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...

It depends on the doctor and the practice. The OB practice I used had
an arrangement that one of the doctors was in the hospital for 24 hours
straight. (While the other docs in the practice handled office visits.)
You saw every doctor during your prenatal care, so none of them were
strangers. Because the doc was in the hospital, he was in and out of
my room through the entire labor, checking on me often. When it was
time to push he wasn't there the whole time (I pushed for two hours and
there were other women in labor), but he was there for about the last
hour.
I had no objection to the setup. It seemed a good way to handle it.
(The L&D nurses were also all great.)

Naomi