All Fired Up

So, last night I went to a Leche League meeting and now I'm all fired up. It is incredible how women have to fight for what they think is right in terms of their medical care and for their babies.

There was a girl there who is two weeks away from her due date. And at her last OBGYN appointment the Dr. starts hinting that her baby is big and that her pelvis might not be wide enough for her to have a vaginal birth. He suggested she do a "pelvimetria", which is an x-ray of your pelvis to see how wide it is. This then is compared to the measurement of the babies head and a decision then is made. This is total BULLSHIT (yes, I said it), because your pelvic bones expand during birth to accommodate, and a babies head squishes a little as it goes down the birth canal.

Nature gives our bodies the ability to bring babies into the world. And, if our pelvis bones were wide enough all the time, then maybe the baby would just slip out...

Also, it has been shown that the damage from the x-ray far outweighs any supposed benefit of knowing her pelvic measurement--by a study done in the 60's! It is time Guatemalan OB's moved into the 21st century, and that women here unite against this crazy procedure. It is not the first time I have heard of women being told by their doctors that they need this x-ray. CRAZY!

This guy just wants to justify a caesarian--an unnecessary caesarian. This poor girl was so upset and she is going through this alone, because she is not married. What is she to do? Change doctors at the 11th hour?

Apparently, in Guatemala the caesarian rate is something ridiculous like 70%! I'm glad my OBGYN is not scalpel happy. But, all this puts me on my toes. I will definitely be asking him about this at my next appointment.