In the thread “communi er cation” in the Living in Taiwan forum,
[quote=“touduke”]I just remember the birth of our baby.
During the hours of labor the doctor who was assigned to assist birth, the one who we went to see during pregnancy check-ups and so on… never showed up once.
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In this case, the doctor was late.
With my baby’s pregnancy, we had very good care, with lots of check ups and lots of ultrascans, and I was very happy with the clinic. On B-Day, we checked in, went upstairs to the ward, and my wife sat/lay on a bed all day while family members came and went. During this time, nurses came periodically and checked some signs (don’t remember what exactly now), but we didn’t see the doctor at all, all day, until the nurse said "Right, you’re going to have the baby now, go into the next room, and there was the doctor, all suited up, ready to do the birth.
I was expecting the doctor to turn up and look her over at least once before then, but we never saw him once until she was being put on the table. Is this normal in Taiwan? Is this normal in the West?
Very. Standard. Assisting/monitoring a pregnant woman preparing to give birth is a nursing job, for which the presence of a physician is not required and in fact would be a waste of hospital resources unless your wife encountered difficulties, whereupon her status would change and she would become a medical problem, in which case a doctor would have been summoned. Your doctor was there to do his job, and was ready and prepared to do it when the time came.
Kids in the UK are delivered by a midwife. You don’t see a doctor unless something goes wrong. The person you see for your check-ups and scans is nowhere near when the child is born. You see one nurse for check ups, one for scans, you have a midwife and some ‘attending’ who will only show up if a complication arises. The is no ‘one person’ who cares for your bump all the way through.
My wife, as it happens, DID see the attending prior to the delivery, but not for any reason other than that it was a c-section delivery, and he came to see her as a surgeon (standard practice everywhere), not as an obstetrician.
Touduke put forward his opinion in the other thread that a doctor should be present at the bedside of a birthing woman. This is nonsense and is not a practice that is followed anywhere, as far as I know, unless there are complications.
Nurse Ratchet agrees. Nurses are the front line for birthing women, with doctors coming in only when there’s complications, or to perform the caesarian or whatever procedure.
Caesarians happen in operating theatres. Non-emergency operations are organised by an operating list. Uusually the surgeon or obstetrician is working their way through a half day list of operations and has to cover up or change to leave the theatre. They will often offer a courtesy greeting to the patient only when they’ve arrived in the theatre area just before the operation. this is usually as the anaethethist is readying the patient, and often times since a premed has been given, patients don’t recall seeing the doctor.
That corresponds with our experience. Only difference is that the wife happened to be first on his list for that day, so he came in wearing his street clothes and had some coffee with us before going away to scrub up or knock back a couple shots of whisky or whatever it is they do in those wee back rooms.
In any case for c-secs the anesthetist is the guy that who causes you the most pain and offers the most comfort! I had great anesthetists, who wiped my forehead, blew my nose when I was all teary and guided me through the whole process with encouraging words and holding my hand. The husband wasn’t allowed in for either of the births, but these guys took really good for me. I am grateful to the docs for doing a good job on the surgeries and the baby and yet, I am just a little more grateful to the sympathetic Anesthetists than the brusque gynaes.
This is off topic. I had surgery done here, by a very good surgeon. I do not recall seeing him before the operation, IE I was put under before he made his entrance.
For the 2 births I have whitnessed from a fathers perspective in DK, I do not repeat not recall a doctor being present at all, with one birth being done by a midwife with team, and one being done by a rather startled nurse on her own. I recall her pulling the alarm again and again, noone coming so she more or less made a gliding tackle in order to catch the girl.
In Taiwan, for birth 1, no doctor until the theatre, birth 2, she came out did examinations and followed us rather closely, however we later discovered that she had reason to fear complications, so she was more on the ball.
Anaesthetists are the most important people in the room. You live or die according to these people, far less so the trained monkey holding the knife. I’ve always wondered why insurance companies boast about how you can elect your surgeon, but never offer to allow you to elect your anaesthetist. I know which I’d rather hand pick.
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Anaesthetists are the most important people in the room. You live or die according to these people, far less so the trained monkey holding the knife. I’ve always wondered why insurance companies boast about how you can elect your surgeon, but never offer to allow you to elect your anaesthetist. I know which I’d rather hand pick.
HG[/quote]
Spot on, I remember going quite hysterical the first time my boy cracked his skull (he did it twice, that rascal) .The first thing I did was to have my husband call the Anesthetist, only much later did it occur to me that we have to call the Plastic Surgeon as well.
It is very normal for the doctor to only show up when it’s time to catch the baby and really they don’t have much choice as the could not possibly have time to stay by every women’s side, they’d never get any sleep!
Most parents are not aware that they will be alone most of the birth with the nurses just periodically checking vitals and monitors.
As a birth doula, it is my job to stay with the parents all through the labour, birth and until breastfeeding is established. Since I only have around three couples a month it is possible for me but the doctors have 30 or more.
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Most parents are not aware that they will be alone most of the birth with the nurses just periodically checking vitals and monitors[/quote]
Yes, I was thinking this today. We’ve become used to going to the doctor all our lives, that we expect doctors to be around. Especially here, when healthcare is so cheap, and we become used to going to hospitals because they’re guaranteed to have English speaking doctors, that we end up going to the hospital for every little thing. Checkup? Hospital. Head cold that won’t go away? Hospital. Every minor little thing.
So when this monumental, life changing event comes, possibly one of the biggest medical events in our lives, and we go to the hospital, and we DON’T see a doctor, it seems very abnormal.
STOP! It’s not a medical event at all, it’s actually a natural event, unfortunately same as dying. But it’s something we all pass through.
That said - and I hate that phrase - the Oz ex and I aimed for a “natural” birth when she delivered my now 19-year old son. Unfortunately we hadn’t finished the birthing course and I’d never done my time in obstetrics. As soon as things kicked off, we went to the “birthing centre”, and for 12 horrible hours, that happened to coincide with the worst ever flood in Sydney, she and I endured her labour. After 12 hours, they offered us more juice to fire up the spitting it out bit, but we then came under the care of a doctor and in a room geared for disaster. My boy’s heart rate dropped awfully, a symptom of what’s unsurprisingly known as foetal distress, and suddenly as the nurse ran left down the corridor and the doctor rto the right, out came my boy with his cord wrapped twice a round his wee neck. That’s why he’s pulse had sunk.
the maddest scene I’ve ever beholden, and that’s saying something, but I’m trying to flick the cord off the boy’s neck with my hands with one foot kicking the door open and screaming for the doctor - “suction! We need suction here.” That’s code for disaster in medicine, BTW. If suction is urgent, someone’s either bleeding or choking.
He made it, and so did we. As for my thoughts on “natural birth”, well they’re right up there with my thoughts on natural root canal. Why?
STOP! It’s not a medical event at all, it’s actually a natural event, unfortunately same as dying. But it’s something we all pass through.
That said - and I hate that phrase - the Oz ex and I aimed for a “natural” birth when she delivered my now 19-year old son. Unfortunately we hadn’t finished the birthing course and I’d never done my time in obstetrics. As soon as things kicked off, we went to the “birthing centre”, and for 12 horrible hours, that happened to coincide with the worst ever flood in Sydney, she and I endured her labour. After 12 hours, they offered us more juice to fire up the spitting it out bit, but we then came under the care of a doctor and in a room geared for disaster. My boy’s heart rate dropped awfully, a symptom of what’s unsurprisingly known as foetal distress, and suddenly as the nurse ran left down the corridor and the doctor rto the right, out came my boy with his cord wrapped twice a round his wee neck. That’s why he’s pulse had sunk.
the maddest scene I’ve ever beholden, and that’s saying something, but I’m trying to flick the cord off the boy’s neck with my hands with one foot kicking the door open and screaming for the doctor - “suction! We need suction here.” That’s code for disaster in medicine, BTW. If suction is urgent, someone’s either bleeding or choking.
He made it, and so did we. As for my thoughts on “natural birth”, well they’re right up there with my thoughts on natural root canal. Why?
HG[/quote]
That sounds awful, thank god there was a nurse present.
That said, vaginal birth is still safer overall than c-section, but I am all for using what there is to make it easier on the mother and child.
I did not have an issue with being alone with my wifes during most of the birth. It’s nomal and you get used to it. If something funny happens an alarm will go off anyways, so why worry.