed like abandonment, LOL. But things will
be fine assuming the hospital staff is good.